Why God Created Adam and Eve Knowing They Would Sin
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Why did a perfectly happy God, the God who is Happiness, create us? The answer is both simple and complex. The simple answer is that God created us because He eternally knows and loves us. Please continue reading for the more complex answer.
God Is Omniscient and Omnibenevolent
God created us because He knows all things, including us, and because He loves us eternally. He knows us intimately because of His ominiscience and loves us perfectly because of His omnibenevolence.
Also, the Father knows us and conceives us in His Son eternally (CCC 356). The Father loves His Son, who is the eternal Conception/perfect Image of the Father, which includes all He knows. Loving His Conception, the Son, of whom we are a part, necessarily means He love us too.
God Is Reality
Furthermore, God is reality because everything that is real exists in Him and proceeds from Him by His knowledge and love. Now, if God generates us eternally, and we are part of His eternal Conception, and He loves His Conception, then, being Reality and Love, He naturally desires to make us real.
Analogously, when an architect conceives the perfect building, he naturally wants to build it because “architect” is who he is. This is part of his essence if you will. He creates the building on paper and then makes his conception reality.
Now, God does not need paper. Rather, He conceives us perfectly and eternally in His Son, who is the Father’s Word. The Word proceeds from the Father and creates all He knows and loves, just as the architect sends forth His blueprints as an example and command to create what he has conceived.
God Loves His Eternal Son
Since God loves His Conception (the Son), His Word, He creates by the power of His Love. Therefore, God created us because He knows and loves us eternally. Naturally, He desires all that is good to be real, and the ultimate created goods are those who are made in His image and likeness – angels and humans.
If we simply remained a concept, we would be powerless to become like God. But, just as the architect desires to share a part of himself through his building, God wants to share Himself (i.e., His Divinity) with us (CCC 51). This desire does not flow from necessity because God is perfectly happy without us. Rather, it flows from love and perfect generosity, which God is.
We Are God’s Children
Furthermore, since God is Father, as shown above, He naturally desires offspring made in His image. His perfect eternal Image is His Son, and we are made in His image. Therefore, we are properly called sons and daughters of God, who is our Father.
Therefore, God created us because he knows and loves us eternally and wants to share Himself with us. He creates us not out of need but out of love and generosity. Being made in His image, God calls us to love generously. Growing in generosity and love refines us and makes us increasingly more like God.
Nate Guyear returned to the Catholic Church in 2012, immediately gravitated toward apologetics, and subsequently completed his M.A. in Theology. He is excited about sharing the good news of God's love and the truths proclaimed by Jesus Christ’s one and only, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church. Nate served 10 years in the Air Force and 20 years with the federal government. Other education includes a B.A. in Criminal Justice and an M.A. in Political Science. He and his wife live in California, are active in their parish, volunteer as catechists, and bring Communion to the sick. Nate also writes for his personal blog, catholicismexplained.com.
