Hello everyone! my names Luke and im new here. I Have held to the reformed position for a few years now, and it has been my comfort. One thing I've never really been able to grasp is, is our everyday little things such as clicking a pen, to choosing a certain kind of bread at the store, apart of Gods before time molding all of time? forgive me if I am wording this wrong, its hard to gather these thoughts..were not robots or puppets, are we?
Considering this is ultimately a mystery, we can't completely explain it but we can alleviate the contradiction. So where does the problem come from?
Well if we envision both God and man on the same plane of existence than words like liberty and sovereignty mean the same thing for both parties. Being "good Calvinists" we side with God and he becomes a dictator who forces us to do evil.
Now some want to "protect God from himself" so they limit his sovereignty to make room for our "genuine freedom", so he's not a monster. Both options are the only ones available if we place God and man on the same level of existence. Because the terms must roughly be meant in the same way.
Now is this the fundamental picture that scripture proposes? No because we're not on the same level of existence as God. He is the Creator and we are the creature, two different kinds of beings. The only way to argue for the former scenario is if God and man exist in a third realm in which both parties participate in. This third realm is morality in this case by which both parties are judged against but that makes the third realm more ultimate or "god-like" than God himself. This is because even God must be judged by this third realm to see if he measures up.
So the alternative is an analogical relationship to these terms. We mean sovereignty and liberty for God differently than we mean those same terms for man. They are both similar and different because the two different beings we are comparing are similar and different. We are made in his image but an image of a thing is not exactly the same as the original thing. It's only an image.
Cornelius Van Til in his early PhD thesis railed against this notion of any (in this case Idealism and Pragmatism of his day) participation in a third realm by God and man. The Creator/creature distinction, that's fundamental to his whole thinking, demands a difference because we're dealing with two different things (not two things on a third realm of scale of being or something). One thing on one side of the scale and another thing on a lesser side of the scale. There's still the being measured against the scale.
Now you may notice that this answer doesn't answer or explain all of our questions in this regard. Why is that? Well that's because of mystery. An analogical relationship between God and man alleviates the logical contradiction but doesn't give us access to all the answers we seek.
So the question is only a question because the two parties are framed in a way that is umbilical. But God did not see fit to provide a detailed explanation of how he is sovereign and yet we are free. So there's a mystery involved.
Think about it this way, does any person owe you a complete explanation of everything they do or say? No that person might simply respond with "just cause" and you can't appeal to any third thing to demand an explanation. In the same but analogical way, God doesn't owe us anything (let alone an explanation for this).
I know this is heady stuff here but the answer is three fold.
1. The problem is only a problem if we conceive of the situation between God and man in an umbilical way (existence of a third but greater realm more ultimate than either party).
2. Analogical relationship between both parties solves the logical contradiction problem.
3. But the solution doesn't explain everything so we appeal to mystery. If the other person doesn't like that than they must prove that they have a right to that knowledge.
I can elaborate on anything you or anyone else wants but don't stretch the analogies beyond their intended purpose. I also promise I don't have all the answers but I will try.
