The Church's Witness to the World: Chapter 13

All religions acknowledge some sort of divine government of the world. Even the heathen have preserved the notion that a higher hand rules the destinies of men and nations. It need not surprise us, therefore, that with one consent the Christian churches have professed to believe in providence. This teaching is etched so clearly on the pages of the Holy Writ and follows so directly from the Biblical doctrine of God, that we should rather be amazed that the church’s practical life has been sharply divorced from her theory.

In the light of her confession, the church ought readily to approve the testimony of John Flavel, “It is great support and solace of the saints in all the distresses that befall them here, that there is a wise Spirit sitting in all the wheels of motion, and governing the most excentrical creatures and their most pernicious designs to blessed and happy issues. And, indeed, it were not worth while to live in the world devoid of God and providence.” [1]

Yet the church is far from agreed on the doctrine of divine providence. Many seem to be getting along quite well without any real conviction that there is “the same God, who worketh all things in all.” (1 Cor 12:6) Some differences root in the shifting emphases of Christendom’s theologians. Others are the result of the cataclysmic events of the past half century which have prompted men to ask, “Where is now thy God?” (Ps. 42:3,10) Not a few in every age have been so overwhelmed with personal tragedies that they felt compelled to admit faith in a God too small for their needs. Many who still profess to be Christians cannot in good conscience subscribe to the formulation of the article 13. This rejection of the specifically Augustinian and Reformed view of God’s providence constitutes one of the chief challenges to the witnessing church today.

When the believing church seeks to meet the challenges of daily life, she should be clothed in the armor of God’s promise. In thought and heart, she knows herself strong in the Lord. This was the steadfast assurance of the singers of the Old Testament, who praised God amid the greatest perils. We hear the sons of Korah singing, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why are thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him, Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.” (Ps 42:11) In the full assurance of faith David confesses in the face of his calamities, “I will cry unto God Most High, Unto God that performeth all things for me.” (Ps. 57:2)

In contrast with the optimism of the nineteenth century, our generation feels defeated and disillusioned. When the tides of the first World War washed their wreckage over Europe, men sought an explanation for the tragedy in the pessimistic philosophy of Oswald Spengler. He was convinced that the western world had entered its winter season. The decades which followed did not make it easier for the church to witness to a God who worketh all things after the counsel of his will. The concentration camps and the gas chambers of the Nazis still haunt the hearts of men. Global wars have wreaked mass destruction on tens of thousand who were innocent of any conspiracy against other nations. The stark terror which walked aboard at high noon in Hungary after its ill-fated uprising and still stalks in unnumbered slave-labor camps in Communistic countries is too much with us to make the confession of God’s appointment of all things in this world an easy matter. These words may come lightly to our lips, when we worship in our comfortable churches or take our ease in cozy homes. They are apt to sound off-key, when we preach them publicly throughout the nations which have tasted the violence of the wicked.

The incongruity of the doctrine of divine providence in this present world has been felt throughout the ages. Ours is not the first to taste the bitter dregs of suffering and sin. We ought to be able to understand why Feuerbach, Freud and Nietzsche regarded this doctrine as merely the pious projection of our own desires. Marx considered the notion that God controls all things as a bourgeois escapism. Many liberals, while still professing to believe in the Christian God, have watered down providence to include only those things which are good and lovely and pleasing. Anything which smacks of evil they assigned to man apart from God’s direction. In their theories we see the ripened fruit of humanism, the seeds of which are widely scattered by not only Pelagius and Arminius but also Thomas Aquinas. The good God can only do that which seems good to man. In their views there is little room for wrath and judgment. Even among the pagan Greeks and Romans we find noble expressions of faith in a providence which overrules all things. But when these people faced the fears and frustrations of daily living, they sought refuge for their minds and hearts by explaining the hard facts of life as the fruits of fate and chance. Past ages might well join with our own to sing the raucous song in the last scene of Cavalcade on the twentieth century blues which “are getting me down”. [2]

Ever since the Renaissance man’s thought has ceaselessly swung between the extremes of optimism and pessimism. The new learning stimulated hill to assert his ability to control the world in which he lived. Out of this was modern science born. But today, our knowledge has gotten out of control. What was to have been the servant of man is now a Moloch ready to devour his children. The universe has turned out to be man’s foe. Here he suffers and struggles and is beaten down by forces to strong for him to subdue. Having lost his way, he feels there is nothing to strive for, love or keep alive for.

