Some may come after me in this blog post and defend the general goodness of all humans. Many will go after my view of free will; after all, who doesn’t like to have complete autonomy and total independence in the making of decisions? Man has the propensity to delight in generalities, to escape what is naturally sinful.

One example is the idea that man is generally good. This idea is really derived from two points, one being the goodness of creation. All creation was created “good” and thus all things, when in place, are naturally good. Another place, that comes from extra-biblical sources, where people get their idea of general goodness is from birth. Surely the innocence of a weeping and fresh baby entering life, and it’s consequent development, is an innocent and good thing.

My problem isn’t with humans gravitating to things that are not necessarily biblical, it is the idea that man escapes (through generalities) to a theology that is self-centered.

Most people don’t know that Pelagianism, the idea that man has autonomy in choosing the goodness of God in salvation, was condemned as heresy by the counsel of Carthage in biblical history. But recently, it has gained a resurgence in Fundamentalist movements. I am bringing up this example because of what it signifies. I would argue that pelagianism has come back because of two things: sin (lack of wisdom in the heart of man) and ignorance (lacking basic logical reasoning and deductive principles).

I recently heard a syndicated fundamentalist radio host say that he cannot imagine God being good without letting us (humans) have some say in matters of salvation. Now, I don’t have to go to the bible for this; all I need is to think through it. Whether or not someone believes that the problem with man is his unchanged heart, one can understand this perspective – If one cannot understand and therefore pronounce that God is sovereign (totally and unequivocally) then it is not sovereignty that is the problem, but man that is the problem. If I cannot understand some slew of verses, or a pretext to understanding the fall that explains that we do not have any control, then I have a problem with understanding, and not what the bible says.

The key to God-centered theology is not that I have to understand why the bible says that I have no choice apart from what God has sovereignty declared, but that I need to understand that I am a human, and that God says that I am human, and that I cannot understand all things of God.

In retrospect, the fundamentalist radio show host believes that man is at the center of salvation, even if he says otherwise, because (though he can say otherwise) he has separated the logical conclusion of believing that man has any say in salvation. If man has ANY say whatsoever in salvation, then the power of salvation no longer rests totally in God. That means, at the very heart of salvation, what you find is the choice to accept or deny God’s free gift of salvation. No matter what way you spin this idea, it is not God-centered.

Remember, when we misunderstand scripture we are committing a sin. This is because scripture is God-centered, and that the things it communicates is about God (even if it is related to man). This, therefore, means that God has made everything perfectly clear in His revelation, but the heart and stubborn flesh of man has rebelled against the bible’s story. If the bible was about man, then we would not be at fault when we get something wrong… but it would make God wrong!

To be God-centered means making God the priority over the mind of Man. When scripture says, “God hardened Pharoah’s heart,” we must carefully ask this question: “Does the scripture plainly say that God sovereignly hardened Pharoah’s heart in order to achieve a purpose, or am I unwilling to accept what it plainly describes because I am uncomfortable that God would do this (since I have been taught that I have free will)?” Even if scripture makes us uncomfortable, it does not give us the right to judge it wrongly.