Matthew 18:7
Matthew 18:7-9 (see also Luke 17:1-2)
“Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”
One member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians: “Jesus (God in the flesh) says those who cause little ones to sin, better he be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied round his neck, than for him to face the wrath of God in judgment for his sin. And yet, if all is determined beforehand, and if God decided that so and so would “cause one of these little ones to sin,” and controlled that person to ensure that he would do that to these little ones, then God would be both, (a) choosing to doom this person and (b) causing this person to do the very thing that dooms him, and then after having forced this person to sin (via meticulous determinism), God then pours out wrath on that person. That is pretty sick behavior! And yet, if Determinism is true, then God does that all of the time, and for all who end up as unbelievers (He decides beforehand whom to doom, and then ensures their doom, and then punishes them eternally for doing what He decided that He wanted/decreed for them to do).”
In a fully Deterministic world, as envisioned by Calvinists, the following would apply:
Jesus said to his disciples: “He said to His disciples, ‘It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him [the Father] through whom they come! It would be better for him [the Father] if a millstone were hung around his neck and he [the Father] were thrown into the sea, than that he [the Father] would cause one of these little ones to stumble.’” (Luke 17:1-2)
Determinists would likely argue that you cannot insert “the Father” in these cases, because “the individual” is intended. However, if God determines all, then the individual agent is the passive party whereas God is the active party. The individual is simply acting according to the meticulous control of divine predetermination (and without deviation in the slightest detail). Again, the individual is passive because they are the recipients of a unilateral and unchangeable decree. They would have no say in what is decreed for them, and hence, are passive. So when you look at the relationship between the active and the passive parties, how can blame be solely applied to the passive party?
