The Doctrine of God

[Pancho Frijoles]

Merriam Webster Dictionary: SOVEREIGNTY

a : supreme power especially over a body politic​

b : freedom from external control : autonomy​

c : controlling influence​

Is God sovereign over His creation?

a. Does FREE WILL exist outside of God's will?​

b. Does FREE WILL control God's actions (like ability to save), thus diminishing Divine autonomy?​

c. Does God exert the controlling influence described in Job and Romans 1 ... restraining evil until He "gave them up/over to" it?​

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[Sproul was correct, you pay lip service to God’s sovereignty and then back peddle when you come to every other area.]

Hi Atpollard.
Great and deep questions.
As always, I will post here my personal view.

a. Does FREE WILL exist outside of God's will? No. ​

b. Does FREE WILL control God's actions (like ability to save), thus diminishing Divine autonomy? No.​

c. Does God exert the controlling influence described in Job and Romans 1 ... restraining evil until He "gave them up/over to" it? No, because that implies that God wants to give up on people. ​

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Because love simply needs to meet the definitions of what it entails, and not give us a certain "feeling."
There is no guarantee that genuine love will always feel "good" this is why correction often feels bad to us, but it is loving.

I agree... but I am not denying that God's love can look strange.
When we were children we didn't always understand why our parents acted as they acted.
The very nature of the philosophical problem of evil implies certain "strangeness", so to speak, in the way God acts.

What I'm saying is that it must not be too strange as to become devoid of meaning.

Here is an example:

If we try to explain an atheist why God was not cruel in killing more than 2000 people in Myanmar, we think God has a bigger plan, in which what happened in Myanmar will end up being the best for those who died, for their families, communities, and for people dedicated to science, technology and public policy and who learn from these episodes.

If we said: God sent an earthquake to Myanmar because he gets great pleasure from seeing men suffering, then our notion of God would be too strange as to be considered love at all.