God knew I was going to write this post. For some folk, it was part of His sovereign plan - for others, His foreknowledge was not His foreordination.
Some folks think I recently took an unnecessary shot @ John Piper (a far better man than me) in my recent review of a book written by young men from the Truly Reformed end of the theological pool. I was attempting to unpack where I stood on original sin in light of our free will - an obvious point of divergence from my Reformed brethren - and said this,
I should note that I do believe in original sin. I believe that the world is broken because we broke it and I believe that our sinful natures are the primary cause for the problems in this world. I believe our free will has caused us to make choices that infect and affect our family, friends, neighbours and the planet. I do not believe in a God who foreordains every action, but in a God who is not surprised by anything. As an example, the collapse of the I35 bridge in Minneapolis/St. Paul was not part of God's sovereign plan - no matter what Piper told his young daughter.
My friend, Dr. Darryl Dash, (Triple D to the interweb cognoscenti) has decided to engage with my statement and that of Dr. Piper's in Darry's post, God and Evil. He begins with two quotes today - one from Dr. Piper and one from your not particularly humble servant and promises to be back with more, tomorrow. Triple D writes,
This is a huge issue. What role does God play in the bad things that happen? Does Piper’s belief that God ordains all things make God the author of evil?
Tomorrow I’ll list some passages that bear on this question.
It should be an interesting conversation discussion.
UPDATE 2: My friend, Jason Coker, brings a lot more theological heat to the discussion. A must read: The not-God of I35, Job, and John Piper
UPDATE: The conversation heats up over @ Triple D's and I go into storytelling mode. My favourite comment so far,
God has foreordained everything to happen. The Scriptures are blatant about this side of the truth revealed about God’s sovereignty. Just because you can’t logically conceive of this as compatible with suffering in this present fallen world doesn’t mean you have to denigrate God’s pre-determination of all things.
And yes, this person is responding to me.
