God has free will and God chooses to create humans in his image, allowing us to participate in a small, finite way in His infinite and perfect free will. God gives us the greatest of compliments in giving us free will, saying in effect, "You are like a god (elohim, Psalm 8:5), free to create within the world that I created for you. Choose wisely."
How is it possible that a soul would prefer Hell to Heaven? Pride. Submitting to God's idea of perfection means seeing oneself objectively, to see as God sees and we all know how painful this can be. God has irrevocably chosen to respect human choices; He is a Father, not a puppetmaster. God has infinite and perfect free will and intellect; ours are limited, so God is patient with us here in this life, teaching us a bit at a time if we are willing to be taught. In our lifetime, we waver toward and away from God, that is, toward and away from our perfection. However, at death, we stand before God face-to-face and all ignorance is stripped away and we see our virtues and vices through His eternal and loving eyes. We know how painful this sort of knowledge can be in this life; we cannot imagine the apocalyptic effect it will have when standing before God Himself!
In the midst of this anguish, we have one final choice to make: do we embrace the pain, accept this knowledge and take a step toward God in humble submission to his will, or do we reject the pain and flee to rebuild our defenses away from his awe-full gaze? Do we say to God, "Thy will be done" and enter Heaven or do we turn away and God says to us, "THY will be done"? Having seen God face-to-face and having full and complete knowledge of sin and its deadly consequences, that choice, whichever it is irrevocably and irresistibly fixes that human will for the rest of eternity.
God has free will and God chooses to create humans in his image, allowing us to participate in a small, finite way in His infinite and perfect free will. God gives us the greatest of compliments in giving us free will, saying in effect, "You are like a god (elohim, Psalm 8:5), free to create within the world that I created for you. Choose wisely."
How is it possible that a soul would prefer Hell to Heaven? Pride. Submitting to God's idea of perfection means seeing oneself objectively, to see as God sees and we all know how painful this can be. God has irrevocably chosen to respect human choices; He is a Father, not a puppetmaster. God has infinite and perfect free will and intellect; ours are limited, so God is patient with us here in this life, teaching us a bit at a time if we are willing to be taught. In our lifetime, we waver toward and away from God, that is, toward and away from our perfection. However, at death, we stand before God face-to-face and all ignorance is stripped away and we see our virtues and vices through His eternal and loving eyes. We know how painful this sort of knowledge can be in this life; we cannot imagine the apocalyptic effect it will have when standing before God Himself!
In the midst of this anguish, we have one final choice to make: do we embrace the pain, accept this knowledge and take a step toward God in humble submission to his will, or do we reject the pain and flee to rebuild our defenses away from his awe-full gaze? Do we say to God, "Thy will be done" and enter Heaven or do we turn away and God says to us, "THY will be done"? Having seen God face-to-face and having full and complete knowledge of sin and its deadly consequences, that choice, whichever it is irrevocably and irresistibly fixes that human will for the rest of eternity.