Well, tonight was a very interesting night!

After going to church this evening, my mom and I went to go drive around the area where I just bought my condo (I am so very excited! Lord willing, I will move there around March or April.)

Anywaqy, my mom and I had a very interesting discussion while we ate supper. This morning my mom's pastor had preached on suffering. The pastor does not believe that God is in control of every single detail of our lives. Although God has a perfect plan that cannot be stopped, he said, God in no way causes suffering to happen.

Now, I tried to explain that God is not the author of evil nor does He tempt anyone. I tried to explain second causes, God's sovereignty, and Luther's idea that "even the devil is God's devil" (I used the example of Job). I read to her Romans 9.

But my mom said that would cause us to be puppets on strings, and that God would be the author of evil if all this were true. She said she does not believe that God has to have any sort of "plan B" and that God can choose to be in control of all details if He wants, but He does not need to be. She did not understand Romans 9. She said she had not been getting much from reading the Jerry Bridges book I gave her because she did not agree with it.

So, here are my questions:

1. How can we explain the toal sovereignty of God without denying that we are held responsible for our sin?

2. How do we respond to the "puppeteer" accusation?

3. How can we prove God is not the author of evil?

4. Does God cause all things to happen? For instance, my mom asked whether or not God caused the World Trade Center tragedy.



I'll post the other interesting thing that happened tonight in the prayer request section.

True godliness is a sincere feeling which loves God as Father as much as it fears and reverences Him as Lord, embraces His righteousness, and dreads offending Him worse than death~ Calvin