Why Did God Create The Tree of Good and Evil if He Knew Adam and Eve Would Eat From it? - Ravi

i just wanted to know what why did god put the tree in the garden to begin with he ultimately knew what decision adam and eve would make so why even put the tree there to begin with because it makes it just seem like we're just a big social experiment let me give a shout out at first great question um if you understand you look at what they the nature of god first that's what i go to the nature of god first and from a christian perspective god is a community there is one god who is one being but three in his personhoods father son holy spirit eternally distinct personhoods who share one nature is that easy to grasp no is it is it comprehensible uh by finding human beings no but it doesn't go against our logic so god exists in the christian mindset as a community he defines what love and relationship is he eternally exists in a state of relationship so you as an effect he's the cause but you as an effect actually crave desire want covet and mourn the loss of relationship it's one of the key things about human existence and you're the effect shouldn't the cause reflect something about that and in this case in the christian world view the cause who is a triune being who exists in a relationship actually explains why you the effect want it so badly how does that relate to your question on the garden of eden god himself is a relational being and in order to have true relationship instead of a wind you up automaton like the monkeys who clasp like this and the eyes bug out and all these things but we just wind up and see where we go he creates the ability for us to have a choice an actual freedom to choose relationship because relationship not chosen is not really relationship at all the relationship chosen is real love actually has an existence then in a real sense because love itself is vulnerable so he creates this scenario where people can actually choose the choice is freely given god's foreknowledge does not necessarily mean he creates that he creates the choice that they make but the possibility for them to make that choice he does it so that we can have relationship you see the god of the bible does not lack relationship he never lacks it he eternally exists in that state so why create us he doesn't need us for a relationship why create you or create me to muck it up he creates you and creates me not so that he can have relationship he's already got it within himself in the godhead he creates you and creates me so that you can it is an utterly selfless act in that sense he utterly and selflessly creates out of an abundance of his love out of abundance of who he is as a relational being and that relationship requires choice and a free will that's there and that tree allows for that and because of that you and i have there's a there's a fallen nature to human humanity and that's there as well but then the redemption comes in and then we are offered as ravi had already said from john 3 16 that god so loved relational equality the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever shall believe and act fully given and actually chosen shall not perish but of everlasting life from the beginning we have relationship from eternity we have relationship and the redemption we have relationship and the tree actually is the beginning of that it's a very very good question sir and i think it actually hinges a little bit also on the previous one you know the thing about skeptics sometimes when they ask us these questions and i'm not saying it's you because i don't know the background from which you're coming is oftentimes i wonder whether they realize we ask these same questions you know we struggle with these issues it's not like we think these are invalid questions they're very valid question but what does the question assume the question assumes something very critical that the answer should be coherent because a coherent worldview is what you're really looking for you cannot be comfortable with incoherence and the question that was asked earlier the whole issue of how does one talk to a stephen hawking the fascinating thing about the talk that stephen hawking gave in 1990 at the lady mitchell auditorium which was packed on the question of is man determined or is he free he went through about 25 minutes of all kinds of scientific arguments and so on and his culminating statement got an audible response of oh my is this the best answer we can get and what he said at the end is yes we are determined he was under the stranglehold of determinism right from the beginning in a in a naturalistic framework he said yes we are determined but since we do not know what is determined we may as well not be that was his concluding statement yes we are determined but since we don't know what is determined we may as well not be what he's really saying is since we don't know the answer to my conclu the explanation for my confused conclusion let us live as if it is not a legitimate conclusion that's really what he was saying so i say when you're looking for a coherent world view look at it this way what options would there have been for the great creator in the beginning of this no world at all versus this world okay number two creating a world where there would be no such thing as good or evil an immoral world number three choosing a world where we would only choose good where we'd be predetermined to choose good that would be the total constraint so we've got three options nothing versus what we now have no such thing as good or evil or creating a constraint where we would only choose good and there we would never make the evil choice or number four creating this kind of world where there would be the possibility of good and evil and we are given the option of the privilege of freedom and making the choice out of these four options this option is the only universe and the only world in which love is possible in the previous three love is not possible at all love would not have been possible within between the demi divine and human interaction so i say this sometimes these are mega questions and macro questions and other times they are filtered down into micro questions in the fine tuning of an individual life i found the answer to this first of all from the negative you take a naturalistic framework you live with an incoherent world i couldn't live with that so how do i find coherence in putting together the diversity in my own heart which was put together by god and that knowledge of a personal relationship with god we changed not only what i did but what i wanted to do in my personal life gave me hope meaning and a relationship let me give you just two quick illustrations because i think this is critical i've had the opportunity of speaking at the one of the most famous prisons in the world angola prison in louisiana abdul was with me some of my colleagues with me 6 000 plus prisoners there 85 of whom are in life without parole it was the bloodiest prison in america blood on the ceilings blood on the carpets blood on the walls when a prisoner was checked in there he was given a dagger or a knife with which to protect himself and this warden comes in this director comes in and says i'm going to change this place you allow me to do it my way he put a bible in every cell he had chapel every day he has a seminary that is built in there within a matter of a year or two it became the safest prison in america today instead of a gang of power of thugs they've got gangs of pastors going through that prison out there and they're the prisoners themselves we had lunch with them and i said to the guy sitting opposite us why don't you and get yours he said hey man i'm going nowhere you may as well go and get yours and then i'll join you the guy who led in worship a young man i said to him can i ask you a question because lead worship so beautifully you say i said can i ask you a question are you here for a life without parole he said yes sir i said how do you feel he said mr zacharias if you'd known why i'm here you would never ask me that question he said but let me tell you something out there i thought i was free and the horrific things that i did destroyed people's lives and destroyed my own now inside prison bars having found christ i have never been freer in my life this is the most free i have ever been pray for my family they're outside and think they are free when they are really not and he put his arm around me and prayed for me and there were tears running down my face we had lunch made by the prisoners the warden sits there eats the lunch that the prisoners have made boy you call that faith you better believe it but he doesn't why they have found meaning by an individual life being conquered when you know christ when you have that relationship and your will is transformed to his will you find out why you were made in the first place and the crowd is just multiplied opportunity for individual conquest that god desires in every life out here tonight i'll leave that with you thank you [Music] [Music] uh [Music] is

Channel: Christian Gospel Hype

Views: 825,370

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Id: iP1EdnqtJ9A

Length: 10min 12sec (612 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 11 2020