God Controls Evil?

[JimfromOhio]

God is making a point with Satan and to make the point He uses Job and the point is to show the strength and the continuity and the unwavering character of true saving faith, true love for God. The person who really loves God is not the person who loves God because of what he gets, but the person who loves God because of who he is.

Job 1:8-12 Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face." The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

Job 2:6 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."

God's Sovereign: (He CONTROLS EVERY DETAILES including every small cells, fibers and unseen things in this world).
Job 37:15 Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?

Proverbs 20:24 A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

Proverbs 21:1 The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Jeremiah 10:23 [ Jeremiah's Prayer ] I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.

Ezekiel 7:5 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Disaster! An unheard-of disaster is coming.

Revelation 16:9 They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.

God governs the world (Isa. 40:22-24), the nations (Isa. 40:15-17), and us (Proverbs 16:9).

The Bible talks about that God give and take away. He allow the good and the bad to happen. Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains. There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. There is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

 

[Elect]

Sin does not come from God. It comes from the hearts of evil creatures that God has created and He controls the hearts of these evil creatures to serve His purpose.

A good example would be Pharaoh. God told Moses, before Moses even spoke to Pharaoh, that He would harden Pharaoh's heart, so he wouldn't let His people go. It was God's purpose to free His people, to Kill Pharaoh's son and drown the Egyptians in the sea. this is all for His purpose and glory. Ten times it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart.

Most Christians believe that the cross is a result of the fall of man. That is wrong. The fall of man is the result of the cross. God wanted to bring glory to Himself by redeeming a people to Himself, so He decreed the fall. God was sovereign on the day man fell. God created Adam and put the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, knowing full well that Adam would eat. God knowing this, He still told Adam not to eat from it, thus making a Law that He knew that Adam would brake. Causing the fall. God being absolutely sovereign and all powerful with all knowledge, then this must have been His purpose and He holds man responsible for his sin. To God be the Glory!

 

[rnmomof7]

Sin does not come from God. It comes from the hearts of evil creatures that God has created and He controls the hearts of these evil creatures to serve His purpose.

A good example would be Pharaoh. God told Moses, before Moses even spoke to Pharaoh, that He would harden Pharaoh's heart, so he wouldn't let His people go. It was God's purpose to free His people, to Kill Pharaoh's son and drown the Egyptians in the sea. this is all for His purpose and glory. Ten times it says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart.

Most Christians believe that the cross is a result of the fall of man. That is wrong. The fall of man is the result of the cross. God wanted to bring glory to Himself by redeeming a people to Himself, so He decreed the fall. God was sovereign on the day man fell. God created Adam and put the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden, knowing full well that Adam would eat. God knowing this, He still told Adam not to eat from it, thus making a Law that He knew that Adam would brake. Causing the fall. God being absolutely sovereign and all powerful with all knowledge, then this must have been His purpose and He holds man responsible for his sin. To God be the Glory!

Amen

 

[rmwilliamsll]

Most Christians believe that the cross is a result of the fall of man. That is wrong. The fall of man is the result of the cross. God wanted to bring glory to Himself by redeeming a people to Himself, so He decreed the fall.

i believe that this is the difference between post supra* and infra lapsarianism.

*see next two messages.

 

[Elect]

Most Christians believe that the cross is a result of the fall of man. That is wrong. The fall of man is the result of the cross. God wanted to bring glory to Himself by redeeming a people to Himself, so He decreed the fall.

i believe that this is the difference between post and infra lapsarianism.

The more I study the Atonement, The Grace of God and His sovereignty, the more I become a SUPRALAPSARIANIST.

SUPRALAPSARIANISM - An issue dealing with what may have happened in God's mind regarding the logical order of His considering whom to elect into salvation before the foundation of the world. The word means "before the fall." This position holds that God first decided that he would save some people and then second that he would allow sin into the world. By contrast, the infralapsarian ("after the fall") position is the reverse in that it holds that God first decided he would allow sin into the world and second that he would then save people from it.

 

[rmwilliamsll]

thanks for the correction. supra and infra....oops.
either fast fingers or slow brain *grin*
although post and pre are better and more understandable descriptions....

 

[Rhetor]

What a glorious thread. Its a real blessing to read.

Supralapsarian all the way. Evil is only allowed to the extent that it brings out God's glory in Christ. There is no evil without a purpose.
How reassuring.

And otherwise, what could we say if God, who is simply the best, couldn't or mustn't or didn't control all things. If the best must produce purposeless evil, what comfort can there be? didn't he know? couldn't he stop it? or did the very concept of freedom entail it necessarilly? What a pointless wasted universe then, that God must produce meaningless suffering despite not wanting it.

If things are indeterminate, and God not in control, if every event is not exactly as he planned it in every way - what then? Why bless grace if a lucky dice throw made you choose heaven? If God didn't plan evil, from whence does it come? A bad roll? Does God make people, hoping to roll snakes' eyes and get them to heaven? Does he mourn his ill luck?

If things are determinate, and God not in control, then we have fate. The cruel nature of reality decides who goes to heaven and hell.
And what of providence if the largest single factor - evil human actions - were unwanted? How can you say God wanted you if really you are merely the best he can get? If he wanted always perfect creatures, but couldn't get them, what are you worth? second best? How will you comfort God when he weeps for what should have been, but couldn't. What comfort could there be against evil then?
Could't God have seen the results of his actions? Or is this simply as good as it gets?

Yet if all actions and their relations are of God's plan, what then can we say? Well, we can learn from all events, trust in all events, and give thanks in all events. There is evil, but that doesn't damage God in heaven. It serves its use and then willl be destroyed. In evil we can see the hand of God, as in good. God's word is sure, and his promises sure, and even the worst thing we can encouter is part of a plan so vast that to being to think of it is to reduce our pride to nought. Praise God in Heaven.