Dragan,

>>At the end of the day we will not stop this behavior. We can only hold it off for a short while. Those of us who believe in the Bible believe that ultimately God Himself will step into history and keep man from totally wiping himself off the face of the planet. We will do that if He does not intervene.
>

>If that is true, he may as well decide to drop us and start all over again.

<g>

Well, if I were Him I'd have probably done that already. <g> However, that is not the indicated future of man.


>This attempt has failed.

Indeed. Man has proven unable to govern himself. The final form of government that will need to be demonstrated is a true theocracy. This is referred to the millineal reign of Christ. Sadly, even that form of government will fail after 1000 years. Apparently after that soemthing entirely new will take place.

>But then, if he's so almighty, how come he's made us like this in the first place?

Good question. It's actually very simple if you think about it and entirely logical/reasonable.

It's all about love. That is, love in the sense of choosing to make "others oriented" choices 100% of the time. In our culture today love has been defined as the same as emotions or sex, both of which are self-centered. Quite candidly this is simply not the case as love is far deeper than emotions. For example, the married man who accepts his wife's shortcomings or the wife who does so with regard to her husband. They commit (choose) to stay in the relationship anyway, working through their selfish desires to change their spouse into their own (read: self-centered) image. For those who understand thais they become "others oriented" and subsume their own desires for the good of their spouse. But what makes it work is their choosing to stay rather than leave (though I suppose some times this is necessary).

God is love. True love must find an object. When God created man He wanted someone to share His love with. Well, let's say you have a little wind-up robot that when activated says, "I love you!". "Aww.. How nice", you might say. "My little robot loves me!?. No, it soedn't because it was programmed to say what it said. Now, if the robot wanted to say those words of its own free will then they would have meaning. It's the same with you and me. God won't ever force you or me to choose to love Him. It wouldn't be real. He will give you the opportunity and will respect your choice. If you choose to reject Him then you have chosen your own fate just as equally you would choose your fate if you chose the opposite. It's your choice. It's free but it has consequences.

For example: I would want everyone here to choose God but I know that will never happen. That won't change how I treat people as God still loves everyone - even thoe who reject him and that's the standard I have chosen for myself. My desire and what will happen are in conflict. I have chosen that pain because I see it as a better choice than all other alternatives. I have friends and relatives that I believe might well end up separated from God for all eternity and it breaks my heart. Yes, I cannot force them into something they do not wish.

These terrorists want to force the world into Islam through these horrific acts. That's not love. That is hate as it is not others oriented.

What God was after did not fail. He knew that many would choose him freely - without force or compunction. That is true love and no robot. Did He know many would not choose Him? Does man see this as unfair? Yes, I suppose so but the answer to that is below.

>Or, alternately, why did he decide to write the history as it is?

Another very good question and hugely rational...

Well, we cannot blame God for the ills of mankind. Rememner, we chose to reject Him and go our own way. The pain and sorrow you see today is the direct result of man choosing man's way rather than God's way. If you had a son that you gave your inheritance to after teaching him how to properly manage it and he wastes it I will not blame you, I'll blame the son. Man seems to want to do his own thing and then blame God for it. Bad logic..

God will never force man to choose the proper path and this, of course, is where all radical fundamentalists go wrong - including Christian fundamentalists as defined by wanting to force people to choose God such as the Crusades. The Crusades were an abomination to God just as the radical fundamentalism we've just seen is.

The third question you didn't ask (which is a surprise to me as you as one of the most clear headed around here) is this: If God made man and knew he (man) would reject God and suffer the consequences how can God then be 'fair' and judge mankind for doing what he did? Well, the answer to that is pretty simple: According to Christianity God Himself took the form of a man in the form of Jesus (fully God & fully man) and took the penalty that was man's upon Himself for what man did. Now man cannot say to God that he was unfair as the penalty has been paid fr. All men now need to do is choose to accept the payment on God's terms (remember the whole idea here is to get rid if the rebellion that cause the trouble in the first place <g>)

God paid my bill. I just need to abandon my pride and quit trying to pay it myself and accept the substutionary payment. Since I can have this for absolutely free I now cannot blame God for punishing anyone. Why? Because all of man's efforts and struggle are out of the equation. It is ALL dependent upon God's efforts, not ours. All we need to do is accept it as free. Most will not for pride's sake but since that is their choice God cannot be blamed.

Love reinforces the reponsibility to love. God loved man and took that responsibility. Man must reciprocate and take responsibility for himself. Fortunately God has helped out... <g>

Does that make sense or confuse you even more? <g>