Why did God create human beings with inquiring minds?

Answer 1

Biblically, God wanted humans to be like himself and the angels, with the ability to reason, feel deep emotions, and have free will, or in other words, he wanted humans to have "inquiring minds". Humans were the first physical beings to have these gifts, and they were to preside over the Earth and the animals in it. He set a rule on them though, to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and bad, and that would signify that humans would willingly be in subjection to God, and listen to him on such matters. (Genesis 1:26-30)

It is much like a relationship between a parent and child. No loving and just parent would want their children to be programmed so that they have to listen to them. That would be the same as having a robot child. If that were the case, it would make a mutual loving relationship impossible. The parent could love the robot to an extent, but the robot could never love the parent. God did not create humans to be programmed that way because he wanted to have a mutually loving relationship with them. (1 John 4:19) The purpose was to have God providing guidance and love to his creation, and humans listening to God out of love and deep respect for his position as eternal sovereign. (Isaiah 48:18,19)

The whole theme of The Bible is that the devil, who was previously an angel, thought humans would never listen to God because of their physical weaknesses and got them to rebel. (Genesis 3:1-7; Job 2:1-5) Thus, humans used their God given "inquiring minds" to decide for themselves what is good and what is bad, instead of following God's direction. This has ended up being a disastrous decision for mankind.

It took Jesus Christ's sacrifice to show that a human could indeed use their inquiring mind to serve God, and not rebel with their free will, despite the most severe physical tests. (Philippians 2:5-8) Jesus Christ proved the devil was wrong about humanity and redeemed the creation of mankind by his sacrifice. (Matthew 20:28) We now live in a world where the human rebellion has led itself to it's own eventual destruction, as prophesied in the Bible. (Matthew 24:22) However, God has promised to bring about changes to this world and to rightfully establish his rule over the Earth for all time. (Daniel 2:44; Matthew 6:9) Because of the decision to rebel, humanity needed to see what happens when they use their "inquiring minds" to try to rule themselves and not listen to God. This will make the rule of God completely valid from the standpoint of all creation, and he will set matters rights. (Revelation 21:3,4) Humans will then use their "inquiring minds" the right way. (Psalms 150:6)

Answer 2

God created us to be unlike the animals, which operate on instinct alone. It was hoped that our vast curiosity, and emotional thirst, would drive us to search for fundamental purpose and truth, which were deliberately partially hidden to afford us free will. See also:

Is there evidence that we were created?

Can you show that God exists?

Seeing God's wisdom