Liberty: God’s Ultimate Aim

Why did God create Man? We often say that it was so we would worship, or love, or have fellowship with Him. These responses are missing the mark. And while worshipping and loving and having fellowship may be the result of His creating us, we might consider that God created human beings so that they would have freedom – the freedom to live; and in their living, the freedom to choose, the liberty to express themselves, and the liberty to act.

In summary we might suggest that the highest driver behind God creating Man in His image was to give His creations freedom, something that might be the most noble principle or characteristic a loving God could bestow upon His creations.

To say God created human beings to love Him (and then each other) is to fall short of the highest aim. To love Him and others requires choice, and for the choice to love God and others to be meaningful, the choice must be free.

The same holds true when people say that he created us to worship Him – like a trillion little marionettes! Again, this description falls very short of the mark. But to say that His highest ambition was to give creations made in His image the single most noble gift of freedom may have been – and may continue to be – His highest ambition for the human race.

This being said, we can begin to see that loving, worshipping, and having faith in Him are the results of true liberty and freedom which are a factual – and wonderful – part of His end-game equation. But primary and above all other things, when it comes to why God created Man it was for humankind to have the right, even the inescapable condemnation, to be free!

Free to choose.

Free to act.

Free to believe.

Free to love.

Amidst all the religious rhetoric to the contrary, all we have to do is look to the first Man, Adam and Eve, to clearly see into the ambitions of God in creating them. He created them – both – with unbridled freedom. Eve was not forced (or even commanded) to obey her husband or even God and Adam was not forced (or even commanded) to obey God or Eve.

God created Man with His commutable characteristics and gave (GAVE) man dominion over the animals on earth (Genesis 1:26)

Man was created and was called male and female.

And while Man was given dominion over all the animals created in verse 26 of Genesis, God tells Adam in verse 29:

“Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”

In this was freedom and choice – as much choice as there was in all of the choices that were before Man. We might suppose that Adam could have decided to eat a rabbit instead of a carrot in the same way that he decided to eat of the forbidden fruit. There was the freedom present, but perhaps not all the mitigating factors that made choice difficult.

In chapter two God created Man again (the scripture repeats the story adding in new elements through recapitulation, which was a common practice in Hebrew writings). But in this version only Adam has been created as God will created Eve in a few verses later. And when Adam was alone God said to Him:

Genesis 2:16 “And the LORD God commanded the man, (Adam) saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

The Man Adam was certainly given commandments and explicit directives but he was free to choose whether he would obey them or not. Had he choosen to obey he would have proved his love and devotion for God, but choice was present and the freedom to choose was primary.

God did not pull any punches here. He explained the fall-out from choosing to go against His advice, but the choice before the Man Adam was primary and readily apparent.

From this model we can see that freedom to choose in His creations is paramount to God. Then after giving the Man Adam these instructions we read in the very next verse:

18 “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.”

God then brings all the animals to Adam and gives him the freedom on what to call them. He leaves it up to him to name them. And at this point God takes his help meet from his side and Adam is the one who is allowed to freely name her “Woman” (because she was taken from Man).

Moses adds that they were at this point both naked (but not ashamed) and from this we learn that knowledge (in this case, of good and evil) influences reactions and responses from human beings, and therefore our choices, and therefore our freedom to choose.

In other words, it is here that we realize that that there are factors that influence how we will choose. They can be external factors or factors outside of our control, but they can influence the freedoms we have in making decisions.

This is key because it tells us that right from the beginning the choices we freely choose to make will alter and/or effect our ability to freely decide things in the future. Put it this way:

God told Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil because in the day that He did he would surely die. This was a warning and a promise from God to his creation Adam. Prior to eating the fruit, Adam (and Eve) were without shame when they were naked before each other. So, the choice to remain naked was unencumbered by any external factors that would affect their behaviors (like shame). We will later learn that the choice to freely eat of the fruit (note that, to FREELY EAT of the fruit) would later affect their liberty to be naked in one another’s presence. But again, even in the face of shame, Adam and Eve could have freely made the choice to remain naked. It would simply be more difficult in the face of their carnal knowledge.

Choice is always present before all human beings, but all choices are influenced and affected by countless factors that mitigate our decision-making processes. Nevertheless, even in the face of such countless factors, the greatest gift God has bestowed upon human beings is the power and ability to freely choose. Without it, pleasing Him by faith is hollow.

Perhaps an example will help us understand.