In sharp contrast with the anguish of the human race, the words of article 13 seem so strange and abstract. Yet they are tried and true. All the statements which the church here makes are pure gold refined in the crucible of her own struggle and sufferings. Before the Reformation the doctrine of divine providence was abstractly debated in the halls of Roman theological learning. God was redefined in terms of Occam’s nominalism, which regarded him as free from all law and capricious in his acts. Man as image-bearer was also regarded as free and unpredictable in his actions. Among the more pious a discussion of the mysteries of divine providence was cut off as unprofitable and apt to make men irreligious. In practice the people and even many of the clergy sought refuge in magic and superstition. The God of the Scriptures was to all practical purposes excluded from their thought and plans. When the Bible was again preached in its purity and relentless persecution was meted out to those who believed its message, the doctrine of divine providence taught in Holy Writ and expounded by Augustine came alive. Faith once more began to proclaim God and his gracious care of those who trusted in his word.

Faith in divine providence is not an article which we hold in common with non-Christians. To this Calvin calls our attention, when he writes, “For although the minds even of impious men, by the mere contemplation of earth and heaven, are constrained to rise to the Creator, yet faith has a way peculiar to itself to assign to God the whole praise of creation.” [3] There is a general testimony that the same God who made the world is still in control. But only the Christian who lives by God’s word can understand and believe and trust what is here affirmed. In all circumstances he has learned to affirm with the prophet, “O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” (Jer. 10:23) The personal challenge to repentance and faith is the heart of the church’s witness to the world concerning the providence of God in these days. Only faith will keep the armor of the church clean and bright from the corrosives of modern unbelief:

This article begins with a triumphant confession. It speaks of the same God who has been confessed earlier. He is the one who created all things and did not forsake them, or give them up to fortune of chance. This language needs to be heard again in the streets and homes.

From the beginning the Christian church took sharp issue with the two prevailing schools of pagan thought on the way in which the world is run. Among the Greeks and Romans were many Epicureans who believed that the world is governed by chance. More noble in several respects were the Stoics who insisted that all things were controlled by fate. Without hesitation the early believers acknowledged that the almighty and gracious God preserves and governs from moment to moment the world and all it contains.

Although this was the common faith of the church, the doctrine of divine providence was not developed until much later. Augustine, who was born in 354 and died in 430, taught in systematic form that everything was under the government of the sovereign, wise and living God of the Scriptures. In his struggle against the Pelagians, who maintained the unrestricted freedom of the human will, he insisted that God controls and directs the evil as well as the good. By stressing the reality of second causes he safeguarded both God’s holiness and man’s responsibility. Gradually the church of the middle ages departed from this teaching, which was not recovered until the time of the Reformation.

Providence is that continued and continual exercise of divine power by which God as the Creator and Lord of all preserves all his creatures, acts in everything that comes to pass in the universe, and directs all things to their appointed end. All this for the Reformed believer involves a full and honest recognition of the second causes which God is pleased to employ as instruments for his purpose. When a house catches fire, this may appropriately be assigned to the carelessness and neglect of men. When wars sweep through the land, we may properly speak of many secondary causes such as the shortsightedness and willfulness of statesmen and rulers, the indolence or chauvinism of people, or the economic pressures which prompt men to seek gain at the expense of others. Likewise, when bountiful harvests cheer our hearts, we may attribute this in a measure to the use of good seed or diligent labor as well as to a happy combination of rainfall and sunshine. But to use the words of Calvin, “whoever has been taught from the mouth of Christ, that the hairs of his head are all numbered, will seek further for a cause, and conclude that all events are governed by the secret counsel of God.” [4]

Three aspects of divine providence are generally distinguished in order that we may speak correctly and comfortingly about what God has told us concerning his control of all things. These, the church has usually called preservation, cooperation and government.

