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I came across this in a book I am reading. Most people are aware of the ethical thought experiment trolley problem. I copied it here:
There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options:
There are many different thoughts about what is the most ethical thing for you to do. Some will say to pull the lever to kill one over five, some will say do nothing is more moral. Lets turn this around a little. Lets say that the trolley is barreling down on one person standing on the tracks and not the five. Most people would say that it would be morally wrong, without knowing anything else about the situation, that pulling the lever to kill the five instead of the one would be immoral.
Lets see how God answers this trolley problem.
Luke 13:22-30 NIV
"Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” ~ Jesus
Matthew 7:13-14 NIV
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." ~ Jesus
These verses indicate that most will not be saved. "Many" in Luke seems a little ambiguous but a "few" as said in Matthew is clear that at least more than half or most will not be saved. Probably a lot less than half. So how does this relate to the trolley problem?
God created the universe in a way that He knows that most people will not be saved. God chose this as the way the universe will work. God is pulling the lever to kill the five to save the one.
Now I bet many are already typing a response to say we get to choose salvation because we have free will. This is not a response to the question. If God sees the end of his creation prior to creating it then chooses to create the universe in a way that causes most people to not be saved does not allow for anyone to have free will in choosing to be saved. If God wanted a world where most people are saved, or even all, he could have created that universe. He admittedly did not.
God chose to create a world where most people are sacrificed so the saved person can be saved. As a nonbeliever I would be sacrificed eternally, unlike Jesus, for the believers salvation. When a christian chooses to believe to be saved they are condemning an unbeliever.
God could have made a world where we maintain free will to follow him and have the proper information to make an informed choice. He chose not to do this. The idea that most people will be unsaved and destroyed/tortured is the result of choices by God and zero choices by humanity.
If Thanos is a super-villain for killing half of all living things in the universe then isn't God a better supervillain for killing more than half? Luckily like Thanos, it is probably made up.
There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options:
- Do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track.
- Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.
There are many different thoughts about what is the most ethical thing for you to do. Some will say to pull the lever to kill one over five, some will say do nothing is more moral. Lets turn this around a little. Lets say that the trolley is barreling down on one person standing on the tracks and not the five. Most people would say that it would be morally wrong, without knowing anything else about the situation, that pulling the lever to kill the five instead of the one would be immoral.
Lets see how God answers this trolley problem.
Luke 13:22-30 NIV
"Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
“Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
“But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” ~ Jesus
Matthew 7:13-14 NIV
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." ~ Jesus
These verses indicate that most will not be saved. "Many" in Luke seems a little ambiguous but a "few" as said in Matthew is clear that at least more than half or most will not be saved. Probably a lot less than half. So how does this relate to the trolley problem?
God created the universe in a way that He knows that most people will not be saved. God chose this as the way the universe will work. God is pulling the lever to kill the five to save the one.
Now I bet many are already typing a response to say we get to choose salvation because we have free will. This is not a response to the question. If God sees the end of his creation prior to creating it then chooses to create the universe in a way that causes most people to not be saved does not allow for anyone to have free will in choosing to be saved. If God wanted a world where most people are saved, or even all, he could have created that universe. He admittedly did not.
God chose to create a world where most people are sacrificed so the saved person can be saved. As a nonbeliever I would be sacrificed eternally, unlike Jesus, for the believers salvation. When a christian chooses to believe to be saved they are condemning an unbeliever.
God could have made a world where we maintain free will to follow him and have the proper information to make an informed choice. He chose not to do this. The idea that most people will be unsaved and destroyed/tortured is the result of choices by God and zero choices by humanity.
If Thanos is a super-villain for killing half of all living things in the universe then isn't God a better supervillain for killing more than half? Luckily like Thanos, it is probably made up.