~Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
~Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
~Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Man was created in the “likeness” of God. From the beginning, man had the choice between good and evil. However, since man was not God, or a god (as some religions teach), he was not able to say no to sin when given that choice.
God gave Adam and Eve the awesome privilege of living sin free as long as they obeyed one rule: not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. At this point, Adam and Eve only knew “good.” They lived in a perfect place where God would walk with them in the Garden! You would think that they would understand how great their life was, and they wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that life. However, they were easily deceived by Satan. He cast a shadow of doubt on God’s words. In Genesis 3:1, Satan said, “hath God said”? It caused Eve to question what God had told them. It further caused her to add to God’s words with ” neither shall ye touch it”. God didn’t say not to touch the tree but merely not to eat of it.
So from the beginning of man, it has been man’s choice to disobey God. Initially, Hell was created for the devil and his angels, not man. Hell was there before Adam and Eve came along.
~Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
However, because man has chosen to sin, man has also chosen to go to Hell. God doesn’t choose to send people to Hell, man chooses it.
~Ezekiel 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
~Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
~Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God created man for fellowship, as we see in Genesis 3:8. God knew that man would choose sin over God. So from the beginning, God provided a way for man to go to Heaven, but again, it is man’s choice – as it always has been. We do have a loving God. Sending people to Hell isn’t what He wanted. He gave man a choice from the beginning. God’s choice is for man to live a wonderful, sin-free life, just as Adam and Eve had the opportunity to have!
Why would God create man if all He wanted were robots who always did what they were told, without a choice? It’s evident that God wants us to love Him by choice, not because we have to. God gives us every opportunity to be saved from the choices we make that will lead us to Hell. However, it is the hardened heart that refuses God’s love and His Heaven.
~Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
It is man’s natural instinct to blame someone else for his undoing. Adam blamed, Eve. Eve blamed the serpent. Today, man blames God for sending people to Hell rather than praise God for providing a way to Heaven through Jesus Christ! It’s man’s choice to sin that takes him to Hell, not God.
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