See, if we are talking about the Infinite Existence of the Scriptures and not a limited deity like Zeus or Buddha, then ultimately there is no problem with evil, in the sense of God never wanting it to have existence in His public world.  If God never wanted or willed evil to enter into His public world, then it only can mean that some other power put it here, but this is nonsense.  For at this point we are dealing with paganistic dualism[2], and thus, no longer talking about the sovereign God of the bible.  When I see people saying God limits His sovereignty to give mankind free-will, what I see among other things, are pagans trying to make the God of the bible just like all the other pagan gods of this world.  The limited paganistic gods of the world, the gods dualism, sees the true sovereign God of the Bible and are jealous.  Man is always trying to either drag down God's sovereignty or grace to their foolish and earthy level.  I will not write about the problem of evil, for I have already addressed this issue.  I also recommend reading Vincent Cheung and his article regarding this topic.[3]  Instead, I will be briefly addressing upon what levels are man and woman accountable or responsible before Almighty God.

          If God created you (Romans 9:19-21), and you have a soul (Romans 2:15), then you are responsible before God, nothing more is needed!  God creating you means He is a sovereign authority over you.  God giving you a soul with His laws written on them, means He has given commands.  Furthermore, when I state that our choices are authentic and sincere, (See Proverbs 16:1, 9 & the story of Peter denying Jesus although the future was foretold to him) as coming from our reasoning and desires, I do not mean that this sincerity is the base foundation for our responsibility before God.  Instead the sincerity of our choices makes us guiltier before God, but it is not the chief or first reason why we are accountable before God.  Our responsibility and guilt is increased before God because our choices are made from sincerity on our part.  Therefore, in summery our responsibility before God is solely and primarily based on the fact God created us and has written His laws upon our souls.  Consequently, God has reinforced the truths that He has written on our hearts through creation and many other things (Romans 1:19; Accordingly to the degree we know God's revealed word also increases our responsibility). Second, the fact that we choose out of true reasoning and sincerity, on our part, means we are even guiltier.  How evident then is our guilt before our Good Creator. Furthermore, how glaring then does the true depth of God's free mercy and grace become when given to such accountable and guilty sinners!

The Three levels

         It is funny how many things are explained by using the "3's". As I see it, there are 3 basic levels to man's accountability or responsibility "to" God.  They are (1) God is Sovereign, (2) God's Commands and (3) our "own" souls and perspective.

(1) God is Sovereign

        This is where most mess up when thinking about this subject.  Most start with an overstated point three. But the bible is not like most of us and so we will follow it despite what most do.  The bible starts off with the fact that God is Sovereign.

         See, there is no responsibility or accountability without sovereignty.  It is the very fact that God is Sovereign and that we are not free that makes us responsible to God!  So many miss this point.  Romans 8:7, among others, show that freedom is not required for accountability between man and the Infinite Existence. For some this might be very startling to realize, but ask for help and God's grace will be with you to help you understand and except His words. This means in the least that freedom cannot be the ultimate foundation for responsibility: something else is.  

        A child is responsible to their parent because their parents are an authority over them; without this authority the child is no longer responsible.  The same is with the government or a boss (etc.).  Being responsible first implies above all things, an authority.  In Romans 9 where a person was having a hard time dealing with man's responsibility in light of man not being free from God the Apostle goes straight to the ultimate level for why man is responsible, God's sovereignty.  The Apostle says God is the Creator over man, or in other word: sovereign over man and for this reason alone is man responsible regardless of freedom. This means God's creative and controlling sovereignty over us is the first and greatest level of our accountability, everything else adds to this level making us more and more accountable.

  "If God says something is wrong, then it is wrong to do it, regardless of the context or choice, and regardless of freedom. In fact, the Bible says that the non-Christian is unable to obey God's law. If sin presupposes the freedom or ability to obey God's command, or to not sin, then all non-Christians are already sinless, since all of them are unable to obey God, and they would require no salvation. However, it is precisely because they are sinful and unable to change that they need Jesus Christ to save them" ( Vincent Cheung,  www.vincentcheung.com, the article is called: Homosexuality and the Wrath of God)

 

(2) God Commands:

        The second level for why man is accountable to God is because God has commanded mankind.  God has commanded in two main ways.  First, we are born knowing in a general manner what God approves and does not for our lives.  He was written His laws upon our hearts (Romans 2:15).   This does not mean we are empowered to walk in these commands but that we know what they are.  Secondly, God has publicly revealed them by His Divine Revelation, particularly by the scripture.  Not only is God an authority over us, but He as given us commands. 

