Flip Wilson did a comedy routine where a preacher’s wife came home with a new dress she purchased without discussing the purchase with him. When he asked her why she did it, she said “The devil made me do it.” This is a common reply when we do sinful things. This is what Eve did in the garden when God confronted her for eating the fruit of the forbidden tree and sharing it with her husband (Gen. 3:13). By now, you probably think I affixed the wrong title to this article, but people also blame God for their sins.
When God confronted Adam about his eating of the forbidden fruit, Adam partly blamed God. God said to Adam, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate” (Gen. 3:11-12). On the surface, it may appear he is blaming the woman, and in part he is, but notice he specifically pointed out that it was the woman “You gave to be with me.” The subtle point is he blames God for putting him in this situation by giving him Eve rather than man up and take responsibility for his wrong.
People to this day still blame God for human rebellion, when it is clear Satan introduced temptation to the human family, and they did not have to choose the sin. The Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election blames God for human rebellion. This did not originate with John Calvin, but he popularized it. It began to gain traction with a man named Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD). He was the first real champion of the doctrine of hereditary depravity and the need for God’s irresistible grace to overrule one’s sinful nature. With Augustine and Calvin, the sovereignty of God is a central tenet, but there is an unintended consequence of the predestination these men taught. That is that if God chooses not to regenerate your soul, He has consigned you to a life of sin and eternal death.
On this view, it is not at all improper to say, “The Lord made me do it.” The trouble with this idea of God choosing certain people to be lost sinners is the contradiction to so many plain passages of Scripture. Here is a sampling of these passages. In 1 Timothy 2:3-5 and 2 Peter 3:9, we read that God desires all men everywhere to be saved and that none should perish. If these passages are true, then God has not unconditionally selected certain people to be lost sinners. Acts 10:34-35, Romans 2:11, Galatians 2:6, and Ephesians 6:9 all repeat the principle that God does not show partiality. This is another plain statement which the doctrine of unconditional election denies. Unconditional election of some for salvation and others to condemnation is personal favoritism on steroids. 1 Corinthians 10:13 teaches that God provides the way of escape from temptation. Per the Calvinist, this is not the universal truth it appears to be in the Scripture as the unregenerate cannot escape sin no matter how desperately he wants to. God has made him a sinner for life.
We give James the last word in this discussion: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death (Jas. 1:13-15). We echo James and the other writers and say, neither the devil nor the Lord made me/you do it; no, my/your own freely chosen desires are to blame.
When God confronted Adam about his eating of the forbidden fruit, Adam partly blamed God. God said to Adam, “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate” (Gen. 3:11-12). On the surface, it may appear he is blaming the woman, and in part he is, but notice he specifically pointed out that it was the woman “You gave to be with me.” The subtle point is he blames God for putting him in this situation by giving him Eve rather than man up and take responsibility for his wrong.
People to this day still blame God for human rebellion, when it is clear Satan introduced temptation to the human family, and they did not have to choose the sin. The Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election blames God for human rebellion. This did not originate with John Calvin, but he popularized it. It began to gain traction with a man named Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD). He was the first real champion of the doctrine of hereditary depravity and the need for God’s irresistible grace to overrule one’s sinful nature. With Augustine and Calvin, the sovereignty of God is a central tenet, but there is an unintended consequence of the predestination these men taught. That is that if God chooses not to regenerate your soul, He has consigned you to a life of sin and eternal death.
On this view, it is not at all improper to say, “The Lord made me do it.” The trouble with this idea of God choosing certain people to be lost sinners is the contradiction to so many plain passages of Scripture. Here is a sampling of these passages. In 1 Timothy 2:3-5 and 2 Peter 3:9, we read that God desires all men everywhere to be saved and that none should perish. If these passages are true, then God has not unconditionally selected certain people to be lost sinners. Acts 10:34-35, Romans 2:11, Galatians 2:6, and Ephesians 6:9 all repeat the principle that God does not show partiality. This is another plain statement which the doctrine of unconditional election denies. Unconditional election of some for salvation and others to condemnation is personal favoritism on steroids. 1 Corinthians 10:13 teaches that God provides the way of escape from temptation. Per the Calvinist, this is not the universal truth it appears to be in the Scripture as the unregenerate cannot escape sin no matter how desperately he wants to. God has made him a sinner for life.
We give James the last word in this discussion: “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death (Jas. 1:13-15). We echo James and the other writers and say, neither the devil nor the Lord made me/you do it; no, my/your own freely chosen desires are to blame.