Why did God create mankind with the desire to sin? If God knew through omniscience, making man the way he did would eventually result in over 90% of his beloved creation sent to the tourtures of Hell, why did he create us this way in the first place?
Ken
God created people to commune with Him. People are not born depraved. God created people with the capacity for free will. Sin is missing the mark- which is living in accordance to God's will. Sin can be voluntary and involuntary, and one can commit sin in knowledge and in ignorance. People were created to commune with God and attain theosis/salvation. In Orthodoxy- we believe that people were not created in this final state of theosis. To go against what they were told by their Creator was a choice they had and did make- the consequence being that death entered the world.
in order for us to participate in the energies of God/attain theosis/salvation- we need Christ (very God of very God- both fully God and fully man). We can know God via the person of Christ. As St. Athanasius said, "God became man so that man may become like God." It is a pious opinion that even had sin not entered the world, we still would have need of Christ.
Why is Christ important? Because the scriptures say this about God:
No one has seen or can see God (John 1:18).
He lives in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16).
His ways are unsearchable and unfathomable (Job 11:7-8; Romans 11:33-36).
We look at Christ's work on the cross as being an event that is outside of time. Salvation happened in the past. Via the incarnation (specifically the hypostatic union), it became possible for us to attain theosis. To one in the Church (a Christian), we are being saved. If we persevere, we will be saved in the future. This is only possible through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Christs suffering death on the cross and resurrection made it possible for us to now have a way through suffering and a way to reconcile ourselves to God (abolishing sin and death) through His human nature. Christs ultimate act of suffering love gives us His saving companionship and grace.
Christ went to sheol/hades (sometimes wrongly translated as hell as in the KJV) for three days and preached to those there, raising them from the dead, and reconciling people to God (abolishing sin). Plus, it wasn't too late for Adam and Eve- even then. In the icon of the Resurrection- Christ is depicted trampling the gates of Hades and lifting Adam and Eve from their graves. Christ destroyed death. It is even mentioned in the New Testament how after the Resurrection- many of the righteous dead were resurrected and appeared to many people. Like Adam, we are dead in our sins, but through Christ (the New Adam) we are brought to life (where we were once dead in our sins).
The word
hell itself has often been translated in the KJV as meaning hades/sheol and gehenna. However- it isn't accurate.
Sheol = Hades = the grave
Gehenna = The lake of fire
Hades =/= Gehenna
In Deuteronomy 4:24 and in Hebrews 12:29 it says, 'for God is a consuming fire.' Gehenna was a literal place- a valley outside of Jerusalem- that I believe had been known for pagan sacrifices of children via burning. It was a well-known allusion to suffering that everyone would have been familiar with. In the New Testament any mention of experiencing Gehenna is referenced as suffering, unquenchable fire, and destruction. It wasn't speaking of being literally at the place of Gehenna- but more of the state one could find himself/herself in.
So- this is what we speak of when we talk about hell. However- one who finds himself/herself in Gehenna will be experiencing a state of being and not a literal place. In fact, hell and heaven are two different experiences of the same thing- which is being in the presence of God. This is even alluded to in the Old Testament with the three youths in the fiery furnace. They were able to joyfully walk around in the same fire which killed others.
God isn't changing for anyone. We must change for God and it must be our choice to do so. The suffering one experiences is entirely self-inflicted.
This used to be on wikipedia at one time, but I can't seem to find it anymore:
"For many ancient Christians, Hell was the same "place" as Heaven: living in the presence of God and directly experiencing God's love. Whether this was experienced as pleasure or torment depended on one's disposition towards God. St. Isaac of Syria wrote in Mystic Treatises: "... those who find themselves in Hell will be chastised by the scourge of love. How cruel and bitter this torment of love will be! For those who understand that they have sinned against love, undergo greater suffering than those produced by the most fearful tortures. The sorrow which takes hold of the heart, which has sinned against love, is more piercing than any other pain. It is not right to say that the sinners in Hell are deprived of the love of God ... But love acts in two ways, as suffering of the reproved, and as joy in the blessed!" This ancient view is still the doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox Church."
