[grey_whiskers]

Why would God create a rational being, in his image and likeness only to demand of him to become like a naïve child?

That's trivial.

From John Donne's Batter My Heart, Three-Personed God:

I, like an usurpt towne, to'another due,
Labour to'admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weake or untrue.

We must be "born again" and "become like a little child" precisely *because* our faculties have become corrupted: and we must needs re-grow into a proper relationship with God.

Whether this will lead to felix culpa in time, then eternity; and the surface conflict between Romans 3:8 and Romans 8:28 is another matter: hint, the difference is "let *us* do evil" vs. "GOD works all things" -- the primary agent is different in either case; and one is looking at time as we experience it, the other from the lens of eternity...

Cheers!

[Alamo-Girl]

We must be "born again" and "become like a little child" precisely *because* our faculties have become corrupted: and we must needs re-grow into a proper relationship with God.

Indeed. Thank you for sharing your insights, dear brother in Christ!