I too have suffered terrible loss. I won't go into details here, but will say that insofar as the suffering of one can allow one to sympathize with another, "I feel your pain."

My loss led to a closer relationship with God, so I'm thankful for that. However, I've never pictured God as having anything to do with what happened. He created His children with free will, and sin makes it inevitable for bad things to happen.

About the best treatment of this subject I've come accross is by Greg Boyd, a non-SDA, who wrote a book called, "Is God to Blame?" His answer is no, and the book is a wonderful book which defends God.

This is really a basic issue of the Great Controversy. Who is to blame? God is presenting the case -- a subtle case, which requires investigation and initiative on our part to "get" -- that He is not to blame. While not to blame, does God accept the responsibility.

It's a shame that so many who bear His name have opinions of Him which are, let's say, less than flattering.

I prefer to believe the promises that encourage us to praise and thank God "in" and "for" all things. I know Jesus is in control. Whether He prevents or allows tragedy is up to Him - not Satan.

1SM 269
[Satan] had, by his power, controlled cities and nations until their sin provoked the wrath of God to destroy them by fire, water, earthquakes, sword, famine, and pestilence. {1SM 269.2}

[ July 13, 2005, 02:43 AM: Message edited by: Mountain Man ]

Are the unsaved controlled by God?
Does God usurp free will from rebels who hate and ignore Him? Would that be breaking His own 8th Commandment?
Are the promises for the redeemed who give control to Him...and only them?
Are there no such things as accidents?
EGW says that you either serve God or you serve the devil; how does this fit into Christian Fatalism?
What about this?:
"Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard." {CH 460.2}

Satan cannot control anyone without God's approval. Satan cannot do anything without God's permission. Satan maybe the prince of this world, but Jesus is still Lord! There is nothing fatalistic about God being in control. We are free to choose salvation, other than that we are the playthings of the Devil. We are not free, however, to derail God's plan regarding the final outcome of the great controversy.

Can the lamblike beast choose not to make an image to beast? not to enforce the mark of the beast?

Does God "approve" of Satan, an insane destroyer of man and hater of Christ, controlling people?

Is the great controversy not really a controversy at all, but a pre-programmed and staged drama, where God let's the evil loose for a while on this planet just to show the rest of the universe how great and powerful He is when He crushes all opposition, sooner or later?

Or is it His wisdom, to let the rebels (angelic and human) choose whom they will serve, reap what they have sown, love what they want to love, keep their sin-disease or seek Him to cure them, and thus allowing the other intelligence through His vast Universe see how selfishness kills itself, so they can know the "wages of sin" are eternal death?

[ July 14, 2005, 08:08 PM: Message edited by: Phil N. D'blanc ]

The outcome of the GC has already been decided. According to the prophecies, God will win and Satan will lose. Whether or not we choose to be saved is up to us. But, we will not derail God's plan if we refuse to be saved. The two are related but separate aspects of the GC.

Why should anyone sin if God is in control of him?

Is it possible to sin while God is in control of the one sinning?

Why would God loosen his control just enough so that one could sin, while he is control so that such would sin?

The great controversy didn’t end at the cross. “Yet Satan was not then destroyed. The angels did not even then understand all that was involved in the great controversy. The principles at stake were to be more fully revealed. And for the sake of man, Satan's existence must be continued. Man as well as angels must see the contrast between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. He must choose whom he will serve.” (DA 761) So, how can we be sure God will tie up the lose ends, that He will eventually win the great controversy?

Yes, the words “approval” and “permission” can mean similar and different things. In the post quoted above I was using them as synonyms. However, I also happen to believe God manages the affairs men and angels, including evil angels. Whatever He approves is what He permits. In other words, He regulates everything that happens, by either causing it or permitting it, according to His divine will and plan. Death, disease, and disaster are all under the direct supervision of God. Satan is not at liberty to pick and choose this or that calamity to satisfy his evil heart. There are rules of engagement that determine what he can and cannot do, and God commissions holy angels, with orders to kill, to make sure evil angels abide by God’s rules.

Given has given us the freedom to accept or reject our personal salvation. However, we do not have His permission to derail the outcome of the great controversy. Like the evil angels, we are restricted by the rules of engagement. God will not allow the consequences of our choices to jeopardize the outcome of the great controversy. True, we manage the choices, but God manages the consequences.

MM, You use the words "the great controversy"; What is it about? What does it mean?