God in bringing Mankind into being decided that, despite the risks, He would
give us complete freedom. The inevitable result is described, as a parable,
in the story of Adam and Eve, in the book of
Genesis. Jesus in His life showed
how to use freedom properly (without sin). And in His death, in some
way we cannot know, since it involves the spiritual world, He overcame for
us the barrier that our misuse of freedom makes between our world and Heaven.
He said in fact:
I go to prepare a place for you in my Father's House, if it were not so I would have told you. (John 14 v2) Heaven
is described in the Bible (
Revelation 21 v4) as a place where there will be no more weeping.
That would be inconceivable if it contained people like us, who misuse our
freedom.
So either our freedom is taken away or we have to be transformed. I cannot
believe that God would have gone to all the trouble He did, or oversee all
the trouble freedom has caused us, only ot remove that freedom at death.
It follows that Jesus did something absolutely momentous on the Cross which
resolves the problem. That resolution is beyond any simple theology to describe.
However we are clearly called not just to believe in Jesus but to follow
His Way, as best we can, beginning the transformation here and now
