"Easy" can mean two things:
1) It is easier to fall off a bike than to ride it because it takes less effort.
2) It is easier to ride a bike than to fall off it because it is less painful.

R is talking about #1. Tom is talking about #2. That being the case, I agree with both.

However, God recognizes our free moral agency, but the wind does not.

Let's pull this back to the original question: Why do we sin?

We know that sin brings a lot of pain. And we also know that most people continue in sin; few can truly be called holy saints.

So why do we continue to sin? Not because we want pain, but because we don't want to put forth the effort.

Precisely. Tom said God is an opponent. But God is an opponent who plays fair, while Satan is an opponent who plays dirty. God is a gentleman, but Satan is not.


Yes. Human beings practice the law of less effort also in the spiritual realm.

I mean easy both ways. It takes more effort to fight against God, and it's more painful.

I'll go back to the question I asked previously. Is it easier to serve God, or to fight against Him? Christ said that His yoke is easy and his burden is light. The SOP tells us that Christ's yoke is obedience to the law of God. So that means that obedience to the law is easy. This is the Good News, although almost no one believes it. This is because of the enemy who doesn't play fair. He lies. But inspiration is clear on the matter.

There's also the other quote from the SOP which tells us not to conclude that the wide path is the easy one and the straight one the difficult one.

We were created to obey God. When we behave as we were designed to, we see the difference that Christ was talking about, that His yoke is easy and His burden light.

Any one who is a Christ knows this by personal experience. All you have to do is look at your own experience, and ask yourself the question: Considering the times when I was following Christ closely, and when I wasn't, which was easier?

This is a really easy question to answer.

Then why are so many people lost? That more people are lost than saved is a fact.
In my opinion, as I said, it's easier to be lost because people are not willing to put forth the effort necessary to cling to God.
You say that they are not lost owing to the law of less effort, since it takes more effort to fight against God than to serve Him. Then why are so many lost? What is the reason?
If you say that it's because people are deceived, the fact remains that it is easier to be lost than saved because people are so easily deceived by the devil.

We don't really know what the proportion is, but assuming what you say is true, the reason is that people choose to do the difficult thing, of course.



What's easier, to serve God, or to fight against Him? You appear to believe serving God is difficult, whereas fighting against Him is less so. I don't think this is right. Again, Jesus said, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." Assuming Jesus is correct here, wouldn't that mean this is an easier thing to do than the reverse? The yoke of Satan is hard, and his burden heavy. Isn't this correct?



Because they believe the lies of the enemy, lies which lead to living a hard life. The way of sinners is hard. The yoke of Christ is easy. This is what Scripture teaches.



Please consider the following questions.

1.Is it easier to serve God, or fight against Him? Please take your own experience into consideration. Which path did you personally find more difficult?

2.Is is true that Christ's yoke is easy? Is it true that Satan's yoke is heavy? Similarly, is it true that Christ's burden is light? And Satan's heavy? Is it true that the way of sinners is hard?

3.Also, there's the statement from the SOP that we shouldn't conclude that the wide path is the easy one and the straight one the hard one. It seems to me this is just what's being done.

Another point is that God loves people too much to allow them to easily be lost.

How do you presume to know that?

R is certainly able to speak for herself, but since I agree with her on this point, I'll answer from my own perspective.


According to Jesus, many go down the road that leads to destruction, but few find the road that leads to life.

In the rest of your post, I didn't see one that clearly shows that following God is less difficult. However, Jesus said that the road to life is difficult.


Furthermore, we are told to strive to enter the narrow gate, but I know of no verse that says we need to strive to be lost.


The SOP also teaches that the Christian life is not one of ease.


Note {CTBH 32.1}: it requires no effort to be corrupt. Surely, striving to be holy cannot require less effort than that. In fact, {EW 281.1} tells us that those who want life but make no effort to obtain it will be lost. In short, life requires effort, but death requires none.

I'll end with this well-known quote:

Well said, Arnold, and thank you.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.