In the comments section of this post (where Ben Witherington III takes on John Piper’s view of the Minneapolis bridge collapse – an excellent read), Ben makes the following observation which meshes with a number of the recent discussions on free will/predestination on this site:

First of all, it is not correct to say in any way that “what God permits, he also wills”. This is to ignore that it is one thing to say God is sovereign, quite another to talk meaningfully about how God exercises his sovereignty which is always for good. God of course could have pre-ordained all things. Had God, who is light and in whom there is no darkness at all, done this. the world would certainly look like a very different place than it does.

God instead chose to create a world in which his will is not the only will in play. There are other actors in the drama and they are responsible for their own moral actions. Why did God do this, when God knew that there would be those who exercised their will at least on some occasions in ways that violated God’s will for their lives? Why did God create a world where sin and evil was possible? One answer, but by no means the only one, is that God wanted a world in which loving relationships were possible between God and those created in God’s image. And if love, which must be freely received and freely given, and can never be coerced or forced or predetermined, is possible in that world, then also its opposite is possible. Read again the heartache of God in Hosea 11 because of Israel’s rejection of God Does this sound like a God who preordained for Israel to sin and reject him? I think not.

The more profound question is, why would God not intervene and stop that disaster in Minneapolis? This is an excellent question, and simplistic answers will not do because: 1) sometimes God does intervene and stop disasters for his people; and 2) certainly God has not run out of power. My answer to this question is a more philosophical one, taken from the arena of parenting. What happens to a child where the parent always hovers, never allows the child to grow up, never allows any risk to enter the picture for that child. Does the child ever learn to become a responsible moral adult, a person who will take responsibility for his or her own choices? No, they do not, I am afraid. If you want to have a world where love and human virtue is actually possible, then you have to allow more than one moral agent to be acting in that world, and sometimes even at odds with God’s will. Doubtless God could have predetermined all things, but once he chose to create a world where love between higher beings, and real moral virtue and real free choices were possible, then sin, and evil became possible as well.

Think for a moment about Jesus himself. When Jesus submits to God’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane, could he have done otherwise? Well, Jesus seems to think so, indeed he struggles here because his personal will is actually at odds with God’s in this case. Did he freely choose to obey and do God’s will, or was it a situation where he could not do otherwise? Now if you say the latter, then you actually have removed part of your Bible from existence, namely the stories about Jesus enduring real temptations from Satan whether at the beginning or end of his ministry. Temptation by definition is only as temptation if you are inclined to do it, and there is actually a possibility that you might do so!

Think of a text like Rom. 8.28 which we might translate “God works all things together for good for those who love God…” this does not in any way suggest that all things in themselves are good, or willed by God, even indirectly. It does suggest that an almighty God can intervene and weave things together for good for those who love God. That is frankly a different matter.

HT: iMonk