Suppose a man is brought into this world with criminal DNA, a horrible family, lousy parents, a genetic propensity toward addiction (which he falls prey to and becomes addicted to meth as a teen) along with a very low attention span, low intellect, and other learning deficits. Obviously, this poor lad has had the deck stacked against him from birth.

The question remains, is he free to choose positive, life-enhancing acts over detrimental, devastating ones? If he was incapable of doing so, then every single human being that has had similar experiences in varying degrees would be relegated to a horrible human existence. But they are not. Not all of them. Some of them, sure, but not all. And in the face of at least one exception, we have to admit that external factors do not necessarily disable a person’s ability to choose or make wise choices. They make some choices more difficult, but not impossible.

Likewise, and conversely, suppose we have someone born with pristine DNA – that of responsible, intelligent, parents who is then brought up around endless expressions of kindness, love and generosity. Suppose all the advantages of life are afforded such a soul, including having a sound work ethic imposed upon them to avoid being spoiled.

If such a background would always create a sound upright citizen – without exception – then we might be able to suggest that choice has nothing to do with the direction a person’s life takes. But there are exceptions to cases like these, cases where people born with all of the “apparent” benefits in life choose a more destructive path.

So even though we may be greatly swayed by nature and nurture, all human beings, even in this day and age, continually have the blessed gift of freedom – in some way or another. The freedom to choose, to act, to believe.

Going back to the Genesis, the Garden of Eden story in chapter 3 begins with:

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Here Satan, an external force of temptation as a means to invoke poor or destructive choices, but one that is incapable of forcing, approaches Eve with an open question:

“Did God say you shall not eat of ANY of the Garden Trees?” In this we see the tempter appealing to her reason and her freedom to think and choose through his cunning reason and ability to sway.

Though He, as an external factor could sway her free decision, she was still free to choose. He did not jump in her and force her. She allowed his cunning ways to influence her – and the choice was still hers. Her reply was:

2 We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, “Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Now, Eve was not alive when God told Adam not to eat of the forbidden fruit and so the addition here that God said that even if they touched it they would die came from somewhere else.

We have some choices when it comes to where this addition came from:

1. God actually did say this, but it’s just not recorded.
2. God didn’t say this, but Adam told Eve that He said it to keep her from the fruit.
3. God didn’t say this, but Eve embellished it on her own when speaking to Satan.

It seems like if touching the fruit alone would have caused death then God would have said this to Adam and it would have been included in the narrative. So, we might eliminate this option. Because Adam was first on the scene and was the one who named the animals, and because Eve was taken out of him and created (out of more refined material and not directly from the clay of the earth) I tend to think that Adam chose to teach Eve a myth, of his own accord, and that myth was, “if you even touch the fruit you will surely die.”

Therefore, when and once Satan got the forbidden fruit into Eve’s curious hands perhaps in her mind the deal was done and eating it became a non-event – to her she had already fallen.

So, the Serpent begins to confront her thinking, even the very promises and words of God, and he says to her:

4 “Ye shall not surely die:”

This was a flat out lie, spoken from the father of lies, who Jesus said was a liar from the beginning. But Eve had the freedom to choose to believe him or to trust God and/or her husband. Then Satan continued his sales job, saying:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

There is so much in this chapter. First, Satan speaks for God here, saying, “For God doth know that in the day you eat thereof then shall your eyes be opened.”

And again, Eve has to decide if the directives of her husband and God are superior to those of the subtle serpent. But there is a choice to be made, isn’t there? We note that God allowed Eve to choose here. Many people say that she was not equipped to choose well because she was not aware (did not have the knowledge of Good and Evil) but what she did have were commands and promises – some from God (and/or her husband) and some from Satan. Neither was more powerful or influential. Both sources were equal in her mind because all they were (were) sources of information to her.

But she freely chose to follow one source (the Serpent) over the others. This is the bottom line to it all. Eve freely chose to embrace one source of information over another – we will see why in the next verse. From this we might assume that God merely wanted Eve and Adam to choose Him over all other influences. That this is the basis for His creating humans in His image – to allow all the opportunity to freely choose Him over all the other choices this world has to offer. And there are a lot of them, a lot of other gods, so to speak. In the end, while all people choose whom they will serve, our allegiances essentially come down to serving the self and its needs or God.

And this choice is a constant throughout the life of every individual.

Notice that the choice is not between serving the self and church or religion. Serving religions is often synonymous with serving the self. And often serving God is a very different picture from serving religion. This cannot be confused.