By means of his preservation, God upholds all creatures, maintaining in them those qualities with which he has endowed them at the time of their creation. The Scriptures abundantly testify to this divine activity. “Thou art Jehovah, even thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preservest them all.” (Neh. 9:6) The psalmist confesses, “The eyes of all wait for thee; and thou givest them their food in due season. Thou openest thy hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” (Ps. 145:15,16)

The world and its fullness belongs to the Lord, who not only upholds his inanimate creation but also sustains life among plants and animals, men and angels. If God would but withdraw his hand from the world for a moment, all would be dissolved.

This affirmation is quite different from the view of “continuous creation” advocated in recent years by Karl Heim. His position is that the world is created each instant out of nothing, just as on the first day of creation. This view is by no means new, having been advocated in one form or another many centuries ago. Yet, the church has steadfastly rejected it as contrary to Scripture. What happened “in the beginning” can never be repeated. When certain Reformed theologians used the term, they gave it content quite different from that of Heim, seeking to stress only the continual dependence of all creatures on their Creator in opposition to pantheistic notions which efface the distinction between God and that which he has made. The uniqueness of God’s activity in the beginning may never be obscured. We read in the Bible, “Of old didst thou lay the foundations of the earth” (Ps. 102:25) and again, “One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever.” (Eccl.1:4)

Yet, this doctrine of divine preservation must not be whittled down to a bare minimum. By it the church confesses her faith not only in the activity of God by which he keeps all things in existence. The Bible clearly indicates that the Creator is the overflowing fountain of all life and good, so that his every-where-present activity is a direct revelation of himself. We can never be satisfied with a view of providence which regards this world merely as a neutral backdrop for God’s realization of his eternal counsel. It rather speaks eloquently of the nature and attributes of God. Peter does not hesitate to refer in this connection to the long suffering of the Lord, when speaking of the long centuries of world history. (II Peter 3:9) Therein his sovereignty is also proclaimed. (Ps. 93:2-4) Asaph meditating on the mighty works of God speaks of his incomprehensibility. (Ps.77:12,19) Another sweet singer of Israel tells of the comfort and hope which the knowledge of God’s preservation of the mountains gives to those who trust in him. (Ps. 125:2) In the light of his providential activities we learn to know, not only that God is, but also who and what he is.

Closely associated with preservation is God’s cooperation or concurrence. Here we confess that he so acts in and through all his creatures, according to the laws of their being which he himself has created and maintains, that he both causes them to act and to act precisely as they do. Since this has been frequently denied by those who seek to maintain human freedom at all costs, the Confession has a great deal to say at this point. Because of the entrance of sin and its consequences in our present world, this confession is possibly among the most mysterious and mystifying which the Scriptures lay upon our lips. More will have to be said about it in the next section. Yet we are to remember that the Bible speaks without equivocation on this point. To Israel, who was commanded to work diligently for livelihood, God commanded though Moses, “But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth.” (Deut. 8:18) Solomon is convinced that “The king’s heart is in the hand of Jehovah as the watercourses: He turneth it whithersoever he will.” (Prov. 21:1) Even in the lives of devils and sinful men a direct activity on the part of God must be discerned and acknowledged. “Now therefore, behold, Jehovah hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets; and Jehovah hath spoken evil concerning thee.” (1 Kgs. 22:23) Nor is this toned down in the New Testament. Paul affirms, “And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie.” (II Thess. 2:11)

With respect to God’s government we acknowledge that he so rules all things that they serve his glorious purpose which can never be thwarted. God alone is king of the universe. Again it must be clearly understood and remembered that this government in no way violates the nature of his creatures. He governs the physical world by means of laws which apply peculiarly to its various aspects. In the government of his moral agents, God makes use of moral influences of many kinds. But when all is said and done, the believer in his thought rises above every second cause and attributes the direction of all things to God who works everything according to His holy will, so that nothing happens in this world without His appointment.

