tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1254465768246296076.post3012450765577711410..comments2015-03-07T22:40:15.422-08:00Comments on Scribbles. In Bite-Sized Bits!: The Determinism DiscussionEx N1hilohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05386655937760778985noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1254465768246296076.post-19332802454305072422012-05-28T14:45:55.303-07:002012-05-28T14:45:55.303-07:00"The problem with premise 1 is that Scripture..."The problem with premise 1 is that Scripture explicitly teaches the contrary. And it gives us many counterexamples to premise 1. For this reason, I have had to abandon this principle. I have had to say “Let God be true and every man a liar.” I had to admit that I was the liar; denying God's sovereign providential governance over all created things."<br /><br />This sounds like you've abandoned intellectual congruity for the idea that God is sovereign. And, you've unwittingly put the blame for sin on God. God would be the one who needs to be punished for sin, not us. God would be unjust to impute the sin to one who is forced to commit it. <br /><br />This is not the case, thankfully. Human causality, or human input into the system, does not require man to create events out of nothing. This is a concerted effort. The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man are both at play. It's "both/and" not "either/or". God works in and through his created beings according to their nature. If it is in their nature to have free will, then God works in them according to that nature. God, as the first cause, gives causal power to mankind who are the secondary cause. Otherwise, we could determine to do something, but still lack the power to bring it to pass. We are like living breathing characters in a story who are given work in tandem with the author to bring about his ends. The author is not taken by surprise, believe me. God permits evil actions to occur and gives the agents the causal power to bring them about. It was we who determined to do the evil action, but God permits it to occur and uses it for his purposes. There is no needless suffering or evil in the world. All events are used by God for his glory. <br /><br />Also, what would be the point in God showing his righteous judgment to men who HAVE to commit evil actions? They don't even have a choice in the realization of his righteous judgment. They HAVE to realize it. And because of that, it's not a virtue. No virtues exist where good and evil actions are forced.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com