TBK,
Good questions. First some concept clearing.
1. We are a Tri-Partite being. As such, we will be conscious forever. The question is where? Is it total abandonment in "outer darkness" is it literal hell fire? I recommend side-stepping the details of that question. One is horrible, the other is worse. Life without God is going to be existence without experiencing anything that could be considered good. There is no other possibility. No sunshine, no waterfalls, no baskets of puppies, no fulfilling relationships, no love. God is the author of good. If we reject God (the real one as opposed to the one we sometimes imagine) we are rejecting ALL that is good.
So, we don't have a choice about whether or not we will forever be conscious (google terminal lucidity and out of body near death experiences for plenty of circumstantial evidence that our consciousness is separate from our body). This should impress upon us the seriousness of the topic.
But Jesus made it clear that we do have a choice about where we will spend eternity. It is a not a location, it is a Person. If it is with God, it will be all good all the time, forever, in heaven, on earth and probably everywhere in between.
2. The second concept to get is that unlike what the WT teaches, where they imagine that people sin because they are weak, or because they don't go to enough meetings, or field service etc.; people sin because they have a sin nature. It is our nature to sin, so we do. We do not naturally want God as our father. We want the object of our devotion to be an idol, religion or an organization. We want one that is performance based so we can a least take a little bit of credit for our good fortunes.
3. God wants a real relationship with us, not based on performance. I married my wife and at times her performance is just not there. Same goes for my performance. We love each other because we are one flesh. I love my sons, not based on their performance, but based on the fact that they are my own flesh. We are family. Love is natural, because it is the nature of family. But, we are not born as part of God's family.
So, if God is after our hearts, our love, and is seeking to make us part of his family that surpasses performance, then how do we deal with such a God? How exactly do people such as ourselves have a relationship with the possessor of infinite wisdom, knowledge & power? In our broken flesh we are scared of him, we hide from him, we try to work for him to appease him, & we ignore him. Notice that all of these reactions are not ones we would see in a healthy marriage or in healthy family relationships. This kind of response is maladaptive, resulting from a perverse and foreign sin nature.
So, it is really our sin nature that is so offensive to God. This is what he wants to destroy, not us....because it is what separates us from him and makes it impossible for us to have a normal relationship. The way we are now, is not satisfying to either one of us.
Enter: Free Will.
Did I choose my wife? Or, did she choose me? The answer is Yes. If it was one sided, then love would be impossible. Love MUST be given by CHOICE. Love is the one thing God cannot create (outside of his own triune nature) BY HIMSELF. Love is by nature a collaborative affair. So what is the basis for a relationship with God. If its not performance, begging, manipulating, bargaining or appeasement, what is it?
The basis is the same as any relationship - BELIEF. I believed my girlfriend and so I enter into a marriage contract with her. 18 years later, I still believe in her and she in me. Good times or bad, we are still going to discharge our duties, and we believe that.
When Jesus was asked what must they do to be saved, the first word out of his mouth was "believe". Like in my marriage, I cannot always perform, but I can always believe.
I can argue with God, reason with him, try to manipulate him and try to appease him... all totally unnecessary and offensive. But, what he wants is for us to believe him. Belief precedes sin (and goodness for that matter). When Eve sinned, she first chose not to believe what God had said. Only then did she act externally in a manner consistent with what had already happened internally.
Because of what Jesus did, he restored the ability to choose. In a sense, we are all now jettisoned back to the same moral position that Eve was in. She didn't have a sin nature and thus was free to choose. So, while we cannot choose to be free of the sin nature, we can choose to believe God. If we do, God says that's good enough for him and he immediately destroys the sin nature in our spirit and gives us a new one. It is a down payment that we can experience in the here and now on the full payment when he destroys our sin nature in our flesh and soul when we are resurrected or raptured, if we live till then.
The question is not why should we choose God. The real question that many deceptions seek to hide is, why would anyone seek to live eternally in the absence of anything that could be considered good? The gates of hell are all locked from the inside.
God... endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath...He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, ...not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. (Romans 9) That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. - Ephesians 2:7
God has made it clear, that he fully intends to honor our choice on whether or not to believe him. Those that do, he will parade as his Trophy... believers are trophies of Grace... just as I consider my sweetie a trophy wife.
“I will call them My people, who were not My people,
And her beloved, who was not beloved.”
“And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them,
‘You are not My people,’
There they shall be called sons of the living God.”