In this connection we do well to remember that as Christians we refuse to be forced into a choice between determinism or indeterminism. This choice is forced only upon philosophers who in their speculation have failed to reckon with the unique relation, which the created order sustains to the Creator. The question is not simply that of man being either free or bound. Man is fully free within the limits of his nature. These have been determined by God the Creator and are upheld by him throughout all of history. But these inherent limitations do not do violence to the constitutional nature and moral freedom of man. The problem, indeed, assumes a different shape when we face the insoluble riddle of sin and its entrance into the world. Here we face the fact of a creature, which has corrupted himself by his own voluntary choice. By this act he lost the freedom to choose the highest good. But even now man does what he himself wills to do, although it must be asserted with equal vigor that it is God “who worketh all things after the counsel of his will.” (Eph. 1:11)

As Reformed believers, therefore, we use only with hesitation the construction of first and second causes, since this can so easily be misconstrued after the fashion of Roman Catholic theology. In the vertical relation between God and man, which operates effectively moment by moment, faith recognizes the mysteries which surpass our comprehension. As we seek to do justice to all the facets of Scriptural truth, we soon discover that our thought is overwhelmed by the majesty and greatness of our God who works all things according to his will and yet in whom there is no unrighteousness at all. Everywhere we see the hand of God in history, directing individuals and nations, believers and unbelievers. Yet we fully acknowledge man’s creaturely freedom and responsibility. This double emphasis of God’s word convinces us that history is no mere illusion. Much less is it a meaningless mass of idle and isolated happenings. In the words of Berkouwer, “That is the terrible seriousness of history, that God works in it, and that man is responsible for it.” [5]

If we were living in a normal world which had retained the pristine beauty which it manifested when first created by God, the doctrine of divine providence would present no problem to our minds and hearts.

But now sin has entered the world, and with it all the torments and tortures of body and soul which the human race has experienced. As a creature in who reason has been preserved and to whom choices remain meaningful, man finds himself pondering the imponderables. He seeks an answer to the whys and wherefores which daily obsess his mind. In this activity he betrays himself as an image-bearer of God. Among all peoples there have been those who sought to explain the riddles of life. Without exception they have found themselves confronted with that which is inexplicable. No one has yet satisfactorily answered why there should be both good and bad in this world.

The Bible does not solve the problem of sin as it vexes the intellect. It simply affirms that sin is folly; and folly defies all rational explanation. This does not imply that the church refuses to say anything further about the matter. In times past there were pious people who sought refuge in such an escape. Yet their attitude betrays a refusal to wrestle with what God has plainly revealed to us in his word concerning the presence, nature and power of sin. Certain matters are clearly stated. These must be believed, even though we cannot fully harmonize them with our minds.

We face a tremendous problem as soon as we seek to explain the presence and power of sin in a world which is completely under the control of God. Yet the Confession strives to face this problem honestly.

Although all things come only by divine appointment, it insists that nevertheless, God neither is the author of, nor can be charged with, the sins which are committed. To incline in this direction, even to the least extent, would be to impugn his truthfulness, to deny his holiness, and to sully his great goodness. All Reformed believers, in spite of repeated accusations and calumnies hurled against them and their view of divine providence, reject categorically that God is in any sense the author of sin. Therefore he cannot in any sense be held responsible for and charged with it.

But having said this, the believer on the basis of the Scriptures must say much more. In language, which cannot be misunderstood, it ascribes all things to the activity of God. No creature can so much as move apart from his will. “Jehovah hath made everything for its own end; yea even the wicked for the day of evil.” (Prov 16:4) Speaking of the evils which come upon the nations, Isaiah declares, “For Jehovah of hosts hath purposed, and who shall annul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isa. 14:27) To maintain a freedom of human action apart from God’s control in these matters is to fly in the face of what God himself has said. Speaking of those who willfully reject the gospel, Peter does not hesitate to go so far as to state, “For they stumble at the word, being disobedient; whereunto also they were appointed.” (1 Peter 2:8) Thus God speaks of himself as hardening the heart of Pharaoh and sending an evil spirit upon Saul. In Ezekiel we hear God saying, “And if the prophet be deceived and speak a word, I, Jehovah, hath deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.” (Ezek. 14:9)

The problem comes into its sharpest focus in connection with the death of our Lord. For without hesitation, the Bible tells us that this was the will and counsel of God for our redemption. God plainly sent his only-begotten Son into the world, in order that he might die for our sins. To this end God himself arranged and directed all the events of our Savior’s betrayal and death. Yet the wicked men who slew him were fully responsible for their deeds. This Peter affirms in these words, “Him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay.” (Acts 2:23)

Because of these and many other strong statements which the Scriptures employ to designate God’s control over men when they are sinning, Calvin and with him the Reformed churches reject the idea that this consists only in a bare permission on God’s part. We refuse to regard God merely as a passive spectator much less a hapless bystander.

