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<\/a><\/p>\nBEN: One of your most helpful qualifications comes on p. 190\u2014\u201cThough many Bible readers (even scholars) presume otherwise, spirit beings in rebellion against God are not portrayed as remaining in God\u2019s service. The presumption confuses God\u2019s sovereign status over evildoers with the notion that they are, so to speak, yet in God\u2019s employ.\u201d This is followed by a useful analogy. What I take away from this is that God\u2019s sovereignty, including over evil, is one thing, the notion that whatever happens is part of God\u2019s will and sovereign plan predetermined before the foundations of the universe, is quite another. Elaborate a bit on your understanding of what God\u2019s sovereignty entails.<\/p>\n
MICHAEL: I back-end sovereignty, as opposed to front-loading it, like high Calvinism does. If sovereignty means (in lay terms) that \u201cGod is in charge,\u201d then God is no less sovereign if he steers all things to the ends he desires without predestinating everything to go a certain way up front. The high Calvinist will say that any view other than a strict predestinarian view like their own strips God of sovereignty (or some such rhetoric). I think that\u2019s incoherent. I like to use the chess analogy here. Which of the two scenarios is more impressive? Let\u2019s say God and you sit down to play a game of chess. Scenario 1, the Predestinarian idea: God tells you, \u201cI\u2019m going to win because I\u2019ve already predetermined all your moves.\u201d Scenario 2, where God allows human freedom: God tells you, \u201cYou can move anywhere you like; it\u2019s up to you. But I\u2019m still going to win. I\u2019m that good.\u201d It\u2019s silly to think Scenario 2 cheapens God\u2019s sovereignty. If anything, it\u2019s even more impressive to think that God allows human freedom but his knowledge and insight and strategic thinking is so comprehensive that it doesn\u2019t matter. He will win the day. You will wind up in the place God wants. I think Scenario 2 is the way Scripture presents life in a fallen world. Evil is here because of God\u2019s\u2019 decision to grant humans and supernatural beings freedom. That attribute is a necessary part of being an imager of God. Without it, the imaging idea is vapor or a deception. But God retains all his attributes in perfection. He will influence imagers to make decisions; when they don\u2019t make a decision he wants (sin, rebellion, or mistakes), he will adjust his strategy until things work\u2014until the outcome he desires is produced. God thus doesn\u2019t need evil for things to work. He succeeds in his plan to restore Eden (without changing the rules of engagement) despite evil.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BEN: One of your most helpful qualifications comes on p. 190\u2014\u201cThough many Bible readers (even scholars) presume otherwise, spirit beings in rebellion against God are not portrayed as remaining in God\u2019s service. The presumption confuses God\u2019s sovereign status over evildoers with the notion that they are, so to speak, yet in God\u2019s employ.\u201d This is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Demons!-- Part Twenty Eight<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"BEN: One of your most helpful qualifications comes on p. 190\u2014\u201cThough many Bible readers (even scholars) presume otherwise, spirit beings in rebellion\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Demons!-- Part Twenty Eight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BEN: One of your most helpful qualifications comes on p. 190\u2014\u201cThough many Bible readers (even scholars) presume otherwise, spirit beings in rebellion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bibleandculture\/2020\/08\/06\/demons-part-twenty-eight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-06T05:09:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta 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