We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
If God shouldn’t get blamed when free agents do evil, why should he be thanked when they do good?
Scripture tells us that every good gift comes from God the Father who “does not change like shifting shadows” (Ja 1:17). I interpret this to mean that God is always good and that he’s always working for good. In all circumstances, Paul said, “God is working for the good” (Rom. 8:28). We live and move and have our being in God, an he’s always influencing things in the direction of love while trying to get people to seek and find him (Ac. 17:24-29). Yet, because people and angels havefree will, they can yield or resist God’s all-pervasive good influence. When good things happens, therefore, it’s often partly due to the fact that some free agents said “yes” to God’s good influence. But when evil happens, its always exclusively due to that fact that some free agents said “no” to God’s good influence.
So when evil things happen, its never appropriate to blame God. But when good things happen, its always appropriate to thank God as well as any others who were instrumental in bringing it about.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Free Will, Predestination, Q&A
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, The Problem of Evil
Related Reading
How do you respond to Genesis 25:23?
The Lord told Rebekah, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.” (cf. Rom. 9:12–16) Old Testament scholars agree that the author (and later, Paul in Romans 9) has the descendants of Jacob and…
Doesn’t the open view demean God’s sovereignty?
The Open view demeans God’s sovereignty only if one assumes that “sovereignty” means “meticulous control.” By why think this is the way God wants to rule the world? The biblical narrative presents a God who gives humans (and apparently angels) free will, who is flexible and creative in running the world, and who relies at…
How do you respond to Ezekiel 26:1–21?
There are a number of specific prophecies against various cities in the Old Testament which were fulfilled (though some were not, see Jer. 18:6–10). The Lord’s prophecy against Tyre is one of the most impressive. The Lord says Nebuchadnezzar will ravage the seaport (vs. 7–11) and tear down all the buildings and throw the rubble…
Revelation 13:8 refers to “everyone whose names have not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life.” How does that square with open theism?
Three possibilities exist in terms of reconciling Revelation 13:8 with open theism. 1) First, the “from the foundation of the world” clause can attach to either “everyone whose names have not been written” or to “the lamb that was slain.” For example, the TNIV translates this passage “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the…
What is the significance of Deuteronomy 8:2?
Moses tells the Israelites that the Lord kept them in the desert forty years “in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.” In the classical view, God would have of course eternally known the character the people would develop in the…
What is the significance of Numbers 14:12–20?
In response to Israel’s bickering the Lord says “I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you [Moses] a nation greater and mightier than they” (vs. 12). Moses asks the Lord to forgive the people, and the Lord eventually responds, “I do forgive, just as you have asked” (vs.…