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You are here: Home / Systematic Theology / Why Some Reject the Godness of God

Why Some Reject the Godness of God

August 19, 2011 by Andy Naselli

Paul Kjoss Helseth, “Response to William Lane Craig,” in Four Views on Divine Providence  (ed. Dennis W. Jowers; Counterpoints; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 113 (formatting added):

While Reformed believers are persuaded that faithfulness to the God of the Bible requires us to affirm and really believe that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11), they acknowledge that many evangelicals find it difficult to swallow what Reformed theologians like Douglas Wilson call “the Godness of God” for reasons having to do with something other than exegesis.

Reformed believers recognize, in other words, that many reject the Augustinian-Calvinist account of divine providence because they have embraced a disjunction that leads them to conclude that any candidate for deity that does not confirm to their standards or govern in a way that aligns with their moral sensibilities not only cannot be God but quite possibly might be Satan.

In response to those who would reject the Augustinian-Calvinist view for this reason, Reformed believers solemnly warn that such individuals need to tread very carefully for at least two reasons.

  1. In the first place, they need to tread carefully because the antipathy that is manifest in such an attitude bears a striking—even if perhaps only incidental—resemblance to the antipathy that is essential to “true atheism,” the two fundamental tenets” of which are always, ironically, “One: There is no God. Two: I hate him” [quoting Douglas Wilson].
  2. In the second place, they need to tread carefully lest, by moving from philosophy to the text rather than from the text to philosophy, they justify this attitude, and in the process arouse the wrath of God by suppressing—and encouraging others to suppress—the truth of God in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18–32).

In short, those who cannot stomach the God of the Augustinian-Calvinist tradition would be well advised to remember that God is no respecter of persons (Col. 3:25), not even of really smart philosophers.

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Filed Under: Systematic Theology Tagged With: Calvinism, sovereignty of God

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  1. Mark Olivero says

    August 19, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    When I became a Calvinist, I was mainly drawn in by the beautiful canvas it paints of God’s sovereignty in salvation. Then I learned that there are other benefits too accepting Calvinistic interpretation of Scripture and the events of life as well. A side benefit? I am speaking of how much easier it was to shed my Christianized dualism: Satan and God constantly battling it out. I grew up in a setting where when something wrong it was usually Satan’s fault and when something went well God got the praise.

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