How can God be the author of sin and not be the cause of it?
Think of a man writing symphony. He pens the notes for the instruments he wants to hear from, when he wants, as he wants, because he is sovereign over the piece. He pens the duration of each note, the volume, the thematic elements in it. But there is something else is in this symphony that he doesn't write and yet he not only authors but uses: silence.
The man doesn't write the silence in the same way as he writes the notes, yet the silence serves to greatly enhance the beauty (or glory) of the piece. The man is still sovereign over the silence, make no mistake, but it does not flow from his work but arises by the absence of his work.
Think of silence as sin, the notes as God's positive decrees, and the symphony of God's unfolding plan for our universe.
2 comments:
Great illustration. A "musical" version of Augustine's theodicy!
But even musical silence is used by a composer willingly to achieve a certain effect; that is, musical silence is a means to an end. How does this avoid the directness and therefore authorship of the sin by God in determinism, then?
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