The Danger of Sovereignty

The Bible is pretty clear on the topic of God's Sovereignty -- it needs a capital "S". Okay, nothing about capitalization, but you get the idea. Human sovereignty is always lower case. People have limited sovereignty. God's Sovereignty, on the other hand, is unlimited. According to the Bible, everything that happens is according to the will of God. He determines all that occurs. It's as if every decision and every possible event goes across His desk and He approves or denies it. Way too crass, I know, but it's not an overstatement. Beyond that, anything that does not happen that He wants to happen He will certainly bring about. Here's how one well-known source puts it:

God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby neither is God the author of sin; nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures, nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established (Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch III:I.

This statement, of course, is inadequate to encompass the biblical version. Yes, He ordains all that comes to pass. But according to God, "I make well-being and create calamity" (Isa 45:7). In 1 Kings 22 we have the story of Ahab and Micaiah. In that story the prophet Micaiah tells Ahab, "The LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets" (1 Kings 22:23). In other words, in all things at all times, "Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps" (Psa 135:6).

There is a problem with this position. If, in fact, God is actually that Sovereign (you know, with a capital "S"), then what do we do with all the bad stuff around us? When my sister-in-law's fiancé was in an accident and she asked, "Why would God do this?", her sister answered, "God didn't do this; Satan did." But if we are going to affirm that God is indeed Sovereign, this dodge won't work. Whether God actually causes or merely approves unpleasant things, the bottom line conclusion is that God is ... well ... ultimately responsible. There, I said it. If God works all things after the counsel of His will, then at the end of the day He is the one that holds the final responsibility. Now think about that for a moment. That's quite an accusation. I mean, what about Hitler? Sure, sure, Hitler did what he did and is responsible for what he did, but underneath it all God approved the rise of Hitler to power and allowed 6 million Jews to be murdered. Or closer in time, how about 9/11? Either God knew about and intentionally allowed those terrorists to fly airplanes into buildings, or He's not God.

Of course, for a large segment of Christianity, this isn't acceptable. That's why a large segment of Christianity has taken the extraordinary step of siding with Scripture ... unless, of course, you're talking about this concept of Sovereignty. No, no, God isn't that sovereign! (See how it went to a lowercase "s"?) No, He has allowed Man's Free Will to dominate. He has intentionally tied His own hands and allowed Man to do as He pleases. (See how that "H" went to uppercase?) No, no, we'll not be laying Hurricane Katrina or 9/11 or the death of my friend's newborn baby at God's feet. He wouldn't do it! It's not Him! It's that ol' devil, Satan! He's the one. God wouldn't allow it. And we're at the problem of Sovereignty again.

You see, if we allow Man's Free Will (I hope by now you're paying attention to capital letters) to reign over His plans, then the Bible lied when it said that God works all things after the counsel of His will. If God has tied His own hands for anything at all, then the Bible lied when it referred to Jesus as "He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords." If we're going to move anything into the place that God claims alone in Scripture, then the Bible was wrong and God is not God.

This is the standard move of so many Christians. Absolve God and blame it Man or Satan or "chance". The move is fatal. It puts to death the biblical God. It ignores the claims of the Bible, the claims of His people, and His own claims. Yet, without it, where are we? We have a very difficult question to face. If God is actually Sovereign like the Bible says He is, what are we to do with all the bad things that happen in the world? How do we explain that a good, omnipotent, loving God actually allowed if not caused these things?

And that, dear readers, is the final danger of Sovereignty. Either you can deny it and terminate the biblical version of God or you can embrace it and then figure out what to do with evil and suffering. What are you going to do? I'll give you a little hint. Here's a logic sequence:

God is good.
God ordains all that comes to pass.
Therefore, all that comes to pass is good.

It is what the world of logic calls a "valid argument". That is, it doesn't violate any laws of logic. So all you have to figure out is how is all that comes to pass good? There ... that ought to get you started, right?