(3) Our "own" hearts and minds:

        Lastly, God has created this public world, in time and space, and us finite beings in it.  He has made it is such a manner that we experience our lives in a sense of freedom and ownership over our own hearts, minds, thoughts, and bodies. 

        This is the place where the confusion comes in and where foolish untaught people make wild accusations about God and man.  Just because -from a limited perspective- we feel somewhat free from God does not mean we are, in the ultimate sense!  In this light, it seems to me many so-called theologians base truth more upon how "they" experience or see life rather than believing the Scriptures.  Because God is the true Infinite, He is by necessity the cause of all things.  Also because God's Sovereignty is a part of His essence He cannot actively stop being sovereign over everything.  Thus, in relation to God man is not free; it would be impossible!  This is why I dislike the phrase "free-will."  If it implies being "free" relative to God then it is total nonsense and deceptive.  Some of the problem arise when people use foolish inductive logic, which God rebukes (Psalm 50:21), to figure out who God really is.  Freedom has a role to play with human to human responsibility and so without going to the scripture people inductively assume freedom is the foundation of responsibility in regards to man to God.

        With that being said, God did make it is so that we experience life in the view that our souls, at least in part, belongs to us.  This is because God designed it so that we do in fact experience it this way.

         This is for two reasons.  First, God and creation are separate.  Although God upholds creation's existence every moment by His power, there is still a definite line between God and creation; there is an infinite distinction and separation between timeless God and finite creation.  Therefore, it is proper and true that, in part, our souls are our souls, and we are responsible for them.  God is not an impersonal force, energy or source so that once connected you becomes one with the source as the same.  He is a singular Person.  There is God and then there are the objects He creates.  I have no power or ownership of any kind over the sun, moon or thunder. Yet, God did create in such a way, within the regular way He animates all creation, that my soul and brain have a certain and definite power and ownership over my own body.  In this light or sense, my soul is my soul; and my body is my body.

        For an example of this consider that the Church belongs to God.  God created the church, and Jesus Christ on top of this purchased the church with His own blood.   All the members of the church are called "children" of God and rightly so, for by Jesus' bloodshed God has adopted the church as His sons and daughters.  But in Galatians 4:19 Paul calls these children of God his children.  Christ is rightfully the Good Shepherd over His flock, but the apostles call themselves shepherds over these same people?  What are we to make of this?  Is this a contradiction or is this multilayered?   Of course this is not a contradiction but an easy to see multilayered situation.  God is The Shepherd over the church and gives stewardship to little shepherds or pastors over His church until His return.  See how easy that was! 

        The second reason is because God created us in such a way that we experience life in time and space with a sense of control over our own soul and body.  In God's wisdom He created us to have our "own" hunger and thirst, whether spiritual or physical, but why?  So that we might see that supremacy of Christ as He offers Himself to us in the gospel as the fountain of living waters.  We have limited ownership or stewardship over things that we might see God shinning in the glory of being the true Owner and Giver.  We have our "own" sins and weakness so that we might see the glory of Jesus Christ as redeemer.  God tells us we will be punished for our own sins, and so experience the need of forgiveness and the joy of finding it in Christ.  As we make choices they are done out of our own desires and our own knowledge.  This makes us guiltier.  We are already guilty purely because God is Sovereign and has commanded us.  Then on top of this as we experience life from our own perspective making choices out of our own desires and knowledge. 

