Cause and Effect

This afternoon I had the opportunity to discuss "cause and effect" with my son as part of his school work. At first he was having problems understanding how to determine which was which as he was learning of the uses of "because" and "so". We went through his story and he was still struggling so I put it into terms that he could understand. We began to talk about Star Wars. We went through the life of Darth Vader from a slave boy to Sith Lord. We examined the the causes and the effects of the choices that were made by Anakin and by others that lead him down the road to the darkside.

Then I pointed out that every book, every movie and every life is a series of cause and effect. This got me thinking about the state of man.
(Cause) In the beginning man was created good.
(Effect) God walked with man daily in the Garden of Eden.
(Cause) Man in his free will chose to be disobedient to God.
(Effect) Sin and death entered into all man kind.
(Cause) Man continued to rebel against God.
(Effect) God enacted the first part of His plan of redemption by establishing a people of His own and giving them the law.
(Cause) The Law of God is given to man.
(Effect) Man's sin is reveled by the perfect law of God.
(Cause) God is Holy and Just and Perfect.
(Effect) Man is separated from God due to the sin in our life.
(Cause) Man is sinful.
(Effect) We deserve eternal damnation in hell.
(Cause) No one is good, not even one.
(Effect) God must be true to Himself and deal out justice.
(Cause) God is Loving and Merciful.
(Effect) God pays the price for man's sin by sending Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice.
(Cause) Jesus is righteous.
(Effect) He lives a life without sin.
(Cause) Jesus is crucified by sinful man.
(Effect) Jesus pays the penalty for sin (the wages of sin is death.)
(Cause) Jesus dies.
(Effect) Sin can no longer separate man from God.
(Cause) Salvation is a free gift from God.
(Effect) All mankind can find salvation through Jesus Christ.
(Cause) Each of us has free will to accept or reject salvation through Jesus Christ...
(Effect) ...The choice is yours...

I have often been asked how a loving God could send anyone to hell, but the truth is God isn't sending anyone - He has simply set two choices before each of us and gives us the freedom to choose.

Genesis 2:15-17 "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Joshua 24:15, "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

Matthew 7:13-14, "“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."