God’s choice of Providence
God has sovereign authority in His dominion over mankind. Therefore God, having the free choice of whether to providentially govern His created order in either the Calvinist or Arminian paradigm, could conceivably choose either system that He wants. As such, which system do you think would offer God more glory, and why?
If God values relationships, as a God who “is love” (1st John 4:16), then I think that the Arminian paradigm offers Him more glory, as being a net gain of a kingdom of people that He can identify with, that is, a kingdom of people who chose to love and be with Him, under otherwise adverse circumstances. Jesus states: “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.” (John 16:27) But if they did not independently love Him, then what would this statement mean?
One interesting contrast between Calvinism and Arminianism is that whereas the Calvinistic paradigm offers God the glory of ruling over people who chose Him only because they were irresistibly forced to loved Him, the Arminian paradigm offers God the glory of having a kingdom of those who freely and independently chose to love and to be with Him under otherwise adverse circumstances. Thus the Arminian paradigm offers God something that He can eternally treasure and identify with.
Now as for the Calvinist paradigm, God is thereby able to “demonstrate His various attributes,” but which He could seemingly also just as easily accomplish in the Arminian system, too. In the Calvinist system, God is said to receive more glory, because He alone chooses Himself, through others, unilaterally and irresistibly, but which seems to be a rather minor and insignificant accomplishment. In other words, it offers Him a created order whose future is completely “fixed,” in which their every successive thought, is thought for them by decree, so that even if they are sentient beings, their every moment of consciousness is fixed by someone & something other than themselves, being but static vessels upon which God loves Himself through a kingdom of marionettes. At least, that is the Arminian impression; Calvinists obviously disagree.
It seems that Arminianism can achieve most anything that Calvinism could offer, but with the added benefit of truly independent relationships, which Calvinism cannot, by definition, ever hope to achieve.
Question: If God had a choice between Calvinism and Arminianism, which would He choose?
Answer: The system which most glorifies God.
