God Is Said To Do That Which He Only Permits

“It is usual in Scripture to attribute to the Supreme Power, acts which are virtually those of his instruments, and which he merely permits.” – Charles Edward Fraser-Tytler Many false charges have been leveled at God by His critics (atheists, agnostics, satanists, etc.) due to misreading the Bible. Part of the problem has been the failure to understand the idiomatic language used in the Ancient Near East, especially among the Hebrew people, from which our God inspired Scriptures have their origin. This failure has led to more misunderstandings about God and His inspired Word than we can attest to. While the Hebrews had numerous idioms I am fully persuaded that the most neglected one among theologians and Bible translators has been what I prefer to label as “the permission idiom”. This is the idiom that, as we will learn in this study, scholars tell us is one in which God is said to be the cause of that which He merely allowed or permitted or did not prevent from happening. May the Lord use this book to help you understand Him and your Bible better.

A stunning reexamination of one of the essential tenets of Christian belief from one of the most provocative and admired writers on religion today “A scathing, vigorous, eloquent attack on those who hold that that there is such a thing as eternal damnation.”—Karen Kilby, Commonweal The great fourth-century church father Basil of Caesarea once observed that, in his time, most Christians believed that hell was not everlasting, and that all would eventually attain salvation. But today, this view is no longer prevalent within Christian communities. In this momentous book, David Bentley Hart makes the case that nearly two millennia of dogmatic tradition have misled readers on the crucial matter of universal salvation. On the basis of the earliest Christian writings, theological tradition, scripture, and logic, Hart argues that if God is the good creator of all, he is the savior of all, without fail. And if he is not the savior of all, the Kingdom is only a dream, and creation something considerably worse than a nightmare. But it is not so. There is no such thing as eternal damnation; all will be saved. With great rhetorical power, wit, and emotional range, Hart offers a new perspective on one of Christianity’s most important themes.

The Sovereignty of God is a religion classic by English Bible teacher Arthur Pink who articulates and relates the Biblical truths of God's absolute Sovereignty with the main goal to exalt God solely from the pages of Scripture. Pink attempts to draw closer the tension between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man, an eternal question that remains debated even though it's seemingly plainly taught in the Scripture. The author's focus is on the divine side of the issue, defining God's sovereignty and presenting the different spheres that it works and operates. Further on he turns to the tension between the sovereignty of God and human will and responsibility.