Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Calvinist Disagreeing with Claim God Did Not Create Evil

Reformed Baptist Jeffrey D. Johnson wrote the following about the theology of (Pseudo-) Dionysius. Keep in mind, he disagrees with the theology of Dionysius:

 

Sin

 

Since everything in the universe derives its existence from the existence of a good God, everything that exists is good. In this way, Dionysius equated existence with goodness.

 

Unlike Aristotle, who defined goodness as the object of desire, Dionysius, following Plato, defined goodness as charity. Goodness is that which gives of itself. Because God is perfect in his goodness, God is the efficient cause of all that shares in the state of goodness. Because God is love, he cannot help but eternally give of himself through the timeless and eternal act of creation. Thus, all that flows out from a God is good. But all that flows from God also begins to weaken its goodness. It will continue to weaken until it ceases to be good at all.

 

In this sense, evil is not something God created any more than darkness is created by light. (Jeffrey D. Johnson, The Failure of Natural Theology: A Critical Appraisal of the Philosophical Theology of Thomas Aquinas [New Studies in Theology; Conway, Ark.: Free Grace Press Academic, 2021], 88, emphasis added)

 

In other words, we have a Calvinist who disagrees with any rejection of the claim God created evil. Tell me again how Calvinism does not make God the author of sin again?

 

Further Reading

 

An Examination and Critique of the Theological Presuppositions Underlying Reformed Theology