When Adam and Eve freely chose to serve themselves (which will be validated by the next verses) and were discovered for having so done, the next thing they freely chose to do was implement religion into the picture by making themselves aprons of fig leaves to hide behind – instead of facing the direct open shameful consequences of their initial decisions. Another free choice governed by self- interest.

Back to the subject of Eve and her motivations for the decision to freely eat the fruit we read in verse 6 that after Satan did some convincing with alternative information to God’s

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

Notice that what Eve saw or observed in the promise of the forbidden fruit was seen BEFORE she ate of the fruit. In other words, the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil did NOT bestow upon her or give her knowledge – she had knowledge and an ability to understand and know things. In fact, she knew some facts about the fruit –

It was good for food.

It was pleasant to the eyes.

And eating it would make one wise.

She took the fruit and freely decided to eat it and then gave it to Adam who also freely took the fruit and decided to eat it. Both could have refused to ignore all the surrounding facts about the fruit – the goodness of it for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that eating it would make them wise. Adam could have refused to eat it even though Eve ate of it first. Both of them, throughout the entire process of the temptation were free, at any time, to choose differently. Even after eating the fruit they were free to continue to act, and choose. They could have taken responsibility for their choices instead of blaming each other or Satan. They could have stood naked in each-others presence. They could have refused to hide but instead stood out naked before God and each other ashamed and broken.

But in their case, which is a type for all of us, the first couple – called Adam and Eve – freely choose a succession of acts that were based not on wanting to choose God and His ways but were based on freely choosing their own (after all, Eve saw the benefits of the fruit of the earth and chose them over the fruit of what God presented).

In and through their free choices Adam and Eve illustrated what they loved the most – themselves, the fruit, Satan, religious pretense, the blame game – and not God.

Such things can only be evidenced in and through the freedom God has given all people ever since to have to constantly choose Him or self, Him or other, Him or the things of this world (which the fruit of the tree represented). Hence the freedom to choose is paramount to the relationship between God and Man. It is ahead of love for God and man because the freedom to choose evinces our love and without choice love could never be illustrated.

In this we can say that God created the human race so that all human beings are constantly and freely presented with the choice to choose God or anything else. When we choose anything else, the sin is idolatry. Those who love God, truly love Him, would NEVER allow an idol to come between them and him. Those who do not love Him with all of their heart, might and mind will freely choose to pursue and follow and worship the other.

So, while love (of God) is the first commandment, even love cannot be forced or mandated. It must come from the free will and choice of all human beings. Such love for God will manifest and present itself in the freewill choices of those who (again) freely choose Him over every other distraction or promise on earth. Those who do not love or care about Him will freely evidence this in their consistent rejections of Him through a consistent acceptance of other persons, places or things.

Since freedom is paramount to all things of God, we must conclude with some observations.

• In the face of this freedom few will choose God over the things of this world.
• These would be the few that find Him.
• Without freedom to fully choose the first and greatest command to love God with our all cannot be known or had.
• Not even love (or the command to love) can be mandated or forced. In fact, genuine love for God ESPECIALLY cannot be forced – it must come from the free will choices of all men.
• Therefore, when anything attempts to introduce itself between the freedom all people have to choose God we must see it for what it is – evil.
• This is especially true of religions that, like Satan, step in and speak for God as a means to usurp the freedom all people have to decide if and when they want actually love God of their own volition.
• In this we must conclude that even before the two great commandments, to love God and others, even before having faith, even before God himself or His Son, before any of the elements of Christianity can be appreciated or implemented, the primary principle which must forever be held in the highest esteem among men is the freedom to choose whatever people want to freely choose.
• We can teach, we can inform, we can share and advice and warn, but anytime someone, or something, attempts to manipulate, force, or coerce others to think, or act, or believe in a specified manner, God’s primary ambition to allow all men the right to freely pursue or reject Him is lost, and so will be lost the ability for all men to freely love . . . or not.

Upon these principles we have the essential tenets of Subjective Christianity. As God did in the garden of Eden, instructions are offered and insights given. We seek facts and information and knowledge and work together toward greater and greater spiritual insights.

But all people are free to decide for themselves what they choose to accept and what they choose to reject in terms of doctrine, beliefs and practice. In striving to honor such limitless freedoms among all men, love, the greatest commandment, is able to individually thrive, and all people are left standing before God personally responsible for what they freely decided to accept or reject.