I agree that human agency is a factor in the allowance of evil, though I draw distinction in thinking that human choice is the primary reason for God allowing evil.
The reasons for the allowance of evil on the part of a just, holy, and loving God are going to vary—sometimes it is for disciplinary purposes (like a father would discipline the son in whom he loves), sometimes it is allowing an unruly and rebellious people to have exactly what they want and be faced with the consequences (Example: We don't want to submit to the good design for sex as being between one man and one woman in marriage and instead give God the middle finger by fornicating outside of marriage and producing pornography and incentivizing adultery and inventing a spectrum of gender identities and castrating young children through surgery and puberty blockers—all of which is disastrous long-term for the stability and health of any civilization, and God simply says "you want that, sure, have at it", allowing people to simply walk headlong into the natural consequences that inevitably come as a result of their rebellion.)
Sometimes the allowance of evil is to display his glory in overcoming that evil. And I'm sure there are many other reasons God in his wisdom has that we in our finitude cannot fathom. That is partly where faith comes in—not blind faith, mind you, but steadfast trust that God is good even when things are bad.
Agreed on the importance to address aggression, though I would also say that righteous authority, especially in the home, is not only enforced to stem aggression but also to shape and mold the heart of the child. Modern people have developed a hatred/distrust/resistance to all authority structures but authority is both inevitable and essential. There will always be people in authority over other people—in the home, in the workplace, in the church, and in government—and part of my job is to teach my children what just authority looks like and what right submission to just authority looks like. Likewise, I am to point to unjust authority and help them navigate how to submit to the office said ruler holds while righteously resisting or rejecting the injustice being enacted by the occupant of that office. If my children do not learn how to submit to the authority of someone who loves them, they will not have the tools to honor God in circumstances where authorities that do not love them attempt their compliance/subjugation.
I am not familiar with the book. Thanks for the recommendation!
Something about a laptop. Probably nothing important.
Go to Telegraph Hill and climb the Greenwich and Filbert steps. The area is beautiful and full of parrots.
Thank you, Jimmy, for your work. We are all *wealthier* because of it.
Thanks! I will add it to my enormous *to read* list.
Yes, I am in the CREC ✌
I'll add one more thing, that despite God using unjust and tyrannical rulers for his good purposes, it is equally true that we are to resist unjust rulers and unjust coercion. John Calvin considered governing officials who betray their office to essentially be reduced to private persons, what's more, mere "brigands" and "criminals".
We are to respect the office but rebel against the office holder if that man rules unjustly.
It’s Christ or chaos. This was very well put brother. I see some Kuyperian theology in here as well.
Yes! I have not read nearly enough from Kuyper but I have been consciously influenced by his teachings on sphere sovereignty.
Good questions.
So the root meaning is basically "dominion" which ties back to Genesis.
As for your second question about coercion, that is a bit more complicated.
The simple answer is that there are plenty of just ways a person may attain authority and rule. That someone would attain authority isn't in itself wrong but, again, an inevitability.
I also should say that coercion once someone is IN authority is baked into the pie. It is not a matter of if they will be coercive but how they will be coercive. Or, put another way, to what end.
For example, I am coercive with my children—I will discipline them if they are rebellious to my authority—but my coercion is aimed in the direction of them being self-disciplined, respectful, and responsible individuals who are not mastered by their emotions and impulses and sins but rather learn how to submit themselves in righteousness to God. My authority as a father is to love them enough to teach them to obey all that God has commanded. That involves coercion.
On the flip side, If I were a tyrannical father I would still have authority over them because of my "governing office" as father but my rule would be using coercion for MY OWN gain, not my children's gain.
This, in principle, is true of magisterial rulers. God calls rulers to love their people and place. To use coercion in righteous ways for the benefit and flourishing of the people.
You specifically asked about attaining power through coercive means. On that note, and this is a harder reality to grapple with, God allows, for his purposes, selfish and evil men to do such things. Just as men can come to power through just means, so they can through unjust means. God is infinitely wise and we often do not understand why he allows all that he does. But, as was stated before, sometimes it is to discipline an unruly peoples. To discipline and rebuke in order to call them back into righteous submission to Christ.
Pardon the novel I wrote in response here. Does all that make sense?
Are you a Haunted Cosmos podcast enjoyer? If not, you should be.
I won't elaborate for him but I will add that God created a cosmos in which there is hierarchical forms of rule and authority. Christ is king of all existence. He then deligates authority to lesser powers—to his heavenly host (like angels) as well as mankind.
Man as God's image bearer is to take dominion of the earth—to cultivate, subdue, and rule (as God's governors).
God also subdivided his deligated authority to man into four primary forms of government—the church, the magistrate (state), the family, and the individual. Each government has its own specific roles and boundaries—clergy do not declare war, the magistrate does not administer the sacraments, for example.
When man sinned and fell, and all creation was subject to sin, man's governing roles and duties did not change but are now plagued with corruption. Even in a sinful world God did not do away with government. Rather, we are told that God gave the magistrate the sword to reward the just and to punish the unjust.
In 2 Samuel God says "When one rules justly over man, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass sprout from the earth"
In proverbs 29:2, it says "When the rightelus increase, the people flourish, but when the wicked rule, the people groan."
Ultimately we are all under the authority and rule of Christ, whether we accept that reality or not, but not accepting it as a peoples results in evil rulers.
We individually, as households, even as towns and communities and states, can and should resist evil rulers. Part of that resistance is writing code and using open protocols (nostr) and better money (bitcoin). But the heart of that resistance needs to be repentance and a return to rightly ordered rule under the ultimate lordship of Christ.
It is possible to spark it, I suppose, but positive traits require discipline and cultivation. Cultivation comes in large part through imitation.
So I am required, as the parent, to model that positive trait, or, where I am deficient, to point them to someone else who models it well (a personal relationship within the broader family or community) that the children can imitate.
I imagine many people simply don't know what they are voting for. They just don't pay attention.
