Actually it is a carryover from an unanswered thread and I would challenge you to find any post where this specific issue regarding God's eternal thoughts, man's informing of God and the origin of evil have been addressed.
I have neither the time nor desire to find posts. If you want something addressed, state it plainly here or, at the very least, post a link.
Yes, and we've argued that speaking of a will being free because one acts according to his desires is meaningless in a system where the very desires are likewise determined by God in such a manner that they couldn't have been otherwise.
Your implication is that God gives the evil their desires. We certainly do not say so. Did God cause Cain to kill Abel? No. Did Cain act on his own fallen desire? Yes.
Was the die cast? In one way yes, in one way no. Could Cain have done otherwise? I think so. But this in no way reflects on God's decrees--mostly because God does not give us access to the goings on behind Cain's killing of Abel as far as His decrees go.
He does, however, give that access to the life of Joseph--saying that his brothers did sin against him but that He (God) superintended that free and sinful action for good.
And if I'm not mistaken you believe in God's permissive decree, in that God ordains sin by allowing a man to do it, and not hindering his choice. But if that is the case then you have God merely foreknowing man's choice to sin and thus man informing God, which typically Calvinists don't allow. Do you?
Though I don't fit the mold completely, I am an infralapsarian. And God does not merely know man's choices. In some way (a mysterious way) He has ordered all things. Like the writer of a movie script, He has determined the lines, the story-arc, etc. The Director, the Actors, etc. are free to play the assigned role according to their desires. But, their performance in no way changes the story or outcome of the movie.
For example: Tom Selleck was the original choice to play Indian Jones. Had Selleck played that role, rather than Harrison Ford, the movie would have been vastly different, but it would have told the same story. In other words, Selleck's "Indiana Jones" would not have found the Titanic rather than the lost Ark.
Speaking of Titanic, had an actor other than DiCaprio played "Jack," it would not have affected the ultimate sinking of the ship. Had Harry Dean Anderson (MacGyver) played "Jack" he wouldn't have been able to plug the hole in the ship with some chewing gum and avert the disaster. Why? Because the author of the movie had "decreed" the ultimate story and that story ends with the sinking of the ship and the death of "Jack."
So, he was informed by Dahmer's evil intent? Either the evil intent was created by Dahmer and God was made aware of it through divine foreknowledge, OR do you believe this thought eternally existed in the mind of God and thus had no "origin?"
You, again, imply disparity where none exists. You have left no room for "sin" in the equation. Dahmer, like us all, has been radically and devastatingly affected by sin. So, the "evil" that you want to find the singularity to does not come from God or (primarily) from man. It is the result of Man's sinful rebellion in the Garden and that rebellion has affected all mankind and has warped us into doing sinful things--some more sinful than others.
You seem to want to assign personality to Evil. Evil (or sin) is the opposite or antithesis of God and His will. So, when God is disobeyed--like Adam and Eve did in the Garden--evil (or sin) comes into the world. I'm afraid you'd have us believe in the little red devil and the little angle on our shoulders--vying for our loyalty.
Evil is not personal; evil (or, again, sin) is doing the opposite of God's will or being something in rebellion against God--something we are by our very nature.
I would be fine with that answer if Calvinists didn't choose either over the or, but just read a few of these posts to see that most (if not all the Calvinists) seem argue that God cannot be informed by man (i.e. no such thing as foreknowing or permissive decrees).
It depends, I think, what you mean by "permissive decrees." From my reading of your posts, you want to make it that everything is covered by this elusive "permissive decree" and that God is reacting to all that is going on.
The Archangel
