Governor of All: God was sovereign over September 11 and so we have hope.

Many Christians are saying about the murderous destruction of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, "God did not cause it, but He can use it for good." There are two reasons I don't say this. One is that it goes beyond, and is contrary to, what the Bible teaches. The other is that it undermines the very hope it wants to offer.

First, it goes beyond and against the Bible. Some people simply are trying to say that God is not a sinner and does not remove human accountability and that He is compassionate. That is true—and precious beyond words. But for most people, far more is implied. Namely, God, by His very nature, cannot or would not bring about such a calamity. It's this view of God that contradicts the Bible and undercuts hope.

How God governs all events in the universe without sinning, and without removing responsibility from man, and with compassionate outcomes is mysterious! But it's what the Bible teaches. God "works all things after the counsel of His will" (Ephesians 1:11).

"All things" includes rolling dice (Proverbs 16:33), falling sparrows (Matthew 10:29), failing sight (Exodus 4:11), financial loss (1 Samuel 2:7), the decisions of kings (Proverbs 21:1), the sickness of children (2 Samuel 12:15), the suffering and slaughter of saints (1 Peter 4:19; Psalm 44:11), the completion of travel (James 4:15), repentance (2 Timothy 2:25), faith (Philippians 1:29), holiness (Philippians 3:12-13), spiritual growth (Hebrews 6:1-3), life and death (1 Samuel 2:6), and the crucifixion of Christ (Acts 4:27-28).

From the smallest thing to the greatest, good and evil, happy and sad, pagan and Christian, pain and pleasure—God governs all for His wise, just, and good purposes (Isaiah 46:10). Lest we miss the point, the Bible speaks most clearly to this in the most painful situations. Amos asks, "If a calamity occurs in a city, has not the Lord done it?" (Amos 3:6). After losing his 10 children, Job says, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21). Covered with boils, he says, "Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity?" (Job 2:10).

Oh, yes, Satan is real and active and involved in this world of woe! In fact, Job 2:7 says, "Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head." Satan struck him. But Job did not get comfort by looking at secondary causes. He got comfort by looking at the ultimate cause. "Shall we not accept adversity from God?" And the author of the book agrees when he says that Job's brothers and sisters "consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the Lord had brought on him" (Job 42:11). James underlines God's purposeful goodness in Job's misery: "You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful" (James 5:11). Job himself concludes in prayer: "I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted" (Job 42:2). Yes, Satan is real, and he is terrible—and he is on a leash.

The other reason I don't say, "God did not cause the calamity, but He can use it for good," is that it undercuts the very hope it wants to create. I ask those who say this: "If you deny that God could have 'used' a million prior events to save 6,000 people from this great evil, what hope then do you have that God will 'use' this terrible event to save you (spiritually or physically) in the hour of trial?" We say we believe He can use these events for good, but deny that He could use the events of the past to hold back the evil of Sept. 11. The Bible teaches He could have restrained this evil (Genesis 20:6). "The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples" (Psalm 33:10). But it was not in His plan to do it. Let us beware. If we spare God the burden of His sovereignty, we lose our only hope.

We all are sinners. We deserve to perish. Every breath is an undeserved gift. We have one great hope: Jesus Christ died to obtain pardon and righteousness for us (Ephesians 1:7; 2 Corinthians 5:21), and God will employ His all-conquering, sovereign grace to preserve us for our inheritance (Jeremiah 32:40). We surrender this hope if we sacrifice this sovereignty.

The author and my theology is founded on the clear teaching of the Bible. I have the utmost grief for the horrific loss we have experienced because of this tragedy. To suggest that I do not is a lie. However, in a sense, no mortal man since Adam is truly innocent. None of us deserves the mercies that He has showered on us. This atrocity was the act of sinful men. They are undoubtedly responsible for their wickedness. At the same time, God is completely sovereign in everything.

Those that murdered Chirst were similarly completely responsible for their sin of killing the Lord of life. On the other hand, Christ was delivered according to the determined counsel of God. In other words, God willed that this dastardly act should occur in order to secure the salvation of His people.

This divine mystery is not for us to question. We are but mere creatures. It is God's preregoative to deal with fallen man according to His good pleasure. we all must submit to His lordship. I pray you will do so.

So your god plans every jot and tittle - past, present and future - and everything from pulling hairs out of the heads of balding middle-aged guys to hurling burning people out of 90 story office towers is part and parcel of his jolly old plan. And Free will? That's just tripe for the masses who don't realize that every event, action and reaction is already set in stone by our loving (if capricious and bloodthirsty) god. Sorry, this sounds like baldersash to me.

Luke 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

I know there is alot of anger right now...but God knows...yep even your hair..

This thread has attracted quite a few non-Christians who are confused by the seeming inconsistancy within the theology that is arrived at. I would like to have a shot at clarifying if I may.

First, there are 2 concepts which must be re-conciled. The first concept is the Omnipotence of God. God is the God of the possible, he can do anything. Why? He is the author of all of existance. Physics works because he designed our physical world and the rules that govern physical existance. Because he created physics, he is not bound by it. When he suspends or changes physical rules, that is know as a "substanitive miracle". Since he created time, he is also not bound by time, which means he sees all of existance without the strictures of linear contraint. When he provides for escape, or witness, or prophecy, or any other situation where timing is involved but the activities can be explained through physics, this is a "temporal miracle". (For example, if there can be shown a physical reason for the parting of the Red Sea through details of an earthquake or volcanic eruption, the fact that Moses lead the people of Israel through the sea and then the Egyptian army was destroyed is no less of a miracle, it's just a temporal miracle and not a substanitive miracle.) The second concept is that of free-will. Each person is imbued with a special gift from God that allows them to choose their actions, thoughts and intents at any moment. While God, being not constrained by time, can clearly see the choices we will make, he does not coerce our choices. He allows us to be independant moral agents and our world is impacted by each choice that each of us make.

Now we come to the questions of what happened in a terrible action like what happened on September 11th.

Did God cause the actions?
No, men using their own free will took the planes captive and flew them into buildings.

Why did God allow this to happen?
Because the men are free moral agents and God has given the gift of free-will to mankind.

Could God have prevented this?
Yes, he could have prevented this at any time.

Why didn't he?
Because he knows of the good that will come from these evil actions by these men.

If God is a loving God, he wouldn't have allowed this to happen, would he?
Children will often scream to their parents "You don't love me" when they don't get what they think is fair and just. But fairness and justice to children is different that it is for their parents. We do not have the mind of God and are contrained by time. One day we will see why God allowed this to happen.

I don't want to believe in a God that would allow innocent people to die because of another's free-will.
That is your freedom and choice. Not wanting to believe in something doesn't make it less true, however. And the alternative, believing in a God that never allows bad things to happen, is disproved every second of every day. We have to live in a world where there are 6 billion moral agents that impact life and there has been only one that has never made an immoral decision. Immoral decisions lead to death and destruction, and we all contribute to that. God allows it because he has given us the gift of free-will. God allows evil, but man must choose to perform it.

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Governor of all

God was sovereign over Sept. 11, and so we have hope