Hello. I’ve found a lot of interesting things on this forum, but I have a question to ask. I recently heard a discussion between a Calvinist and an Arminian regarding God’s sovereignty and the Fall. The Arminian was arguing that in the Calvinist view, since God decreed the Fall thereby making it certain to happen, God is the “author of evil.” The Calvinist replied that in the Arminian view God is also the “author of evil” since he knew it was going to happen, was within his power to prevent it, but chose not to. Obviously there is a difference between the two views, but I thought the Calvinist did have a point here. Since God knew infallibly that the Fall was going to happen, and he could’ve intervened to stop it had he wished, he bears some responsibility for it, but without sin of course.

The Calvinist gave an illustration: if my brother takes an egg out of the carton but it slips out of his fingers and starts rolling off the kitchen counter, I know that if I don’t grab it, it will fall to the floor and break. I know that will happen, and can easily prevent it from happening, but if I chose not to intervene am I not at least partially to blame for the mess on the floor, even if I wasn’t the one who lost control of it in the first place?

That seems to me to be a decent illustration of the Arminian view of God’s sovereignty and the problem of evil. So of course the upshot is: having knowledge of an impending tragedy, and the power to prevent it from happening, but choosing not to use that knowledge and power to avert it, results in culpability. The Arminian in this conversation said that God allowed the Fall for a reason. The Calvinist agreed, saying that the Arminian view of God’s sovereignty renders him the “author of evil” just as much as the Calvinist view, but in both views he did not sin because he did not violate his own laws.

It was a good discussion, but then got sidetracked when the Arminian starting arguing that a believer could lose his salvation, and I found myself agreeing with the Calvinist that that is not what the Bible teaches. Any wisdom here on a response to the view that God’s infallible foreknowledge and omnipotence somehow does not make him culpable for the Fall?

In Christ,

Ben