Wednesday, February 02, 2005

A Dangerous Hermeneutic

Lately, it has been stranger than ever to me how I've heard some people explain and rationalize their view of the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign when they want him to be - but other times, when it seems inconvenient, humanity is in control and God only allows certain situations. In the same breath, I heard someone speak of how we are clay in the hands of the potter and then espouse the occurence of something that was not in God's perfect will. So really, what they were saying is that God is sovereignly inconsistent? So, when is it that his sovereignty comes to an end and our will takes over? Is God only in control of situations that we consider good? Is it God who is sustaining the earth by the very word of his power (Heb. 1:3), or do we sometimes sit in the drivers seat?

Much of these ponderings are due, at least in part, to
this sermon by John Piper: "Is God Less Glorious Because He Ordained that Evil be?" Definitely an eye opener. Piper speaks of the same malady of inconsistence and people's incorrect understanding of God's sovereignty:

"Now God is sovereign, and now he is not. Now he is in control, and now he is not. Now he is good and reliable when things are going well, and when they go bad, well, maybe he's not. Now he's the supreme authority of the universe, and now he is in the dock with human prosecutors peppering him with demands that he give an account of himself."

Piper hit the nail on the head. A decision has to be made. Either God is sovereign, or he's not. There's no middle ground. God can't be in control of some situations and not in others. Call it what you may, but that's not sovereignty.

Christie
posted by Anonymous
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