Decrees of God

Here is a discussion that really determines what kind of God you will fear, love, and worship.

For centuries, people have debated how much control God actually has over the events of history and daily life.
- Does God simply know about every single event that takes place, or does He cause it?
- Is God’s knowledge based upon eternally evaluating every possible probability and therefore He knows everything by calculation, or does He know it because He ordered it?
- Does God permit evil to occur because it still provides for the best “possible world,” or does evil exist as an instrument of God’s Glory?
- Is God “open” to new information, or is eternity fixed?
- Does God know about every dust ball behind your computer, or does He even care about minute details at all?

One group argues that we should only believe in a good God, and attribute all evil to Satan and those who sin. Another group says, God is not powerful enough (or uncaring) to stop evil, and therefore He is not worthy of being called “good.”

Since this is the supreme philosophical and theological question of all time, let’s cut to the chase and say something about the true and living God revealed in the Bible:
- He is eternal = A being of infinite wisdom, power, glory, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. This is what He is, He cannot change!
- He created the universe = As creator, He established every sphere of existence for every type of creation according to His design and purpose
- Everything He created was absolutely good in every sense – but also capable of change (Matter exists forever but changes) and corruption (Angels and Humans “fall” from their lofty positions by exercising their free/un programmed/unencumbered will/choices/decisions). As a result of created moral agents freely defying the established order of God, both the spiritual and natural realms are subjected to “frustration” and a curse.

Q? Did the Angels and Mankind “fall,” or were they pushed?
God decreed creation. He decreed the “standards of co-existence and harmony” for His creation. His creation chose to exercise an option available to them (defy the standards) and God decreed that specific violators would be eternally punished.

God is the first cause of everything, but He is not the direct cause of sin. God did not “tempt” created beings to sin; but He did “permit” their capacity to be tempted, to fall into temptation, to incur His wrath, and to be subject to His judgment.

Did God know that the beings He created would sin and fall? Yes. Did God decree that certain angels and all of naturally born humanity would incur His wrath? Yes. Did God force the angels and humans to sin? No!

We really have no need to go any further than this question because every question about anything good or bad (as we define it) stems from these first circumstances. (Ex. Did God foreordain that you would be a sinner? Yes. Does God force you to sin? No.)

There is a place to put this debate to rest. Deciding that there are some things about God's eternal plans that we will never know, while at the same time, determining that what God HAS revealed about His will in the Bible should be our rule for living. For Example: We should share the Gospel with others in word and deed -- God has commanded us to do so -- this is His revealed will. But His hidden, unknowable decree is -- the type of impact our sharing of the Gospel will have upon others. We are called to obey, and leave the results up to God. We are all called to repent and believe -- this is God's revealed will. Who will actually repent and believe with true conviction is the decision of God.

God has decreed everything for His purposes -- both things we call disasters and things we say are beautiful. Whatever happens to us in any circumstance, God requires that we live faithfully to what He has revealed in His word.

A wealth of great articles on this topic is available at www.monergism.com

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