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| SUV from the North Shore to Vancouver, Wednesday. |
Preface
The topic below was discussed in general terms as I met with a Reformed pastor today.
I opined that a good understanding of Reformed theology should isolate church members and attenders from adapting to liberal theology. He agreed.
(Sadly, this good understanding is not taking place in Reformed churches in many cases, according to this pastor with a PhD.)
Some are reforming from reformed...sad to hear.
PhD, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter, 2010: Theodicy and Practical Theology
Scudder comments that if the sovereignty of God is stressed, and evil is still considered to be reality, then this logically leads to the idea that God causes evil and it is part of a predetermined plan. I agree with this notion, but Scudder deduces that a strong view of God willing evil for the greater good means evil could be understood as not really being evil. I can understand how a scholar could come to such a conclusion, but a Reformed influenced sovereignty theodicy does not need to agree with this idea which is foreign to both traditional Reformed and conservative theology.
Robert H. Mounce (1995) explains that God directs the affairs in life, for those who love him, for the greater good. C.E.B. Cranfield (1992) comments that although God can will grievous and evil things to occur, God in Christ works these things towards the greater good, in particular in the context of salvation for those that know Christ. Evil and sin are not to be confused with goodness and obedience within Reformed traditions, but as God willingly allows evil things to occur, his purposes and motives are pure.
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| Driving downhill faster than I expected or wanted. |
CRANFIELD, C.E.B. (1992) Romans: A Shorter Commentary, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
MOUNCE, ROBERT H. (1995) The New American Commentary: Romans, Nashville, Broadman & Holman Publishers.
SCUDDER, DELTON, LEWIS (1940) Tennant’s Philosophical Theology, London, Oxford University Press.
MPhil, Bangor University, 2003: The Problem of Evil: Anglican and Baptist Perspectives.