Concerning God’s relation to all evens and acts of men, including their sins, we confess the following:

(1) All such events occur according to God’s predetermination and purpose. This is not merely foreknowledge in the sense that God knows ahead of time what men shall do. All uncertainty is ruled out by God’s counsel. “Jehovah of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.” (Isa. 14:24)

(2) This predetermination of God in no way rules out the full moral responsibility of man for his acts. He is never forced contrary to his mind and will to do that which is evil. Rather, he commits sin by his own decision.

(3) Although the sinful deeds of men occur according to God’s predetermination, yet God himself is not the author of sin nor responsible for their deeds. “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man; but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.” (Jas. 1:13,14)

(4) God, however, controls also the sinful acts of men and overrules the evil which men intend by the good ends which he has purposed. This is clearly evident from the story of Joseph. “And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” (Gen. 50:20)

On the basis of these and similar passages of Holy Writ we confess, For his power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible, that he orders and executes his work in the most excellent and just manner, even then, when devils and wicked men act unjustly. Much of what the Most High does, especially in connection with the sinful deeds of men and devils, far surpasses our understanding. We are therefore cautioned against prying curiously in the impenetrable mysteries of God’s dealings with mankind. Here the church fully recognizes our limitations and forbids us to go beyond that which the Scriptures plainly teach. What we are rather to do is with the greatest humility, adore the righteous judgments of God, even as the psalmist when commenting on the mighty works of the Lord among all peoples exclaims, “Thy way was in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters, and thy footsteps were not known.” (Ps. 77:19) The presence and power of sin in a world, which was created good and perfect by God and governed by his efficacious, will ever remain an inscrutable mystery to us. Therefore, we are counseled to content ourselves that we are pupils of Christ, to learn only those things what He has revealed to us in His Word, without transgressing these limits.

The Confession was written in times of severe persecution. Thousands of Reformed believers were cruelly put to death by the authorities largely at the instigation of the Roman church and priests. For many of these true believers, the question arose how their sufferings could be harmonized with the Biblical teaching of God’s gracious and fatherly care of his own. Yet, as they clung to the word they found unspeakable consolation in its promises which assured them that the Sovereign of the universe never slumbers or sleeps. Their God was able to avert all evil or otherwise turn it to their profit.

To them, God was not for a moment removed from the activities of life. They urged as their deepest conviction that all things happened by His holy will. In all things, even their sorrows, pains and griefs, they recognized and professed the direction of our most gracious and heavenly Father. For them there could be no doubt either that God loved them with an eternal and unchangeable love or that he was able to control all things. All creatures, including even their most inveterate enemies, were in the hands of the Lord.

Thus, they urged a complete and childlike trust in God. To them, this was the secret of a blessed and victorious life for the children of God. Here lies the challenge of the doctrine of God’s providence for believers in every age. Only in the measure in which they confide in the sovereign and gracious rule of the heavenly Father will their lives be free from worry, fear and doubt. This produces within their hearts a peace which passes all understanding and enables them to look beyond the dangers and disappointments of this life to the eternal inheritance which is reserved for all them that trust the mercies of the Lord. Also the Heidelberg Catechism speaks of this spiritual comfort which accrues to those who look to God. The profit of knowing that God has created and by his providence still upholds all things is “that we may be patient in adversity, thankful in prosperity, and with a view to the future, may have good confidence in our faithful God and Father that no creature shall separate us from His love, since all creatures are so in His hand that without His will they cannot so much as move.” [6]

The Confession realized that faith in God’s providential appointment of all things is under repeated attack. It therefore singled out one great foe and thereby condemned also all other views which militate against what the Bible plainly teaches. And therefore, we reject that damnable error of the Epicureans, who say that God regards nothing, but leaves all things to chance. Any theory which obscures, minimizes or repudiates the continual and comprehensive activity of God in this world must be regarded as suspect and unscriptural.

