Did God Set Us Up To Fail?

The short answer to that question is....maybe.

Now you who grew up in the church as I did are probably saying, "wait a minute; are you saying God is unjust or unfair?" My answer is no, I'm saying God is God. He knows way more than we do about what we think and how we are made and who we are. It was Him that gave us choice as part of our spiritual and mental abilities. He even gave us the choice of rejecting Him or accepting Him. Initially, our ancestors chose to reject His will.

I do not think that Adam and Eve wanted a life without Him on their own, but that is the path they chose when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good an evil and their choice is forever burned into our spiritual and physical gene pool. We are the children of fallen parents.

The odd thing is that our creator still loves us even though we continue to make bad choices.

I would argue that we are the most unique creatures in all of His creation. We enjoy physicality and spirituality at the same time. We are the envy of angels and demons and a testament to God's creativity and willingness to give up divine power to those He loves. What do I mean by that?

God is sovereign over His creation. He has ultimate control. When He gave us the ability to choose and to think for ourselves, He temporarily gave up some of that sovereignty to us. God did not grant this to any other creature; not the angels and not the demons, not any animal on the face of the earth.
We should be awed by this, but instead we have used this great gift to do as we please. Even so, God still pursues us in love.

Did God know we would make bad choices? Of course He did. He is God. Was that the plan all along? Well, maybe. Probably. I think so.

Here is why I say this. While God designed us to be able to make choices, He also made us to be His children...forever. I submit that we were made in His image and likeness, but we were never intended for us to "grow up" and become Him or replace Him as we might an earthly parent. We were to be His children forever, never quite reaching adulthood, never quite maturing completely. He designed us to always and forever need Him in our lives. We were never intended to separate from Him.

So, in this sense, God did set us up to fail. It's not a bad thing or unjust or unfair. He wants us to choose submission to Him. If you can get to that point, then you can begin to see it. The most beautiful thing in the universe. Love of the eternal Parent. He has no grandchildren. We are it. And we will always need Him.