Don Stewart :: Why Did God Create Humanity If He Knew There Would Be So Much Pain?

When God created the world and gave humanity a choice He knew that Adam and Eve would disobey Him. Since God knows everything He was aware that suffering and pain would follow. If this be the case then why did He create man in the first place? There are several options that God had.

God Could Have Chosen Not To Create

God could have chosen not to create humanity at all. If He exercised this option then this would not be an issue.

He Could Have Made Us Robots

God could have made human beings robots without the ability to choose. If that be the case then there would not have been sin. There also would not have been choice. If everything were programmed then man would not have any significance. There would be no such thing as love or meaning to life. He would be no better than a machine.

Humanity Had A Choice

But God decided to make man with free will. Making choices is part of being a person. When He gave man choice the possibility of disobedience was real. When man disobeyed, pain and sorrow became a reality. But love, hope, and meaning to life also became real.

Choice Means Significance

For humanity to have any significance there must be a choice. Humankind exercised that choice and rebelled against God. This is why there is pain and suffering. God decided to create humanity with choice and to allow both men and women to experience love and hate, pain and suffering.

We Are Not Told Why

God does not tell us why He created humankind with the ability to choose. The Bible merely says that this is the manner in which God made man and woman. God's ways are not the same as ours. The prophet Isaiah recorded God saying:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8,9).

The Apostle Paul told the church at Rome:

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33).

Therefore any answer we could give would only be speculation.

Summary

God did indeed know that humanity that humanity was eventually going to sin when he created Adam and Eve. God could have made human beings without any choice - yet if that were the case we would have no meaning. Humanity was given a choice and choice means significance. As to why he still created humankind with the knowledge that humanity would bring sin into the world we are not told. We are only told that he has done it this way. Since God has not explained his motives it would be fruitless for us to speculate. No one knows the answer because God has not revealed it to us.