Recent content by stevezemlicka

No apologies necessary. I've found everyone here heartwarmingly (is that even a word?) welcoming, respectful, and insightful...especially considering I came in with such a controversial topic.

Well stated. I think at the most fundamental level the question becomes, "was it totally and unequivocally a mistake?" On one side some would say that it is unequivocally a mistake. But God knew about it (ahead of time) and has a plan to bring about something good from it. On the other side...

That is an excellent point and I absolutely agree that our limited understanding certainly affects our abilities to reconcile some of these perspectives. I'm also not saying that if someone cannot come up with an answer to this that they're wrong. Again, my intention here is to understand the...

If this is the case, then this is where I get lost in the line of reasoning. In the original objection against the reformed perspective, when God causes someone to do something which results in evil, there seems to be no consideration for the fact that God may have a righteous purpose or...

I don't want it to seem like I am trying to "trap" anyone into a "gotcha" situation so let me introduce a bit of my own rationale here. Would it be fair to say that there is a distinction between the intentionality of John as compared to God? That is to say that when John orchestrates his...

This is an excellent clarification. I had some thoughts along these lines that give me pause. Please bear with me on this thought exercise. There's a movie series called Saw wherein someone (John) abducts people and puts them in elaborate contraptions or scenarios. They are then forced to...

For clarity, I recognize that there are many different arguments for and against the reformed perspective. But I often find, and this isn't isolated to a specific side, that people talk past one another and these conversations get tangled in a web of differing, sometimes incompatible...

Interesting. So bringing this back to the original objection. You would say that though God knows, with certainty, the evil someone will necessarily enact if/when He creates them that He's not "ordaining" the actions. As a result He bears no culpability in that evil. Is that correct?

I agree. But this undermines the objection. I'm more looking for the rationale behind those that support the objection than refutations of it.

Bear in mind, this is with the presumptions listed in the OP (the ones necessary to make sense of the objection). This doesn't necessarily reflect my actual belief.

I don't necessarily disagree with you. But I'm not sure that addresses my question. Can you help me correlate this response a bit more directly to the questions I posted?

I suppose if I knew without a doubt that people would certainly sin as a direct and sole result of my post, possibly. That's a great question.

I have some questions that I was hoping to get a non-reformed perspective on. It seems that a common objection to reformed soteriology is with regards to God being the author of evil under a reformed perspective. It seems that this contention stems from God making decisions or taking actions...