I think this is a major hurdle for Protestantism, as their view on the anthropology of man certainly differs from Christianity's of 1500 years. It inevitably leads to their idea that man has no free will and God is somehow responsible for evil.
Show me how I believe that God is responsible for evil. I do not. The only thing I can fathom is my saying that God allows evil to happen. I have already said many times that this "omission" is not causal because God has no DUTY to prevent it. God doesn't OWE us anything.
Quite simply. You believe that man is created without the ability to do good. Since God made man as a "sin machine", man can do nothing but sin. Thus, the creator is responsible for his "sin machine" and the actions that it does.
Catholics and Orthodox do not believe that God created man in that fashion.
The only thing I can fathom is my saying that God allows evil to happen. I have already said many times that this "omission" is not causal because God has no DUTY to prevent it. God doesn't OWE us anything.
Yes, you have, but you have also said that man has no free will, and thus, CANNOT be responsible for what they do - thus, the confusion on this end. We merely do what we were "programmed" to do, just like a flower or a tree. We are fulfilling our "sin destiny" since we can do nothing but sin... This stance says - though you try to deny it - that God is the creator and is ultimately responsible for the evil that men do. If you want to take the Calvinist stance, be prepared to follow this train of logic to its conclusion - that God is the cause of evil.
Regards