         See, human beings are accountable to God on many levels, but most of the time even good theologians only focus on the 2^nd and 3^rd levels of accountability; and sadly, some even disregard the first level completely.  In light of God's Sovereignty as given by the scripture and then by disregarding the first level what ends up happing is that these theologians see a contradiction arise; and rightly so, for without the first foundational level there is a true contradiction.  At this point theologians over the years have tried to account for this contradiction by submitting, free-will, for example.  Others who saw that free-will is also a contradiction just ignore this subject hoping others do not recognize they are simply failures.  Still, others cry out my favorite cop-out for their intellectual inadequacy which is mystery.[4]

          I never found this a problem but for some it is.  Seeing the bible appealing to all three of these levels of accountability confuses more than just a few.  For the first level Romans 9:19-23 appeals to this.  It tells us that it is the very reason we are not free and that God is the Sovereign authority and causality that we are accountable.  For the second level whether it's the Ten Commandments, or the commands written on our hearts (Romans 2:15) or passages as Acts 17:30 we see that God commanding us makes us accountable.   For the third level we see passages as James 1:13 showing us that our desires are "our" desires as we perceive and experience them. 

         Willfully ignorant, stubbornly unbelieving and lazy people might find themselves perplexed by such things.  Instead we ought to humbly believe, be Spirit empowered to understand and willing to learn the words of our Savior.  If we see all three in the scripture then they are all true.  Because Romans 9:19-23 makes this level as the ultimate or first then it is so.  By seeing this we are to recognize the scriptural "order" to our accountability.  Because there is an order to this then there is neither mystery nor contradiction here!  Because all three levels makes us responsible before God then it is right for God to appeal to anyone or all of them when encouraging us to obey Him or bringing a charge against us; and thus, the scriptures do just that. 

          Therefore, my readers do not be confused anymore.  Honestly and humbly take the scriptures at face value.  What I mean is that for many they have poor and prideful Biblical reading practices.  What ends up happening is this.  A foolish person will see distinctions (such as the three levels of accountability) and do one of two things.  Either they will do what I call "verse cancel-azation" or just cry out "mystery."  By verse cancel-azation I mean they will take one verse or passage and cancel out another passage as if it makes the other passage disappear.  For example, one passage will say God delights in the death of the wicked (Deuteronomy 23:63) and then somewhere else it says He does not (Ezekiel 33:11).  What many do, depending on their preference, will take one verse and cancel out the other as if it does not exist.  Others, who see the hypocrisy in this, not knowing what to make of the two passages, will grab for the cop-out called "mystery." 

          Then there is the third option, which is the biblical option: let both passages stand on their own as being true!  See, for the sake of justice God does delight in the death of the wicked, but for sake of a wasted life God He does not delight in the death of the of wicked.  See how simple that was! 

          This third option lets both passages stand on their own two feet proclaiming truth.  A humble and understanding Christian will allow all scripture to have an unrestrained voice to speak and also allow the scripture to interpret itself. Now back to our subject.  As with all doctrine immature or prideful persons will see the three levels of accountability in scripture and not knowing what to make of it will try to cancel out one passage with another or just cry out mystery. Because all three levels are found in the scripture then we must allow all of them to be truth as the scripture proclaims them to be.  Because there is a scriptural order to them then there is no longer confusion but clarity.  Therefore, do not be confused when you read a passage of scripture which might appeal to one level and then later appeal to another and then another.  All three levels make us accountable so it is right for God in scripture to appeal to whatever level He seems fit at the time, for all make us accountable to Him. 

I pray this was help to many. 

Sincerely: Oshea 

[1]  I am referring to the concept of free-will that turns Christianity into dualism; and to which says man is in any form or fashion free from God's active infinity or causality that is.  I will get into this later, but there could be a biblical definition which the phrase free-will could refer to, but sense trying to redefine this might make things more complicated I simply call the biblical definition as self-will, or own-will.

[2] Dualism in the historical sense means that there are two ultimate sovereign forces over the universe.  This is usually as a good force a bad force, a yin and yang.  Although, trying to attribute evil to something other than God might not make the evil force as equal to God, yet, at the end of the day it is a definite form of paganistic dualism.

[3] www.vincentcheung.com  "The problem of evil."  Also my article "God the metaphysical author of evil" - http://www.osheadavis.com/content/view/142/31/

[4] Although there is a time and place for mystery, this is not one of them, for the bible is stuffed full on this subject.  The only mystery here is whether you will trust God's word or yours?