WHY THIS CONTRADICTION?
Freedom of Individual Action
THE world is indeed a strange place. The capacity to dominate others gives joy. Guile and deceit seem to be the accepted norm, while honesty and genuineness are at a discount. Sycophancy is rampant but being candid and outspoken rarely wins respect or popularity.
All this is happening in a world that was created and meant to be beautiful and flawless—where a single tree stands as a stunning beauty, where birds sing tunes of joy and peace, where the sun and the moon freely pour out their light, where no star trespasses into the orbit of another to forcibly plant its own flag!
Observing this contradiction between man and the rest of the cosmos, some people claim that there are two gods: one, the god of light, and the other, the god of darkness. Yet others argue that there is no god at all. If there were truly a god, they maintain, why such lawlessness in the human world?
The reality is that this world is a testing-ground
where we are being constantly examined. shadow
But the reality is that this world is a testingground, where we are being constantly examined. The ideal world will come after this one—after death. The whole of creation other than man is a preliminary glimpse, as it were, to that ideal world. Just as the rest of creation fully obeys God, human beings will do the same in the world to come. Right now, they enjoy God-given free will, to do as they please. The test is about the choice they make, using their freedom.
Man had to be given full freedom of action if he was to be tested. As a result, some choose to walk on the straight path, while others may opt for the crooked one. After the Day of Judgment, only those who provide evidence of having led a life of thinking and acting in the ideal way will be admitted into Heaven. The rest will be gathered together and dumped into Hell, just as rubbish is collected together and thrown away.
