Paradise Gained and Paradise Lost
Consider the words of the Psalmist in Psalms 8:3-5>>”When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? 5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.” (NIV) Much has been said about the fall of man and the resulting sin and mayhem, but not nearly enough about the original glory. We were crowned with glory. We were designed for nobility and beauty, which is why we are drawn to these qualities. God created us in His image with qualities and attributes that reflect His grand glory. God enables us to love. In this thought, we understand that God gives us the greatest treasure of all creation, a heart. With this heart, God intends that we will imitate Him. However, just as we have lost our appreciation and wonder at the world around us, we have forgotten what a treasure the human heart is. All the happiness we have ever known and all the happiness we hope to find is unreachable without a heart. We could not love, laugh, or cry had God not designed us with a heart.
Yet, with all the potential blessings and good that comes with the human heart, there is something that should stagger each of us. As the heart can choose to love and cherish, it also has the ability to choose evil and reject God. When God gave humanity a heart, it came with free will. Each person has a will of their own. Many throughout the ages have questioned why God would give mankind the capacity to choose. As a matter of fact, there have been many theologians and philosophers who have wrongly conjectured that mankind has no free will. God chose to bless mankind with a heart that could choose to love Him or choose to reject Him. Remember, when God created mankind, God had suffered a massive betrayal and rejection in the angelic realm. If God knew how we might choose to misuse our freedom and the misery that would follow, why did God allow this option to exist? Is God out of His mind? This answer is as simple and surprising as this: If you want a world where love is real, you must allow each person the freedom to choose. Any parent or lover knows this: Love is chosen. You cannot, in the end, force anyone to love you.
Remember, we are speaking of the great story that God tells us in Scripture. If you are writing a story where love is the meaning of life, where love is the highest and best of all things, where love is the point of everything, you have to allow each person a choice. You have to allow freedom. You cannot force love. God gives us the dignity of freedom to choose for or against Him. This is what philosophers call the “problem of pain." Why would a kind and loving God create a world where pain, suffering, and evil are possible? Doesn’t He care? Isn’t He good? Indeed, He does and He is. God cares so much for our happiness that He endows us with the capacity to love and to be loved. This allows the greatest happiness possible. God provides us with dignity and potential that is almost unimaginable. Remember, our God is not a cosmic puppeteer. He is a lover of the souls of mankind and has gifted us accordingly.
In God’s grand story, He has told mankind: “Trust Me in this one thing. I have given the entire earth to you for your joy. Take care of it as my trusted steward.” God allows us to explore and use this world. Another blessing that has been bestowed is that God has given us human companionship where we can share love, romance, and friendship. God invites mankind to enjoy life to the fullest, but there is a provision. In the Garden, God withheld one tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Regarding the command about the tree and the existence of the tree, God was saying, "Trust me and obey me. Trust that I am good and know what is best. Obey me because I am your God.”
It was after this command in the garden that Satan entered the scene and lied to mankind. Satan suggested that God was holding something back from Adam and Eve. This is where the story took a tragic turn. Mankind disobeyed and sinned. Satan uses the same tactics today, and mankind falls into the same trap today. Paradise has been lost. The story seems ruined, but God is not finished. God is not surprised at the attack of Satan and the fall of mankind. There is more to the story. Continue with me next week. Keep looking up!