Question

25. Why does God choose some people to worship Him and some not? Why does God allow nations to descend to apostasy and godlessness? In our modern times today, why does God allow nations such as in the West and other nations such as China, Japan, Korea, Cambodia, Thailand, and even the US to descend into atheism and godlessness? Doesn't God want them to be saved?
Question asked on June 21, 2021 11:06:12 am

Answer

Excellent question! And the answer is, of course, God wants everyone to be saved! So, let me explain.

The first three questions you asked are related to the topic of free will. We see that Adam and Eve did not need to make any decisions until Genesis 3. They saw something that may be more valuable to them than what God had given them. In many ways, free will is a constant choice that we have to choose between God's ways or Satan's ways.

Genesis 3:1-7
1The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?" 2"Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied. 3"It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, 'You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'" 4"You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman. 5"God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil." 6The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. 7At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

God has given us free will to decide how we want to live. He did not create us as robots. When we choose to let go of our free will to relinquish our desires to conform to His purposes, that is when we are genuine believers (Christians). To share some thoughts: Romans 12:1-2 talks about learning God's will and not conforming to the world. The Lord's Prayer includes our request for God's will be done (Matthew 6:10). In the same chapter, Jesus teaches us to seek the Kingdom of God (or God's will) above all else (Matthew 6:33). Jesus also gave up his free will to do God's will, which was to be captured and die (Matthew 26:42).

So, to your questions, the answer is the same. God wants good for ALL people, and that good is to trust God and follow Him. It is to use their free will to choose God's good ways instead of the other way Satan poses. Adam and Eve had to choose, so does everyone else. The Bible is full of people of Israel making the wrong choices, even though they knew which way was right. The same decision-making remains for everyone today, including Christians. Just like Adam and Eve, they know there is a good way that God provided, but we, too, may choose to go after something that seems better to us (by the way, the last verse in the book of Judges show this: "In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes" (Judges 21:25).

To your first question:
With free will, God allows people to worship Him or not. God does not want robots worshipping Him, but people who want to because they recognize that only God is good.

To your second question:
The nations are led by people who, too, are subject to free will. Nations whose leaders fail to lead people to God's way will "descend to apostasy and godlessness."

To your third question:
The nations you listed, including the "West," are more affluent countries. When people have much, they feel they do not need God (See Matthew 5:3). When they feel self-sufficient, they will turn away from God and "descend into atheism and godlessness." An example of this is right in the Bible, where the people of Israel enter the Promised Land where they have more than what they can ever need. When they lived in that certainty, they turned away from God.

To your fourth question:
God wants everyone to come under His care (See John 3:16). The problem is sin. Sin is anything that opposes the will of God, which is operating out of our desires or free will. God recognized that all people are sinful (Romans 3:23) and that no one would be qualified to God's standards. That is why God sent Jesus to take care of the sin problem so that all people need to do is turn away from their desires and trust God and follow Him (Romans 6:23).

Answered by Dr. Sang Sur

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