Since the days of the Reformation the doctrine of divine providence has been subjected to many attacks. With the rise of natural sciences, men mocked the idea of miracles and acknowledged rather the reign of natural law. God has either been far removed from the activities of the human race and shut up in his heaven or else been redefined as an impersonal force to be equated with natural law. For some generations a spirit of boundless optimism concerning the future of mankind prevailed. It was argued that the race was climbing continually onward and upward, as new discoveries concerning man and his world were made. So completely was everything under human control, that many were confident that within the foreseeable future sickness, famines and wars would be successfully relegated to the dark ages of the past.

All the horrible events of the past fifty years have compelled men to face anew the reality of evil. Instead of indulging in optimistic visions of the future, the leaders have sounded warnings of the coming of a new dark age. Today it is fashionable to embrace a nihilistic philosophy which argues that nothing in this life makes sense. Those who still remember the historic Christian confession of divine providence speak of the demonic, the irrational forces which work for disorder and destruction. Not a few remain convinced that our scientific knowledge prohibits the intelligent from putting trust in a personal and sovereign God who they have never seen. The best that a worldly thought offers is to take life as it is with the courage of whistling in the dark. Yet, this at best has torn hope from the human heart. The easiest way out of the impasse is to stop thinking. Where this fails, men try to drown their sorrows in the mad pursuit of pleasure. If then the tears still flow and the heart breaks, only suicide remains as an escape from the meaningless round of life filled with problems too great for the mind of man to solve.

The Christian has a vital message for today’s world. His faith that God rules all things wisely and well, even though we cannot fathom his purposes or understanding his ways, gives peace and courage to those who take the word of the Lord seriously. Faced with an existence too complicated for our minds to unravel, the Christian lifts his heart to God and exclaims with Paul, “O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out…For of him, and though him, and unto him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Rom. 11:33-36)

[2] Noel Coward: “Cavalcade,” quoted in H.E. Luccock’s “Contemporary American Literature and Religion,” p. 135

On the face of it this statement seems contradictory. How can someone who appoints everything to happen NOT be charged(blamed) with what happens?

It just "happens" that one of the books I am reading now (two chapters a day so as not to overload my aging brain:>) Is a book by Sproul on doctrine

He speaks of it this way ..and it says what I ~thought~ I understood much better than I ever could

The central point of the doctrine of God's providence is the stress on God's government of the universe. He rules his creation with absolute sovereignty and authority.He governs everything that comes to pass, from the greatest to the least.Nothing ever happens beyond the scope of His providential government.He raisers up Kingdoms and He brings them down.He numbers the hairs on our head and the days of our life.
There is a crucial difference between the providence of God and fortune,fate or luck. The key difference is found in the character of God. Fortune is blind, but God is all seeing. Fate is impersonal but God isa father.Luck is dumb while God can speak.There are no blind impersonal forces at work in human history. All is brought to pass by the invisible hand of providence .
In a universe goverened by God there are no chance events.Indeed,there is no such thing as chance. Chance does not exist. It is mearly a word we use todescribe mathematical possibilities. But chance itself has nopower because it has no being.Chance is not an entity that can influence reality.Chance is not a thing. It is nothing.
Another aspect of providence is concurrence.Concurrencerefers to the coterminous actions of God and human beings. We are creatures with a will of our own.We make things happen. Yet the casual power we exert is secondary .God's providence stands over and above our actions. He works out His will through the actions of human wills, without violating the freedom of human wills.

Essential Truths of the Christian Faith . RC Sproul pp 62

He cites as examples of the will of man working Gods plan the account in Genesis of Joseph and the treachery of Judas..

(typos mine:>)

But when these people faced the fears and frustrations of daily living, they sought refuge for their minds and hearts by explaining the hard facts of life as the fruits of fate and chance.

This seems to be what the author is arguing against, the belief that the course of Men's lives are ruled by fate and chance. That's nice, but I have never heard a Christian Minister/Pastor/Whatever teach that. I'm getting through the article and it seems so far that the author is spending his time beating up this straw man.

Now I agree that the 21st century Christian needs a healthy dose of teaching about God and His Sovereignty, but I don't think the two choices are God's Sovereigny and capricious fate.

Here we confess that he so acts in and through all his creatures, according to the laws of their being which he himself has created and maintains, that he both causes them to act and to act precisely as they do....The problem, indeed, assumes a different shape when we face the insoluble riddle of sin and its entrance into the world.

