The Holiness of God

I read The Holiness of God by R. C. Sproul.

To show you how out-of-the-mainstream I am when it comes to Christian authors, I thought Sproul was a contemporary of Spurgeon or Moody, if not Augustine. I had this title on my to-read-someday list (not sure whence I got it) and was spurred to read it after talking with a friend over lunch - he remarked how he enjoyed listening to R. C. Sproul's daily radio broadcast. Not wanting to show my ignorance, I immediately said "Yeah, I'm just about to start The Holiness of God." I find out, even though the cover says classic best-seller, the book was only written in 1985. Now I realize that is over twenty years ago, but to a guy my age, it's like yesterday!

Anyway, I enjoyed the book for the most part. There's an excellent chapter on Martin Luther and good illustrations throughout on God's justice vs. God's mercy.

The last handful of pages contain a treatise on three basic forms of theology: Pelagianism, Semipelagianism (Arminianism), and Augustinianism (Calvinism). Turns out Dr. Sproul is a five-point Calvinist! I checked his website, and the acrostic TULIP is even used in his church's doctrinal statement.

It seems to me, our good friends the Calvinists are proponents of the "puppetmaster" view of God. According to them, He not only knew Adam & Eve were going to sin, but he created them to sin, so He could redeem them. And, since man is totally depraved and incapable of coming to God on his own, He handpicks who He's gonna save and doesn't even give them a say in it.

Why would God do this? "He's sovereign and His ways are unknowable," they'll say. "His holiness, omniscience and omnipotence don't allow Him to do otherwise." To my way of thinking, that's putting God in a box where He's limited by His own power.

Jesus said,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Peter said,

He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

God created man in His own image for companionship and to be glorified. To avoid making robots who are "just following the script", He gave man the ability to choose either to obey or rebel. Love doesn't have any meaning without free will. Admittedly, man blew it - but God loved us so much, He sacrificed Himself to satisfy His justice.

He shall see of the travail of his soul,
and shall be satisfied: by
his knowledge shall my righteous servant
justify many; for he shall bear
their iniquities. Isaiah 53:11

God did everything necessary to save us - we could do nothing on our own - He paid an enormous price for an "unspeakable gift" and offers it to us out of His grace, mercy, and love. He still gives us the choice to exercise our will whether to accept it or reject it.