Exodus 21:29
Exodus 21:28-32
If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall go unpunished. If, however, an ox was previously in the habit of goring and its owner has been warned, yet he does not confine it and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also shall be put to death. If a ransom is demanded of him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is demanded of him. Whether it gores a son or a daughter, it shall be done to him according to the same rule. If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.
God establishes His own principle of liability, and the interesting part is how it relates to Calvinism, in terms of how God would avoid liability after having allegedly ordained sin.
John Calvin: “But where it is a matter of men’s counsels, wills, endeavours, and exertions, there is greater difficulty in seeing how the providence of God rules here too, so that nothing happens but by His assent and that men can deliberately do nothing unless He inspire it.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, pp.171-172, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “Thinking that the difficulty here may be resolved by a single word, some are foolish enough serenely to overlook what occasions the greatest ambiguity; namely, how God may be free of guilt in doing the very thing that He condemns in Satan and the reprobate and which is to be condemned by men.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.179, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “We learn that nothing happens but what seems good to God. How then is God to be exempted from the blame to which Satan with his instruments is liable?” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.180, emphasis mine)
When Calvinists say that sinners only, not God, are blameworthy for their desire to sin, even though Calvinists simultaneously say that their desire for sin is immutably determined by God and rendered certain, it’s like saying that if a man trains one of his animals to be dangerous and lets it loose upon a person and it kills them, the animal is solely to blame and not the owner. However, according to the Book of Exodus, the owner is also to blame.
So if Calvinism were true, and if God wished to avoid hypocrisy involving sin, He must acknowledge responsibility and culpability for the wants of sinners that He allegedly renders certain. Calvinists avoid this by saying God is not held to the same standards that He sets forth for man, but which is also not unlike saying: “Do as I say, not as I do.” However, that’s the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches when it affirms that we are to do as God does: “For it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1st Peter 1:16) and “‘Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’” (Matthew 5:48) Non-Calvinists do not accept an answer of: “Well, it’s a mystery!”
