I guess I don’t have a lot to say about my common grace book right now, except that I’m more aware of common grace in my surroundings. On Saturday, Keri, Linnea, and I visited the Natural History Museum in NYC, and as we reclined under the replica of a magnificent blue whale, menacing throngs notwithstanding, I pondered briefly the truth that God created even those strange beings that inhabit the depths of the ocean, those creatures we never encounter (except in the Aliens of the Deep Imax show –ooo) and who will never begin to affect our lives in any meaningful way. How could God not take delight in such creation, delight that he experiences outside his purpose of carrying out our eternal destinies? I’m an infralapsarian, true. And though I think the supralapsarian view presents many crucial points, I can’t help believing that everything around me reveals his common grace poured out to creation. How much more so, then, to humans, to whom he’s given both special and common grace? Our creativity, kindness, sense of humor, ingenuity, and concern for justice reflect God’s creativity, kindness, sense of humor, ingenuity, and concern for justice. And these just scratch the surface.
Next entry I want to comment on the Veritas forum happening at Harvard this week. The topic is “Christianity, Power, and the Powerless.” Last night, Tami, Hope and I attended a panel discussion led by Stephen Carter (Christian law professor at Yale), Alan Dershowitz (skeptic law professor at Harvard), and Gary Haugen (president of the International Justice Mission), who addressed the issue “people, pain, and powerlessness: responding to a world of violence.” I’ll tarry, though, until after Thursday night, when Tim Keller engages David Koepsell of the Council for Secular Humanism in a discussion on confronting our power. Good stuff. Makes me feel like I’m back in school, and it’s a good thing, because I’ve been feeling a little intellectually and theologically starved lately (not really emotionally starved – that’s my perpetual condition).
I'm so infralapsarian, sometimes I'm not sure if I'm a Calvinist at all :) I heard someone make a good case once that the argument is based on a misunderstanding, though. I wish I hadn't forgotten it.
I think most of our theology comes from misunderstandings, most of which come from our imposition of philosophical categories on the Bible, which seems to like making apparently contradictory statements without giving us the metaphysical glue to hold them together. I suppose Dr. K has influenced me a lot. Actually, both Dr. Ks have.
Anyway, that's enough rambling for the night. I think it's pretty clear though that God takes delight in creation as a thing in itself. Lewis had a good sense of that - see Perelandra, when Ransom and the Un-man are struggling under the water and under the earth. The book Gilead has a few good passages on the same lines.
And in any case, as Dr. K says, the deepest heartbeat of God is found in the salvation of sinners. The elect are elect in Christ - no abstract decretalism going on here.
I'm sure the argument is based on misunderstanding. You should read Richard Mouw's book for a clear and balanced analysis. The phenomena/noumena distinction often seems to hard to overcome. What is the difference between how we perceive Scriptures and how they're meant to be? I suppose we can only deal with what God's given us, including the imposition of our philosophical categories, and if we consistently, diligently read his Word, we'll see that he's given us what's sufficient for now. You're right about God's "deepest heartbeat," though; humans are made in the image of God, and we can't forget what Luke 15:10 says: "there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." I like some of the passages in Gilead that talk about the continuity between earth and heaven, and how in heaven we'll remember the earth by singing ballads about it, an ancient song commemorating creation and pain and redemption, or something like that. Marilynne Robinson words it much better than I.