Skandelon
<b>Moderator</b>
Over the years my 'non-calvinistic' view of divine justice has been deemed 'carnal,' but what is the measure of such an accusation?
Calvinism attributes to God determinations, which in any similar human context would be considered unjust by all objective observers.
Yet, by what measure do we deem God 'good' and 'just?' If we look to scripture where it speaks of the just manner in which one should treat another the Calvinists simply dismisses those passages as not applicable to God, but only a measure for how men should act.
If one points to scripture regarding God's holy nature and the fact that he wouldn't even tempt men to sin, they simply defer to 'secondary causes' by which God causally determines the means by which the temptation is sure to take place but where He himself is not the actual tempter thus somehow subtly removing any culpability for effectually bringing the temptation to pass. So, you have God doing anything and everything through secondary means as if that somehow justifies it.
Why does He do this, you ask? The ultimate good, according to Calvinism, is God’s glory. And one would think God's glory would be more manifest by promoting a sense of true justice, but the opposite is the case in the Calvinistic worldview. In fact, it appears that the more people who are repulsed by their view of God's justice the less 'carnal' it must be. Just ignore the fact those repulsed are also born again believers, including many of them when first introduced to reformed theology.
It appears to me that this appeal to God's Glory for the Calvinist has become some kind of a blank check to justify whatever they believe God is responsible for doing, regardless of how 'wrong' it might appear to the rest of us 'carnal' observers.
If God had chosen to save everyone or damn everyone, Calvinists would say it was for His glory. So the theory doesn’t explain anything, since it could be used to explain everything. There is no measure of what 'evil' a Calvinist could claim God has or has not done (through whatever primary or secondary means necessary of course) when he has the blank check waiting in his back pocket ready to pull out at the first sign of any protest by one of the 'carnal' observers. So, I guess we'll just keep our mouths shut (or maybe not) for fear of offending their concept of what is Glorious about our God lest we be labeled once again as "carnal."
Calvinism attributes to God determinations, which in any similar human context would be considered unjust by all objective observers.
Yet, by what measure do we deem God 'good' and 'just?' If we look to scripture where it speaks of the just manner in which one should treat another the Calvinists simply dismisses those passages as not applicable to God, but only a measure for how men should act.
If one points to scripture regarding God's holy nature and the fact that he wouldn't even tempt men to sin, they simply defer to 'secondary causes' by which God causally determines the means by which the temptation is sure to take place but where He himself is not the actual tempter thus somehow subtly removing any culpability for effectually bringing the temptation to pass. So, you have God doing anything and everything through secondary means as if that somehow justifies it.
Why does He do this, you ask? The ultimate good, according to Calvinism, is God’s glory. And one would think God's glory would be more manifest by promoting a sense of true justice, but the opposite is the case in the Calvinistic worldview. In fact, it appears that the more people who are repulsed by their view of God's justice the less 'carnal' it must be. Just ignore the fact those repulsed are also born again believers, including many of them when first introduced to reformed theology.
It appears to me that this appeal to God's Glory for the Calvinist has become some kind of a blank check to justify whatever they believe God is responsible for doing, regardless of how 'wrong' it might appear to the rest of us 'carnal' observers.
If God had chosen to save everyone or damn everyone, Calvinists would say it was for His glory. So the theory doesn’t explain anything, since it could be used to explain everything. There is no measure of what 'evil' a Calvinist could claim God has or has not done (through whatever primary or secondary means necessary of course) when he has the blank check waiting in his back pocket ready to pull out at the first sign of any protest by one of the 'carnal' observers. So, I guess we'll just keep our mouths shut (or maybe not) for fear of offending their concept of what is Glorious about our God lest we be labeled once again as "carnal."
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