Why did God make them

[oldzimm]

Good question and I'm going to out on a limb with an idea. (for I don't really know for sure)

The question has always come up, If God has already chosen those to serve him, then why do we have freewill?

I think that possibly the answer is (drum roll please), God has chosen the elite to be leaders, such as pastors, prophets, etc. and has given freewill to all the rest to accept Christ or not.

You can stop the drum roll now, I'm getting a headache. (thank-you)

[oldzimm]

Good question and I'm going to out on a limb with an idea. (for I don't really know for sure)

The question has always come up, If God has already chosen those to serve him, then why do we have freewill?

I think that possibly the answer is (drum roll please), God has chosen the elite to be leaders, such as pastors, prophets, etc. and has given freewill to all the rest to accept Christ or not.

You can stop the drum roll now, I'm getting a headache. (thank-you)

Okay, forget the above idea, it may sound feasible in a way, but it is not. ( See what happens when you post pass your bedtime.)

I think the answer may lay in following verses, I must study them closely to get to the truth.

Proverbs 1:24-33

King James Version (KJV)

24Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:

26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.

28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

I think the answer to the op is here and is describing some of the things onelight posted.

If we were like puppets, how could we possibly get the knowledge and truth of God's word if we didn't have freewill? (this last line is my conclusion)

[joi]

Humans are here, as I see it, to resolve the Angelic conflict, which was started by the fall of Satan.

Ezekiel 28

14-Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

 15-Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

 16-By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

 17-Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

 18-Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

 19-All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

The verses above are the sentencing of Satan by God. Then in several places we see that Satan walked the earth, and finally tormented Job. This exercise was to prove to Satan that with free will some humans would still worship Him of their own volition, even when being tormented. Job's only consolation was in knowing that he belonged to God and that he could depend on Him, regardless of his own personal condition and circumstances.

In this, Satan's sentencing, we find that he was not immediately kicked out of heaven, because he still accuses us before God.

Revelation 12

10-And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Zechariah 1

7-Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

 8-I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.

 9-Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.

 10-And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These * are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. [*Satan & his fallen angels]

Job 1

 6-Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

 7-And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

 8-And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

 9-Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?

Job 2

 1-Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.

 2-And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

 3-And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.

 4-And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.

 5-But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.

 6-And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

Isaiah 14

 12-How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

 13-For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

 14-I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

 15-Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

 16-They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;

 17-That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

By mankind choosing to Worship and do God's will, regardless of satanic persecution, we help in resolving this conflict started by Satan at his fall, but in order to complete this, Jesus had to die to buy back our ability to be saved.

Ephesians 1

 12-That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

 13-In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

John 6

38-For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

[joi]

That's exactly why I am part univeralist. If God did not intend to send them to heavean, why make them since they would go to hell for all eternity? Some would say that God made them because he wanted us to have a choice. The problem is that Christians have a choice as well, so he still could have made only Christians.

You are correct, He could have, however He chose to put us all on the same footing, thereby giving us the choice. It pleased Him to do it His way.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)

But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

Psalm 115:3

[oldzimm]

Christians still have choice, and if God knows what they will do, it is still choice.

If we didn't have freewill, how many people would actually study God's word? (think about it)

[Bocan]

Oh really? Pharoah never had that chance. Judas never had that chance. Esau never had that chance. You say God doesn't pick and choose who will/won't be saved? Scripture says believers were chosen from BEFORE the foundation of the earth. That means from before Creation.

Jacob and Esau were chosen before EITHER had done good or evil.

Quit fearing sovereignty and EMBRACE it.

That isn't true. Pharaoh had many chances to let the Israelites go and avoid the wrath of God. Judas walked with Christ and could have turned from temptation when it was presented. Of course, God knew what they would choose ahead of time. Just as when He predicted that Peter would disown Him, God used that foreknowledge to His glory.

Every day, people have the power to decide what their own actions will be.

[JohnD]

I believe a layer of reality is missing in the responses given so far.

Daniel 9:24 (KJV)

24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

God is dealing with sin and evil in both the physical realm and the spiritual. This is why he created the physical realm in the first place. When asked why did God place such an eternally consequential choice in the hands of mortal man? Because the eradication of sin and evil in the spirit realm required humankind have free will to choose just as those in the spirit realm did when the chiefest cherub led 1/3 of the cherubs and seraphs (typically called angels) into rebellion against the LORD... if God was to reacquire the glory he had in the beginning.

John 17:1-5 (KJV)

1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

According to John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:15-18, Hebrews 1:2 and Isaiah 44:24 the preincarnate Jesus is the sole Creator of all things created in the beginning. This is why he is the one in the Godhead who became human and the sacrifice for sin to raise to life eternal as a resurrected man (still God the Word in his Spirit) but forever a man as well. He is thereby our kinsman and can redeem us. Angels had no kinsman. Their eternal fate is sealed the moment they sin ever. Because they are already in their eternal state. God created the temporal realm so that all in it could die (not be in an eternal state). This affords God the opportunity to redeem / resurrect sinful individuals.