One of the common questions skeptics ask Christians is this: “If God is all-powerful and all-knowing, why didn’t He just create people who couldn’t sin?”
The usual Christian response points to free will—that true love requires the freedom to choose. Without choice, love would be coerced, not genuine. I agree with that answer, but I think there’s another angle worth considering.
Maybe the answer isn’t simply that God didn’t create people who couldn’t sin. Maybe the answer is that He is. God is in the process of creating a people who will be able to love Him fully and live free from the temptation of sin. Life itself is part of that process—God shaping us into the people He desires us to be.
If love must be chosen, then creatures capable of truly loving God must also be capable of rejecting Him. That’s what we see throughout the story of Scripture.
The first beings God created were the angels. They dwell in His very presence (Luke 1:19), yet even there sin entered in. Satan led a rebellion, and a third of the angels followed. Clearly, being close to God’s presence doesn’t automatically prevent sin.
Then God created people. Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden, enjoying direct fellowship with Him. Yet even in that ideal environment, they listened to Satan’s lies and chose rebellion. Experiencing God up close wasn’t enough to guarantee faithfulness.
The rest of the Bible is the story of God’s pursuit of a people wholly devoted to Him. Unlike the angels or Adam and Eve, these people live not by sight, but by faith. They trust God without seeing Him, love Him without walking beside Him, and obey Him without hearing His audible voice. This element of faith is essential—it is shaping us into people who will not sin.
Think about it: if God can raise up people who are loyal to Him now, while they cannot see Him, how much more will those same people remain loyal to Him when they do see His face? If they love Him now, how much more will they love Him then?
What we are experiencing now is not the final word. It’s a necessary step toward God’s ultimate goal: a world where His people live in perfect relationship with Him, free from sin and full of love.
These are just some thoughts I chased late one night, but the more I turned them over in my mind, the more it seemed to make sense of what God is doing. Maybe you’ve wrestled with the same question. If so, I hope this gives you something to reflect on.
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