God has consigned all to disobedience

[Spiderman]

Romans 11:32
English Standard Version
For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

New Living Translation
For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.

I don't know why God would do that. He may find the story more beautiful if people go astray and quite boring if no one goes astray. God has a purpose for wicked people. The reign of the Antichrist will be God's will. God knew it all in advance and allowed it. He wouldn't allow it unless it was for the greater good. Darkness glorifies the light.

The people that crucified Christ were doing God's will, but that was the method God was using to defeat his adversaries.

Please explain what that means to you that God consigns/imprisons everyone to disobedience that he might have mercy on them. Thank you!

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

The people that crucified Christ were doing God's will, but that was the method God was using to defeat his adversaries.

Please explain what that means to you that God consigns/imprisons everyone to disobedience that he might have mercy on them. Thank you!

It presents problems for me that are part of the reason I am unable to believe the He even exists.

Perfect example is the group that crucified Christ. Do you believe that those individuals went to heaven? Or were they punished for what they did? If they were punished, then it means that, as you stated, God knew he was going to punish them, even as He set them to the Earth. However, they were supposedly also given a choice, were they not? A choice not to do this evil? If that is the case, then would God have been happier had they not chosen to crucify Jesus? But how could that be if this was God's will? Wouldn't He still be disappointed in them for not fulfilling His will, and adhering to their own "free will?" If He grants them a "free pass" into heaven for doing His will by going through with Christ's crucifixion, then He's not being just, for He has been told to have punished others for lesser crimes than this, to be sure. It is all too problematic to be realistic. Therefore I feel I have no choice but to regard it as unreal.

And believers' explanations never leave me with a sense that the question I had has actually been answered - the answers only ever leave me with more questions. But I eventually grow tired of hearing their apologies and excuses for God's behavior - so I stop asking and just let sit the completely inadequate things they have tried to pass off as "answers". And they claim to be God's "witnesses" - some of them even claim that the words they speak and answers they give are divinely inspired by God himself. If that is true, then He does an incredibly poor job of explaining things through them.

 

[Spiderman]

It presents problems for me that are part of the reason I am unable to believe the He even exists.

Perfect example is the group that crucified Christ. Do you believe that those individuals went to heaven? Or were they punished for what they did? If they were punished, then it means that, as you stated, God knew he was going to punish them, even as He set them to the Earth. However, they were supposedly also given a choice, were they not? A choice not to do this evil? If that is the case, then would God have been happier had they not chosen to crucify Jesus? But how could that be if this was God's will? Wouldn't He still be disappointed in them for not fulfilling His will, and adhering to their own "free will?" If He grants them a "free pass" into heaven for doing His will by going through with Christ's crucifixion, then He's not being just, for He has been told to have punished others for lesser crimes than this, to be sure. It is all too problematic to be realistic. Therefore I feel I have no choice but to regard it as unreal.

And believers' explanations never leave me with a sense that the question I had has actually been answered - the answers only ever leave me with more questions. But I eventually grow tired of hearing their apologies and excuses for God's behavior - so I stop asking and just let sit the completely inadequate things they have tried to pass off as "answers". And they claim to be God's "witnesses" - some of them even claim that the words they speak and answers they give are divinely inspired by God himself. If that is true, then He does an incredibly poor job of explaining things through them.

I don't believe the people that crucified Christ were eternally punished for what they did. I believe God died for them and had mercy on them. They were not fully enlightened when they did their actions.

God takes into account whether or not a person is aware of what they were doing. Jesus said of those crucifying him from the cross "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."