Below is a segment from Blogcorner preacher's John Luke. I suggest reading the whole thing, as it's an excellent post. Following that is a segment with links to some thoughts on the problem of evil from the guys over at FIDE-O. Both are blogs worth reading.
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No, not that string theory, which only purports to give us a glimpse at God's underlying laws of physics. Rather, the puppet on a string theory of mankind.
What, the free will folks cry, we are all given free will by God, are we not? Yes, and no. God's revelation to us of His Son should have been the convincing event; the one thing that should convince us that our vaunted free will in no ways will be sufficient to stand when God wills otherwise.
Consider the dialogue in John 19, verses 10-11, between Jesus and Pilate, just before Pilate hands the Lord over for crucifixion:
10 So Pilate said to him, "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?" 11 Jesus answered him, "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin."
There's that pesky reminder of Who is always in charge. Not the Jews. Not their Roman overlords. God. The betrayal of Jesus, his mock trial before Pilate, the Jews screaming for his death, all had to happen. Judas had no free will. Pilate had no free will. The crowd, the Roman centurions, had no free will in this matter.
Does this mean that we are all mere puppets on a string, and therefore we need not worry about sin? Not at all. Just the opposite, in fact; we are to use our free will to avoid sin as much as possible. But we're all sinners, no matter how much we worry about sin. We all have sinned, we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). There is none without this stain, except Jesus. The rest of us, as it pleased God then, and as it pleases Him now, will do what He needs us to do to reveal to us His eternal truths.
Was Judas a greater sinner than you or I? Likely so, insofar as God had determined, from before time, that the man Judas would not be saved, and hence was a worthy candidate for great sin. Likewise Pilate; likewise the mob; likewise (most of) the Romans who crucified our Lord. But they were merely God's agents, as we are now. God made it happen, to fulfill His promises of a savior from the root of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1-5).
(for the rest of this post go HERE)
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From FIDE-O
Many people ask this question, "Why did God create evil?" -- especially when trouble comes, when suffering invades their life. The question is a good one and worthy to be answered.
First, a person must realize that evil is not a created thing. Show me an evil. You cannot. Evil is not a thing; it is an action. Evil is something that someone does. So evil was not created by anybody, but evil is done by the will of fallen angels and mankind.
Second, God did not allow evil to be done. "Allow" denotes permission and God does not permit or condone evil. But God does let evil be done. Meaning He could stop sin from happening but sometimes does not, thus He "lets" it happen. Usually, He stops evil from happening by His restraining grace, but obviously He lets much evil happen. Why? Because in His wisdom He knows that evil will work to magnify His glory. Do we question that wisdom? No, because God is perfect and His wisdom is perfect. In other words, the perfect plan to glorify God includes evil being present temporarily in Creation. And in the mean time, all of creation groans, and we ourselves eagerly await for redemption.
(for the rest of this post go HERE)
And also from FIDE-O:
In a recent post I was asked to explain further what evil actually is. As I have noted previously, evil is not a created "thing" as much as it is an action or lack of an action. By "action" we mean that it is a deed, thought, or desire...not a tangible object. Evil is sin.
BTW: it was the Gnostics of the Second Century who believed that everything material was evil. This heresy stemmed from a view of evil as being tangible, material things. Yet, when God completed His six-day creation, He said of it that it was "good." Evil (sin) was not part of creation, but evil was possible by creatures with moral capabilities (angels and humans).
So, what is sin.
The Larger Westminster Catechism (#24) defines sin as "any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, any law of God, given as a rule to the reasonable creature."
Lets break this down in a brief manner:
1. "want of conformity" = that means sin is a nonconformity to the law of God; sin is an omission of an action of obedience to God's commands.
2. "transgression of" = that means sin is the action of breaking the law of God; sins of commission are when we commit actions prohibited by God; sin can be the absence of an action.
3. "reasonable creature" = sin is not even possible for the Creator but the creature; and is only possible because the Creator gave the creature the capability of moral action by a will; sin is an action only capable by a moral agent other than God.
(for the rest of this post go HERE)
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