RE: Why did god create evil?
October 25, 2011 at 10:48 pm
(This post was last modified: October 25, 2011 at 10:53 pm by Statler Waldorf.)
(October 25, 2011 at 10:41 pm)Shell B Wrote: So, people do have a choice not to sin. They have to choose god, though. Is that correct? (Note: I obviously do not believe it is correct, but am trying to parse out what you think.)
Not exactly, that’s not the Reformed position on that matter. God chooses them despite whom and what they are and what they deserve. Their will is changed by this application of saving grace and they therefore begin to want to please God and choose things that are not sinful. God chose me not because I made any right decisions or chose Him first, quite the opposite. I deserve judgment and yet He was gracious enough to choose me.
(October 25, 2011 at 10:46 pm)Shell B Wrote: Interesting. Why would god not choose people who are giving and loving, as I have found a great deal of atheists in my acquaintance to be, including yourself, despite your assertions to the contrary. (Scary, you are not.)
That’s because nobody is giving and loving freely, they are only this way because God has chosen to apply common grace to them. So the credit for all good deeds still would go to God because it is His applied grace that even makes them possible. Take His grace away and no person would ever do a single loving and kind deed is the Reformed position.