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along with Malachi question; "If God is absolute sovereign why does He allow sin?" are some of the greatest mysteries of the Bible in any denomination.

Ahhh... You finally touched on what I was driving at.

I set up an apparent contradiction:

God is absolutely sovereign.

Sin is contrary to God's will.

As I see it, there are only two possible responses to this:

1. Both of these statements cannot be true.

2. Despite the apparent contradiction, both statements are true; how this can be is a mystery.

Now, Calvinists have asserted a similar apparent contradiction in the free will position:

God is absolutely sovereign.

Man has a truly free will.

Again, there are a number of ways to reconcile them.

1. Both cannot be true (free will is rejected).

2. Both are true; how this can be is a mystery (SoothingDave's position).

3. God's sovereignty allows for man's free will (my position).

I personally find the latter pair of propositions to be less problematic. In either case, though, you ultimately reach a point where you have to say that the ultimate resolution of the contradiction is a mystery beyond our understanding. And that you accept the truth of both of the propositions as axiomatic, rather than attempting to prove them.

1. Both cannot be true (free will is rejected).
2. Both are true; how this can be is a mystery (SoothingDave's position).
3. God's sovereignty allows for man's free will (my position).

Good summation. I would say, however, that #3 and #2 don't necessarily or always conflict. Or for that matter, I can even see where #1 (free will being curtailed or highly "influenced") doesn't conflict. Both number 3 and number 1 can be true at times in service to the position of #2.

Of course that's what you get for embracing a duality as a mystery. :-)

I would refine your logic a bit:

Premise A: God is absolutely sovereign.

Premise B: Man has a truly free will.

Theology 1. Premise A is true. Premise B is false (Reform theology).

Theology 2. Premise A & B are true; how this can be is a mystery (SoothingDave's position).

Theology 3. God's sovereignty allows for man's free will (my position).

Theology 4. Premise A is false. Premise B is true. (Generally held by deists or others not part of this discussion)

If you’ll notice Theology 1 & 4 are absolutes. The issues surfaces between Theology 2 & 3. How do they differ from the premises stated?

I personally find the latter pair of propositions to be less problematic. In either case, though, you ultimately reach a point where you have to say that the ultimate resolution of the contradiction is a mystery beyond our understanding. And that you accept the truth of both of the propositions as axiomatic, rather than attempting to prove them.

Harley made a very good post affirming this same sentiment (at least in the main). Good stuff, malakhi.