Pilgrim said: ...I would... say that God ordained sin, even each and every sin that would ever be committed by every human to ever walk the face of this earth, for His inexorable glory.
But, would this not make God the author of sin?
to quote John Fletcher,
Quote
If all our actions, and consequently all our sins, compose the seventh link of the chain... ; if the first link is God; the second his will; the third his decree; the fourth creation; the fifth necessity; the sixth providence; and the seventh sin; is it not as easy to trace the pedigree of SIN through providence, necessity, creation, God's decree, and God's will, up to God himself, as it is to trace back the genealogy of the prince of Wales, from George III, by George II, up to George I? And upon this plan is it not clear that SIN is as much the real offspring of God, as the prince of Wales is the real offspring of George the First?
If this is the case, does not Calvinism, or if you please, fatalism or necessitarianism, absolutely make God the author of sin by means of his will, his decree, his creation, his necessitation, his impelling providence? And (horrible to think!) does it not unavoidably follow, that the monster SIN is the offspring of God's providence, of God's necessitation, of God's creation, of God's decree, of God's will, of God himself?
I must clarify that I do, in fact, agree with your profession that God ordains all, and thusly all is ordained by God (including sin). I firmly believe in the sovereignty of God, and the absolute intricacy of that sovereignty; and that all things are through him, and that "in Him we live and move and have our being."
I am just curious as to how a question such as "is God the author of sin?" might be most effectively and pursuasively answered, as I have been asked it on many occasions. My most typical answer would be "yes; God is the author of all things." But this response is met with further prodding, such as: "Supposing sin is against God, and supposing God is the 'author' thereof: How is it that God can be against himself?"
My belief is paradoxical: God does, yet we do; God is fully the author, yet we are fully responsible. God impells all, yet we have 'free choice of the will' if only in a perspective sense. Take, for example, the Exodus: "God hardened Pharaoh's heart"; and yet, "Pharaoh hardened his heart". Those who come to Christ [the elect] have, as is seemingly obvious by our [albeit limited] perceptions, make a 'decision' to do so, as it is plain that all that we do is an outcome of decision; yet the elect are only made able to come to such a decision by the sovereign grace and predestinate calling of the Author of our movements Himself.
As I said, I'm just curious as to how you would handle an inquiry of this nature, and how you believe it might be best answered.
