Reasonable Faith

Guest (Male): Hello Dr. Craig, my question is about the coherence of Christianity. I've been a believer for almost five years, but I recently began having various concerns which haven't been addressed effectively by other sources. Here is one of them. How can it be just for God to punish humanity for sin if God has knowingly and deliberately created the specific conditions in which people inevitably choose to sin?

I understand that having free will means there is nothing external to you that is forcing you to act a certain way. But it seems to me that conditions that make sin more likely or inevitable are such an external force. I know it's possible that a sinless world may not have been feasible or more preferable for God to create. But if that is the case, then sin seems to be a necessary part of this world. God knew that under these conditions individuals would be evil.

But then why hold humanity responsible for that? Are humans freely capable of achieving sinless perfection on their own in this world? If not, then how can they be justly condemned for sin? It almost seems like someone commanding you to have perfect vision when they deliberately made the conditions in which you developed poor eyesight or have no eyes at all. Moreover, Christ's atonement seems to not make sense.

Yes, humanity fails to live up to God's standard. But how can they be justly held accountable for that when it is the very conditions and circumstances God knowingly put in place which leads to the inevitable failure to meet that standard? It seems the only way to avoid this problem is if all people are freely and fully capable of sinless perfection, but still choose to sin anyway despite having every reason not to and the full inherent capability to avoid it.

However, that doesn't seem to be what scripture teaches and I'm sure that my position is flawed somehow because I know that people smarter and wiser than me have defended this religion for millennia. I don't want to be the second or third category of soils described in the sower parable. But why would God bring anyone to genuine faith, put stumbling blocks in their way that God knew they couldn't handle and would lead to apostasy, and then condemn them for not meeting a standard which they are unable to meet? I'd greatly appreciate being given more knowledge, guidance and wisdom. Perhaps there are others who are dealing with similar concerns that may benefit too. Sincerely, Daniel, United States.

Dr. William Lane Craig: I suspect that many Christians are troubled by similar doubts, Daniel, because their theology is infected with the sort of necessitarianism that characterizes your question. Over and over again, words like inevitable, necessary, unable, and so on, crop up in your question. These words betray a necessitarianism that I would reject.

So, I would deny right off the bat your claim that God has knowingly and deliberately created the specific conditions in which people inevitably choose to sin. You need to excise the word inevitably. God created the conditions in which people would freely choose to sin, not in which they inevitably sin. I hope that you are not laboring under the delusion of theological fatalism, according to which everything foreknown by God necessarily happens.

Again, you should not characterize the circumstances in which God holds us morally responsible as conditions that make sin more likely or inevitable. Yes, they can make sin more likely, but they do not make it inevitable. Paul says no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13).

The circumstances in which God holds you morally accountable for your choices are always freedom-permitting circumstances, or the result of freedom-permitting circumstances. You recognize that a sinless world may not have been feasible or more preferable for God to create. But then you fallaciously infer if that is the case, then sin seems to be a necessary part of this world. No, there may be an indefinite number of sinless possible worlds that are infeasible for God.

So sin is not a necessary part of the actual world. If people were to choose differently as they are able to do and as God wants them to do, then there would have been a sinless world. People by their own free choices help to determine which world is actual. You say if God knew that under these conditions individuals would be evil, then why hold humanity responsible? The answer is because they freely choose to resist God's grace and disobey him, thereby incurring moral guilt, which is deserving of punishment.

You ask, are humans freely capable of achieving sinless perfection on their own in this world? Of course not. Only God is morally perfect. God does not require us to achieve moral perfection, which is probably metaphysically impossible for finite creatures anyway. But he requires us simply to live sinlessly. Humans cannot even live sinlessly on their own without God's help. But as we have seen, God promises his help in every morally significant circumstance.

If humans are not capable of achieving sinless perfection, you ask, then how can they be justly condemned for sin? Because living sinlessly does not require perfection. Think of the story of Adam and Eve prior to their fall into sin. They were innocent, but not morally perfect. God is not like someone commanding you to have perfect vision, since he does not command us to be morally perfect.

What about the atonement? By now, I think you realize that I deny that God knowingly put in place the very conditions and circumstances, as you put it, which lead to the inevitable failure to meet his standard, which is not in any case moral perfection. Rather, in every morally significant set of circumstances in which we find ourselves, God supplies sufficient grace to avoid sin.

Finally, concerning the tragedy of apostasy, which I agree is possible, certainly God knew that in certain circumstances people would freely turn away from him. But I emphatically deny that these circumstances present obstacles that, as you put it, they couldn't handle and a standard that they are unable to meet.