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Originally Posted by BurningQuestion
Is the freedom that we enjoy good to have in the first place? How much freedom is too much?
Would you knowingly give freedom to a person you knew would commit a crime, or would cause others to commit crimes?
In this way (another somewhat extreme analogy, but it illustrates my point), this would be similar to allowing a criminal to roam free, instead of being put in jail, in the hopes that he would come back and "return" to what society deems as moral conduct. Not all freedom is good. Not all criminals (in fact, very few) would return to ethical behaviors on their own accord. In the same way, God should have known (because he is omnipotent) that not all people would return to him. He should not have allowed it in the first place.
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Want another extreme analogy?
Years ago, I read a news story about a group of parents belonging to some way-out religious group. A "prophet" told them that their children would grow up to be monstrous criminals (robbers, murderers, and such), so they threw their babies into the ocean to ensure that such a horrible thing would not happen. They did with their children what you seem to be suggesting that God should have done with people: total prevention of evil.
Somehow, I have to insist that my judgment of that religious group as being "way-out," and that prophet as being a false, evil prophet is reasonable. I think our government judged those parents as being murderers (I didn't see any follow-up news stories, so I'm merely assuming the parents went to prison, based upon the usual laws governing our society). Even if a mother is certain her child is going to make bad decisions in life, she has no right to utterly prevent those bad decisions by preventing her child's becoming an adult (either by outright murder, or by being a "control freak").
What about known criminals (and other wrongdoers)?
When I was 14 years old, I did a terrible thing. My parents were shattered when they learned what I had done. We had to make a decision about how to deal with the situation. I am sorry to say that we made the wrong decision, and I wound up adding wrong to wrong. My bad decisions cost my parents a lot of money, too. Many parents, after having their trust violated in this way, would put their daughters on restriction forever. They would never want to let their daughters out of their sight! However, my parents told me that even though I had violated their trust, they had decided to trust me again. They felt I had made a mistake, and learned from it. They did not punish me.
If you put a criminal in jail, one day you will have to let her out, unless she committed a very serious felony. Her parole board has reports on her behavior in prison, but they do not know how she will behave in society. (Prisons are not known as places where criminals reform.) Currently, the news media are filled with stories about sex offenders. Many people believe that this class of criminals is bound and determined to commit crimes again. Yet the law requires that they be released back into society when they have met the requirements of their sentencing. Should their neighborhoods be plastered with flyers warning that a Very Evil Person lives there? Should we lock them up and throw away the key? Easier still, why not just put them to death? Or is there hope that they could change?
If God chose not to "lock us up and throw away the key" (at least, not in this life), is he behaving any worse than one of our parole boards? Would you call our parole boards evil for releasing a felon who has "done her time?" Would you call parents evil if they decide to hope for the best for their wayward children?