God: In Charge But Not In Control?

Baylor theology professor Dr. Roger Olson,

In response to your recent essay directed against the "Calvinist view" of God's character over at the Baylor Lariat Online, I must ask, how can God be "in charge but not in control"? We are talking about the God of the Bible, aren't we? The God who brings calamity, who exalts kings and takes them down, who burned whole cities with fire from heaven, who exercised His wrath on His only-begotten Son - this is the God of the Scriptures.

You say concerning "the God of Calvinism" that you're "not sure how to distinguish him from the devil," but are you sure how to distinguish your own understanding of God from a mere man? How can the God of the universe, Creator of the ends of the earth, the Sovereign over all creation, not be in control of all things that happen in His universe? He is still GOD, isn't he?

You address the Minneapolis bridge disaster, but the Bible says in Amos 3:6, "Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?" So God clearly ordains and brings disasters upon cities, and it is right for Him to do so for at least three reasons:

1. This is His world, so He can do with it as He pleases.
2. This world is full of wicked sinners, so He can judge us - even using disasters - as He pleases.
3. God uses the frailty of this world to point people in repentance to His never-failing Son.
   

It seems as though you've sacrificed God's true sovereign control at the altar of your false conception of His goodness. Your theological concerns are mainly relieving "God of responsibility for sin and evil and disaster and calamity," but those four things are not the same. God bringing disaster and calamity, like the Minnesota bridge collapse, isn't the same as Him doing sin and evil. He does bring disaster and calamity, and yet He does not sin or do evil. We must affirm both truths about God's character and therefore His work in the universe.

Again I say, it is totally right and good and holy for God to bring disasters upon this world.

Unlike your article, Jesus doesn't tell the worried people in Luke 13:1-5, "Oh, it's okay, God didn't do those terrible things;" He says, "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." He then offers another disaster as an example!

You, especially, Dr. Olson, have a special charge in this world of helping train those who will teach His Word to the church and to the world. How can you so deny His abundant truth? How can you give your students such hurtful, deceptive answers? I love Jesus and His people, so it hurts my heart to read your article.

You close your essay by commenting about God's sovereignty that, "In light of all the evil and innocent suffering in the world, he must have limited himself." But it seems that the LORD would instruct us first to consult Him on matters of His own character, before we go building conclusions on what our faulty, frail, fallen eyes see in this world.

He has not limited Himself in any way, sir, and I pray that you see and love God in truth, not lies, for His sake and for yours and for the people you serve,

Britt Treece