The Coherence of The Sovereignty of God and Free Will

The Coherence of the Sovereignty of God and Free Will. 

I am about to try and answer one of the most provoking questions I have dealt with in my faith. After a long stent of seminary education, it is obvious that the many issues of Calvinism are the most polarizing in all of evangelicalism. This battle is most unfortunate. I proudly have friends on every side of the issue;  We see this issue invade denominations, churches, and conversations in all of life. Philosophically, I see determinism and free agents become the foundation of movies, books, and terminology. We see freedom and determinism as mutually exclusive. we ask ourselves questions like this.

 Here are some questions that you may have encountered. 

1. Does sovereignty make a mockery of human responsibility?
2. If I am a free agent, does God have limits? 
3. if God is sovereign of everything, am i culpable for my sin? 
4. is a fair God under control of my decisions? 
5. Are love and justice mutually exclusive? 
6. Is not God a sovereign puppet master pulling the strings of human puppets?
7. Is a sovereign God an unfair God?
8. Are not sovereignty and free will not mutually exclusive?

There are answers, however, they may appear to deny the law of non-contradiction...or do they? 

I believe there is a sound theology balancing sovereignty and free will. There is a divine compatibility. This is one reason why many people don’t know where I stand on the issue and label me an ecumenical heretic because I don’t make it a non-negotiable hill to die on. We love to play word games and argue over theology. at any rate, here is the word game that I believe provides a sufficient answer.

The most difficult thing to understand is that God is in sovereign control of everything we choose, even our salvation. Then how are we free? 

   

Does the Bible say that God gave Judas the desire to betray Christ? No. Rather it says The devil prompted Judas to betray Christ. (jn 13:2) But who made the Devil sin? Did God? Biblically speaking, God is essentially good. He cannot sin. Hab. 1:13 says that God's eyes cannot even look on evil. God made a good angel called Lucifer, who became the devil by his own free choice to sin. We are the cause of evil.  

A reconcilable answer:

The answer to this polarizing issue lies in one simple statement. Every event has a cause, but every cause doesn’t have a cause. Much like asking the question, “Who is the widow’s husband? Therefore, if man by free choice is the cause of evil, then no cause of this evil action should be sought other than the person caused it. My actions are caused by myself. If self caused actions are not possible, then there is no explanation for Lucifer’s sin... other than the unbiblical answer that God caused it. Why else would mankind be held responsible? Freedom is undeniable. If everything were determined, then so would the determinists be determined that we are not free. If Determinists believe that non-determinists should change their mind, then they are asking them to do something contrary to determinism. Unless, of course, they were determined to change their mind ad infinitum. 

Why did i do it? sure, background, training, and environment do affect what I do, but do not force what I do. They influence not control my actions.  My prayer is that people put their thinking hats on and see the compatibility of free will and sovereignty and not allow the enemy to use this issue to continue creating disunity for Christ followers. There is more power in unity than we can imagine.