A while ago, a fellow
named John Moore, in a response he gave to me in a
discussion regarding whether or not God is in control of the evil that occurs
and whether or not he acts based not on the actions of men but rather out of the
supreme council of his will said,
“Your idea of
God makes Him the most unholy being in the universe- the cause of all
wickedness and misery.... Shame on you.”
Similarly, Jeremy Hiltz, a friend of Mr. Moore,
in an article titled “Unconditional Reprobation: A Divine Injustice states that,
Certainly, a person ordained from all
eternity to be punished without any reference to their moral choices is far
from justice. Surely no one would condone a man being punished for the good
pleasure of a totalitarian dictator without any regard to criminal charges.
Such behavior would immediately be repudiated by anyone familiar with Biblical
justice. (Paragraph 7:Sentances 4-6).(Full Article Found Here)[1]
First of all, it is completely
fallacious, to think that if God does something only for his pleasure then he
is the same as a human dictator who does something for his own pleasure. God is
God and is pleasure is by nature “good,” and since he is God, he has the Divine
right to do anything he wants merely for his good pleasure. The mere pleasure
of a totalitarian dictator would not be “good pleasure.” Don’t make
Equivocations between God’s pleasure and man’s pleasure.
Secondly, Equal Ultimacy, that is, the
doctrine that God with equal and, in both cases, positive force saves and
damns, is a fallacy and not representative of the Reformed position.
Thirdly, as will be demonstrated,
active punishment is entirely conditioned upon the actions of the criminal and
the charges placed upon them due to their willful violation of God’s law. This
statement by Mr. Hiltz is an example building a giant straw man and trying to
blow it down with a bendy straw, the opponent isn’t real, and the attack is
ridiculous.
