Made In God's Image

I've been thinking, and wrestling, a lot lately with the whole concept of God giving man free will. That is to say, wrestling with the ramifications of man using his free will to disobey God and hurt others- the idea that God allows humans to be free to choose to do evil. Because of course, nobody ever has a problem with the idea of free will when human beings choose to exercise their free will in order to do good- to act kindly, or charitably, or to show love.

I read something very interesting lately in a book called "Good News About Injustice" by Gary Haugen. He writes about free will: "Looking at the human carnage and suffering wreaked by humanity's rebellion against God, we might think that God paid us an "intolerable compliment" in bestowing this "terrible gift of freedom". The phrases in quotataions coming, respectively, from C.S. Lewis and Dostoyevsky.

Things obviously happen all the time that are contrary to the desires of God's heart. It's never God's desire for children to be sexually abused, but it happens all the time. Its never God's will for marriages to end in divorce, but it happens all the time. Its never God's will for human beings to kill each other, but it happens all the time. And its never God's will for any of His beloved children, made in His image, to perish without the protection of the blood of Christ and go into an eternity separated from Him. But it happens every day, every minute, every second.

I've been especially struck lately by the number of people who have said "I knew before I got married that I was marrying the wrong person, that it wasn't God's will, but I went ahead and did it anyway." All of them divorced, of course. That just really amazed me- all these people were and are still devoted Christians who genuinely love God; and they knew they were about to disobey God big time and marry the wrong person, and yet they did it anyway. The more amazing thing is that God let them. God actually let them do it.

Sometimes it absolutely blows me away that God lets even those people who know Him, disobey Him. In some ways that's even more profound than the idea that God lets people who are very far away from Him disobey Him. It amazes and perplexes me that God allows that. After all, aren't there things He could do to convince His own children not to rebel against Him? If He just spoke louder, more often, tried harder, did something MORE, couldn't He persuade those who do truly love Him and want to obey Him, to obey Him? Obviously sometimes He does do that, but sometimes He doesn't.

Sometimes God does let people who know they are disobeying Him, go ahead and disobey Him. God lets things contrary to His heart and character happen all the time.

I wonder sometimes why did God have to allow this whole free will thing to even be an issue. Why does it matter? Why is it such a big deal to God?

Then it occured to me that maybe it has something to do with people being made in God's image. Could God have created anything in His own image that did not have an independent will, as He does? If God had made us as "automaton robots that simply always did what He wanted" (as some have described it), would that be something made in God's image? Is it necessary that we be free to choose to act contrary to His desires in order to be fully made in His image?

Not sure what conclusion I've come to yet on such questions, but it did change my attitude a little bit to think about that issue. If being made in the image of God necessitates that humans have an independent will and the freedom to choose to cooperate with God or not, well, that changes some things. I can't help but agree a bit with Dostoyevsky that such a "gift" does indeed seem terrible when humans use it not as a gift but as a horrible destructive force. Makes me wonder then, too, why did God have to, or want to, create humans in His own image, if the bestowing of that image gives us such terrible power. Couldn't He have created us differently? But then, what would we be if we were not made in God's image?