Expert: LEBoyd - 3/24/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi! I am just beginning to study bible, and there are many doubts in my mind while I am reading it. Since you claim that there is no contradiction in the words of God in your info, so I want to ask you.
1)Why did God chose Jacob over Esau and made Esau slave of Jacob even before they were born? Jacob is a cheater, a liar and a bad father from what I see in the bible. He has nothing better than Esau. And I see Esau as a far better man than Jacob because he forgave Jacob. How does it show that God is just and fair and loving and merciful? And there are a lot incidents like that throughout the bible. How can you believe in this kind of God who is actually doing things that are opposite of what He preach?
2) From the bible, it shows that the destiny is pretty much decided by God even before we are born. So what is the point of freewill and prayer? Even if we want to be great, if God decided that we should not be what we want to be, then why should we be living or praying? If we cannot do what we want(Notice that I don't mean bad things), then there is no point of living but we still have to live and therefore we suffer. I think God is the origin of sufferings, not us human.
I am sorry for the long questions but I am eager to seek a satisfactory answer. Thank you very much!
Won

ANSWER: Won,

I'm happy that you are study the Bible and have questions.  Many people take what they hear without checking to see if the Bible really says what someone else tells them it says.

There are a couple of things to look out with Jacob and Esau.  The first is question is, "Does God make something happen (like with Jacob and Esau) or is He, through prophecy, telling us what will happen?"  We see that God foretells that Esau will serve Jacob, but I don't think He makes Esau serve Jacob.  There are numerous examples of prophecies such as this, but if God did predestine someone to do something then there would be no free will (as you rightly point out).  If there is no free will, then man can not choose to serve God.  The Bible teaches that God wants us to choose to serve Him and not that He makes us serve Him.  Therefore, the whole premise of the Bible would be false if God didn't give man (all of man) free will.  The best is example is of course, Jesus.  The prophecies of Jesus tell us He would die on the cross for our sins - But did he have a choice?  Phil. 2:3-11 tells not that Jesus definitely had the choice, even before leaving heaven.

In addition to free will, you mention prayer.  This is another great subject, because so many people misunderstand whether prayer works or it doesn't (e.g., as you point out, is something predestined and unchangeable?).  Again, there are numerous examples in the Bible that proves this belief to be wrong.  The first one that I think about is Abraham with Sodom and Gomorrah (around Gen 18 [I don't have my Bible handy, so I'm going totally by memory]).  Abraham changes God's mind.  Unfortunately, there were still not enough righteous people, but God did allow a search for 5 to save the city.  An even better example (to me) and one of my favorite accounts in the Bible is with King Hezekiah.  God sends Isaiah to Hezekiah (around II Kings 19) to tell him to get his house in order because he will die.  Hezekiah immediately prays to God to spare his life.  God immediately decides to do so, and adds 15 more years to Hezekiah's life.

In regards to Jacob being a cheater, bad father, and all around unimpressive guy, you are correct.  There are only a couple of times where Jacob appears to "do the right thing" and many times where he chooses not to.  This shows me that God can use "bad" people to accomplish His plan.  The difference between Jacob and Esau is that Jacob does want to serve God, whereas Esau doesn't appear to ever want to serve God.  So, a "better man" like Esau is not "better" because he chooses not to serve God.  He may be "better" morally, but God doesn't save those who are good morally.  He saves those who choose to serve and honor Him.  After the death of Christ, we see this choice being that we confess Jesus as our Savior and the only Son of God, repent from our sins, be baptized into Jesus body and live a life where we try to serve God through obedience.

Hope this helps.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi! Thank you very much for your reply and it does help me a lot. Now I don't have problem with Jacob. However, I do have one more question. If God only fortells the future, then why do people always say "God has a great plan for each of one". Becasue apparently, he doesn't. And God seems to like male over female becasue there aren't as many female who are chosen as male. Even when they are sharing the food with Jesus, the bible never did count the number of women and children, which make it seems like women and children are insignificant.
thanks!!

ANSWER: Won,

I believe a lot of people misunderstand what God's great plan is for them, which is really the same great plan for everyone.  The plan for everyone is to be with God forever in heaven.  God's plan can only be accomplished when we follow that plan - complete obedience.  Since we fall short (Rom 3:23), God provided a sacrifice, "once for all" (Heb 10:10).  That sacrifice was Jesus, and we take advantage of that sacrifice through confession, repentance, baptism and living a life doing all we can to be obedient to God.

I'm not sure I agree that God chooses males over females, especially spiritually.  I believe it's Gal 3:26-28 that talks about baptism and there being no male or female - in effect we are all equal spiritually in God's mind.  We have examples (the Judge Deborah and Esther to name just two) of women playing an important role in God's plan.

However, the roles of men and women are different.  In the church and in the family, we see that men are forced to provide the leadership roles, because it was the women who was deceived (1 Tim 2:14).  This doesn't mean women are less than man, just that there is a difference.

Some have said that this makes man more important.  I see it a little different.  To me I see a large responsibility placed on man.  It is a requirement, therefore, for man to be the spiritual leader of the family and the church.  Women step into the role of leadership when man disregards this requirement and gives up the role.  God will judge these men accordingly.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi! Another question. Sorry for asking so many question. In Exodus, God wanted to save the Israelites so He helped Moses to get them out of Egypt. And in the bible, it says that "God hardened Pharaohs' heart" so that the Pharaoh wouldn't let them go. So tell me, why would God want to harden his heart? Why don't he just soften his heart so that everyone has a happy ending? Because of it, Egyptians are experiencing horrible disasters. Is that fair for God to do this? And one more thing, you said we have no predestination, then why some people get so lucky and some aren't? The fact that our lives are so different drastically are the proof that God is either lazy or he doesn't exist.

Answer
Won,

I don't remember the exact verse, but it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart so that God could show His power through the miracles.  The Israelite nation was just being "born" and it would no doubt come under heavy attack from all the other nations if they just "walked out".  Through the miracles, the other nations knew that there was a "different" God of Israel who delivered them with a might hand.

I'm not sure I understand the statement of being lucky.  We read in the Bible that some people have more talents than others, which when used results in significant benefits.  I personally do not believe in luck at all.  For example, some say that they are "lucky at cards".  Cards are neither lucky or unlucky. The results of a card being pulled from a deck is completely and 100% based on physics - specifically how the cards are shuffled.  This is how a "magician" works.  They manipulate the shuffling so that a specific card will appear.  It's not magic and it's not luck.

Our lives are so different because we all have different talents or abilities and we all make different choices.  Some make better choices than others and have better results.  Some don't.

If we hypothesize that God must be active in our lives to exist or to not be lazy, then your conclusion maybe acceptable.  However, why is the hypothesis that God must be directly active in our lives (each and every day)?  We see in the Bible that God provides opportunities; we see that He blesses and punishes people.  However, we never see that God is directly active in someone's life each and every day.

Again, remember we were created only to serve God.  God doesn't make us serve and worship Him, and He doesn't make us not serve and worship Him.  He does bless those who do worship Him through obedience.