How can God be the cause of actions and events that are evil and sinful?
Have you ever looked at passages of Scripture that speak of God ’s decree as eternal, unconditional, unchangeable, and exhaustive. As a result, we concluded that God is properly said to be the ultimate cause of all things. Immediately, this raises the question: How can God be the cause of actions and events that are evil and sinful —things which God Himself prescribes against—and yet not be rightly charged with unrighteousness? Some people answer this question by appealing to the notion of divine “permission.” In other words, though God is ultimately in control, He doesn’t ordain evil; He merely allows it. I don’t find this kind of explanation convincing for two reasons. God’s Decree and Divine “Permission” The fundamental meaning of “permission” is “not to hinder what has, or appears to have, a tendency to take place” (Edwards, Concerning the Divine Decrees). The concept of permission is used this way in Scripture (e.g., Mark 10:14 ), and even the etymology of the English word t