Calvinist Bad Logic #3: Proving God Causes Sin?
Bad Logic #3: To support their idea that God
causes all things, even sin, Calvinists will bring up verses about God causing bad
events, such as a natural disaster or famine, "proving" that God also
causes sin.
But this is bad logic because causing a natural disaster is nothing like causing sin. If God causes a natural disaster, He is not causing something that He commanded us not to do. But if He causes sin, then He is causing us to do something He commands us not to do. And this is illogical and inconsistent with His character, and it turns Him into the cause of all sin, and it makes Him unjust for causing the sins He then punishes us for. You cannot put causing natural disasters on the same level as causing sin. Two totally different things!
They’ll also bring up God causing wars (such as when He used Assyria to war against Israel as punishment, but then He turned around and punished Assyria for warring against Israel) to say “See, God causes all things that happen, even wars and sin, and then He punishes the ones who sinned. We don’t have to understand how God can do this and still be considered good and righteous; we just have to trust, because He is God.”
But the easy answer here (which they refuse to see) is that God didn’t cause Assyria to be wicked people and to do wicked things; He just worked their self-chosen wickedness into His plans, almost like saying “You want to be wicked? Fine! Then go be wicked over there by Israel for awhile, to punish them for their waywardness. And then when you’re done, I can punish you for being the wicked people you chose to be.” And He can rightly do this because He didn’t make them wicked; He just worked their wicked choices into His plans.
But the Calvinist will always use this example to “prove” that Calvi-god causes sin but then punishes people for the sin he causes, and that it’s okay because he is “sovereign.”
[To emphasize a point: Calvinists try to convince us that God punished Assyria for attacking Israel after first "causing" Assyria to attack Israel. They use this to "prove" that God can cause us to do bad things but hold us accountable for it. However, this throws major doubt on God's goodness and justice, and it can't be fixed by Calvinists saying "Oh, well, we just have to believe it because it's what the Bible says." No! It's not what the Bible says. As I already pointed out, God doesn't cause us to sin or be wicked; He just works our self-chosen sins into His plans. And since we chose to be who we are and to sin, He can justly punish us for it. And additionally, notice in Isaiah 10:12-14 that, technically, Assyria was punished for being arrogant and prideful, for thinking that they conquered Israel all in their own power. Big difference! They weren't necessarily punished for attacking Israel, as Calvinists teach. They were punished for being prideful, for thinking they won in their own power, for not giving God the credit for their victory. So in this point, Calvinism falls apart even more.]
(For all the posts in this series, see the "Intro ..." Or look for "'Calvinist Bad Logic' Series" in the labels on the side-bar. Or find the whole series in one post, "When Calvinism's 'Bad Logic' Traps Good Christians.")
