logos X said:
Yes.
Cocerning #1
It makes God the first cause, but not the "author" of sin, as you assert.
It does mean He knew what would happen...and that He knew the end from the beginning.
I have no problem with this assertion...because the end He saw was God all and in all.
When a bowler throws the ball down the lane and gets a strike, we
can say that the bowler is not the cause of the pins falling down. We
can say either that the ball pushed them down, or that the pins were unable to stand against the pressure of the ball. We
can say that. But either way, they would not be falling at all if the bowler had not first thrown the ball.
If God
directed the future chain of cause-effect events
and knows the future outcome of each of those events by way of His supreme skill,
then all of our actions
must be resultant from the initial force and direction that God initiated
and saw them happen when He initiated it all.
I am unwilling to attribute an accident to God. So I must conclude that any (if any) determinant direction of events God put into effect "in the beginning" must have been purposeful.
Concerning # 2
God does not "cause" free will decisions directly. Obviously.
He predestinated the entire human race, all of Adam's offsping in Christ.
All mankind would need Christ.
God's gracious gift of salvation through Christ being planned does not
necessarily need to include God planning Betty Lou's act of adultery commited in 1956. God offers His plan to deal with
our screwups, not His.
So..if it is God's responsibility...He took the responibility to fix it all in the end.
For everyone.
I admit your view is a little different to account for. In your view it seems that it is okay for God to be responsible for sin because ALL will be saved in the end. I can accept that as intellectually honost insofar as you do put it on God. But I do see a problem with sin (going against God's will) being a part of God's will. Isn't that a bit of a contradiction?
