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To: dangus
Key to the anathema is “that God produces the evil as well as the good works.”

We would agree that God is not the author of evil. Practically, that just means that He uses secondary means to manipulate the evil already present in the world for His holy purposes. He gave Satan permission to reign all sorts of evil on Job. He hardened Pharoh's heart to inflict all manner of evil on the Hebrews. Note that God didn't manufacture the evil in Satan or Pharoh; He merely unleashed it.
43 posted on 01/17/2014 12:06:55 PM PST by armydoc
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To: armydoc

As long as you agree that God does not produce the evil, I’d say you agree with that part of the anathema. And yes, the anathema specifically includes the same caveats you do: “not only by permission, but also properly and of himself.”

The anathema is against antinomialists who argue such things as that Judas was not at fault, himself. Or as the anathema directly states, if anyone states “the betrayal of Judas is no less his own proper work than the vocation of Paul, let him be anathema.”

It’s the second part of the anathema which aimed at Calvinists, but which provides perhaps enough room for some reconciliation with Calvinists. That part condemns those who say, “others, who are called, are called indeed, but do not receive grace, as if they are by divine power predestined to evil, let him be anathema.”

Notice that key to this anathematization is the belief that God’s own power predestined them to evil. Although God knew them to be evil, he did not desire them to be evil, and they are not evil by his work. And that is where the Catholic v Calvinist distinction of free will is so important.


44 posted on 01/17/2014 12:21:41 PM PST by dangus
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