MZTV 1875: No Comment Ever Made Me Madder on My Own Channel Than THIS One

As you all know, a gentleman named Christopher Alsruhe one day last week made a comment about me getting Free Will wrong. In other words, Mr. Alsruhe believed that God does not and cannot control any human being. He offered a set of verses.

I started in on the verses, got through the first one, then embarked on a sub-series on the essential teaching of "all is out of, through, and into God" (Romans 11:36), as well as "God gives to all life and breath and all"( Acts 17:25).

As this sub-series developed, Christopher revealed more and more of his beliefs. It turns out that, according to Christopher, God is not responsible for ANY evil thing. God only does good things. But this isn't what got to me.

What got to me was Christopher's assumption that no one living in the West could possibly know what evil and suffering was, and therefore it was "easy" for anyone in the West to say that God created evil—notwithstanding the verse in Isaiah (45:7) stating clearly that God did, indeed, create evil itself.

THAT ONE set me off. I mean, the audacity to assume that none of us know what evil or suffering is, and that the only reason anyone on this channel believes in a sovereign God is not because we believe Scripture, but because we all live easy, pain-free lives.

I have never—when responding to comments on this channel—felt my blood boil more. I impulsively lashed out. Christopher apologized for the thoughtless comment, and I apologized for my response. But the facts on both ends of this controversy stand, and it is these facts that inform the topic of today's conversation.

The thing about Christopher is that he truly is a gentleman. He just does not think things through. He has been institutionally theologized (my theory) to the point that he can't see out from it into clearly-stated Scripture passages. Some of his comments suggest that he is confused concerning the absolute vs. relative perspectives, which I will get to this week.

I am truly amazed at Christopher's graciousness. Yes, he has strong opinions, as do I. And many of his opinions are agitating as hell. (He would say the same about me.) And yet the man has been nothing but a good sport.

I pray to God this continues after he watches THIS show.

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