What riddle? According to the author God causes them(us) to act as precisely as they(we) do. Given that and given that Man commits sin, Who causes(-ed) sin?

There is no riddle. Given the statements made by this author God caused sin to enter this world.

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time swallowing that.

He is never forced contrary to his mind and will to do that which is evil. Rather, he commits sin by his own decision.

True, but the author stated earlier that it was God who gave Man his mind and will in the first place.

My son loves Hot Wheels, especially the race tracks. Let's say I build a race car track that leads the car out into the middle of a busy road. I place the car onto the track and let it go. The Hot Wheels car goes out into traffic and gets smushed. Who is responsible for the car getting smushed? The car or the one who built the track in such a way that the car, by its nature, went out into traffic?

“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempteth no man; but each man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.” (Jas. 1:13,14)

That's a good passage.

What about this one?

I Cor 10:
[13] There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

There is a crucial difference between the providence of God and fortune,fate or luck. The key difference is found in the character of God. Fortune is blind, but God is all seeing. Fate is impersonal but God isa father.Luck is dumb while God can speak.There are no blind impersonal forces at work in human history. All is brought to pass by the invisible hand of providence .

In a universe goverened by God there are no chance events.Indeed,there is no such thing as chance. Chance does not exist. It is mearly a word we use todescribe mathematical possibilities. But chance itself has nopower because it has no being.Chance is not an entity that can influence reality.Chance is not a thing. It is nothing.

Thanks for the quote Mom. However, I still don't think it is valid to say it is either God ordering everything or chance/fate/luck.

Kevin do you belive God has a plan for your life?

Of course I do. Do I believe that I could lose out on that plan (not salvation) because of my sinful actions? I sure do.

What is the third choice?

The third option is that God lets us live our lives. He clearly lays out our options and lets us make our choices. What was it He told the Israelites? " I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:" (De 30:19)

Do you believe what the author of this article is saying?

"The third option is that God lets us live our lives. He clearly lays out our options and lets us make our choices."

In all seriousness, how is this really different than fate or chance?

Think of it this way. How is it that I might come to die in a car accident at the hands of an individual who utilized his Free-Will choice to drink to excess before he sets out in his car. It seems that the luck of the draw, so to speak, went against me. I was in "the wrong place at the wrong time." I wasn't "lucky"...

Jean

Of course I do. Do I believe that I could lose out on that plan (not salvation) because of my sinful actions? I sure do.

Then God actually has no plan does He? He can not "plan " on you giving the gospel to the next Billy Graham..cause maybe you will be a mormon..So God can not plan to use you in any significant way can He because you may not be around.

Kevin how much of your life has been your choice? How much was actually out of your control?

I believe that I had to make a choice and so did you..we must choose Christ..

The question is not about the command of God ..but mans ability or desire to choose God given the fall

In the words of Berkouwer, “That is the terrible seriousness of history, that God works in it, and that man is responsible for it.” [5]

"Hmm, sounds like someone wants to have his cake and eat it too."

This is precisely what the DeJong is arguing.

Isn't that what the Scriptures declare in Acts 2:23?

23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:

It was God's will that Christ be sacrificed on the cross. God determined this to be. Furthermore, the very same passage testifies that this murder of Christ was done by "wicked hands".

Both God "working it" and man "responsible for it".

In Genesis 50:20 we see the same thought when Joseph reassures his brothers about God's plan:

20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God ~MEANT IT~ unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Again, we see God "works" the events of Joseph's life, but the brother's were responsible for the evil which they committed against Joseph.

It is quite clear!

But, it seems that your objection is philisophical in nature.

In fact, your objection falls in line precisely as DeJong argues:

In this connection we do well to remember that as Christians we refuse to be forced into a choice between determinism or indeterminism. This choice is forced only upon philosophers who in their speculation have failed to reckon with the unique relation, which the created order sustains to the Creator.

I'm curious as to whether you hold this "have your cake and eat it, too" standard with other Scriptural truths such as Creation ex nihilo (creation out of NOTHING), the Incarnation, the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection?

Do you deny that God can "have his cake and eat it too"?

1 Kings 17
14 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

Note, for the record, that the Widow of Zarephath did indeed "have her oil and flower and ate it too"!

Jean

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.