On this Easter Sunday, I answer a question that I was asked two days ago on Facebook regarding my beliefs. Although worded differently, in essence the question was this:
**Since God is omniscient, He knows everything before it happens. Since He knew that putting us on earth would result in many of us sinning and suffering the consequences of sin, did He create the earth and orchestrate the fall just so He could send (some of) us to hell?**
There are 2 very simple truths that provide the answer to this question:
God is our loving Heavenly Father.
God has given us the freedom to choose.
Because God is our loving Father, it is natural that He wants what is best for us. It also follows that we have the potential to become like Him, which is what is best for us.
Because that is what God wants for us, it follows that He created this earth as a means for us to become like Him. Since we are His children and we want to become like Him, we wanted to come here even though we knew that some of us would fail to attain our (and God's) objective.
This desire of the pre-mortal spirits of mankind, to come to earth, is alluded to in the Bible, where it is recorded that God asked Job:
Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? .... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
(Job 38: 4, 7.)
(Note that the word "stars" is here used as a figurative word to describe the spirit offspring of God. The same metaphor appears below in a reference from the book of Revelation.)
Our mortal experiences provide opportunities for us to develop godly attributes, such as faith, love, patience, generosity and kindness. But the development of those attributes is both a choice that we make and a consequence of the choices we make. We may choose instead to develop the opposite attributes such as incredulity, hatred, impatience, selfishness and spitefulness. Even if that is not a conscious choice, it may be the unavoidable consequence of our choices.
We could not develop some godly attributes, such as patience and faith, unless we were exposed to this imperfect mortal environment. But a perfect God would not create such an imperfect environment as this beautiful-but-dangerous world in which we live. So it was necessary for a man, Adam, to do something that brought mortality and imperfection into the world.
The fall was simply a result of Adam exercising the freedom of choice that God had given to him, and that choice separated him (and consequently us) from the presence of God. (But, as the atonement of Jesus Christ has paid fully for original sin, our separation from God as a result of Adam's transgression would only be temporary if not for our own choices that also estrange us from God.)
Because God has given us freedom to choose, He cannot (or else He would deny us that gift of freedom) take away our choices in either direction (for good or for evil). For the same reason, He cannot arbitrarily negate the consequences of our choices, whether those consequences are good or bad.
We learn from the Bible that Lucifer (Satan, the Devil) was an angel of God who fell from his position of grace in the presence of God. Lucifer, like all of God's children, was free to choose, and he chose to rebel against God. See for example the following biblical references (King James Version):
Isaiah 14: 12
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!"
Revelation 12: 3-4, 7-9
"And there appeared ... in heaven ... a great ... dragon .... And [he] drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: ....
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."
Satan and his followers are also mentioned in Jude 1: 6.
"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation ...."
We are among those of "the whole world" whom the Devil seeks to deceive. Since Satan and his angels did not receive mortal bodies when they were "cast out into the earth," it follows that they are present on earth (among us) as spirits only. And it is in their form as spirits that they seek to deceive us. How can they do that when we can neither see nor hear them because they are spirits? That is a topic for another essay, but suffice to say here that I have experienced plenty of things by reason of which I know that Satan is real. (See my video presentation "Some experiences from my life" which is available on YouTube.)
When you die, as each of us inevitably will, you will leave behind your physical body, and your spirit will be exposed to the realm of spirits. We do not depart from this earth when that happens. It therefore follows that we are then in or around the presence of Satan and his angels who were "cast ... to the earth." And there are a LOT of them - one third of all of God's children. That must amount to many billions!
When there was war in heaven, we must have been on the side of God and Michael; otherwise we would have been cast out with Lucifer and his hordes. So, since we opposed Satan in the "war in heaven," what do you think Lucifer will want to do with each of us when we enter his domain, the world of spirits, after our death? No doubt he will want to inflict upon each of us the full force of his hatred, such as he did to Jesus when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross, when Jesus' agony was not merely physical but also included an infinite degree of mental and spiritual anguish.
When that time comes, as it inevitably will after we inevitably die, if we have chosen to have Jesus as our Saviour, He has promised that He will deliver us from Satan.
But if you have not chosen Jesus as your Saviour, then who will deliver you? Who will protect you from the power of that evil one who hates you so much? Not Jesus. And that is not because He does not love you. On the contrary, He loves you so much that He willingly suffered and died for you. You will be on your own because God has given you the freedom to choose, and that is what you have chosen.
The consequence of sin, therefore, ("hell") is not a punishment inflicted by God, but it is the natural consequence of:
Sinful choices (i.e. choosing to reject God and His commandments); and
Choosing to reject the offering of Jesus to be your Saviour.
There is a simple way to avoid that consequence. That way is to wholeheartedly accept the atonement of Jesus Christ.
In that regard, it is crucial to remember what Jesus said about keeping His commandments:
John 14: 15
"If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Matthew 7: 21
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
John 8: 11
"... go, and sin no more."
Matthew 25: 34, 41
[To the obedient, God will say]
"Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:"
[To the disobedient, God will say]
"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:"
I conclude with these words from The Book of Mormon:
2 Nephi 9: 6-12, 15-16, 18-24, 28.
6 For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.
7 Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement—save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.
8 O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more.
9 And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of our God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; ....
10 O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit.
11 And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave.
12 And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual death, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and the spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel....
15 And it shall come to pass that when all men shall have passed from this first death unto life, insomuch as they have become immortal, they must appear before the judgment-seat of the Holy One of Israel; and then cometh the judgment, and then must they be judged according to the holy judgment of God.
16 And assuredly, as the Lord liveth, for the Lord God hath spoken it, and it is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy shall be filthy still; wherefore, they who are filthy are the devil and his angels; and they shall go away into everlasting fire, prepared for them; and their torment is as a lake of fire and brimstone, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever and has no end....
18 But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.
19 O the greatness of the mercy of our God, the Holy One of Israel! For he delivereth his saints from that awful monster the devil, and death, and hell, and that lake of fire and brimstone, which is endless torment.
20 O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it.
21 And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.
22 And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men, that all might stand before him at the great and judgment day.
23 And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God.
24 And if they will not repent and believe in his name, and be baptized in his name, and endure to the end, they must be damned; for the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has spoken it....
28 O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.
