Calvinism, Free Will, Narnia and Christian Unity

At the risk of exposing my ignorance, especially with those who like to delve into the nuances of technical theological questions, I would like to forward my take on the whole Calvinism-Free Will thing. Obviously, there are passages of Scripture, which, when taken in isolation, seem to favor both sides of the debate. That is, some, one side, and others, the other. Due to this, Christians who claim an equal allegiance to the authority of the Word of God often come down on opposing sides of this issue.

Al Mohler, in the recent debate at the SBC Pastors Conference, said, if I remember correctly, that we as evangelicals accept the principle of "non-contradiction." That is, we believe the Bible, being the authoritative Word of God, does not contradict itself.

To this, I would like to posit the possibility of apparent contradiction, which, in reality is not contradiction. I believe there are two different perspectives from which to look at the questions of predestination and free will (and the various other doctrinal conclusions that stem from your view of these questions). One is the eternal, omniscient perspective of God. The other is the time-bound, limited perspective of man. I believe these two points of view are co-existent, much like England and Narnia in the Chronicles of Narnia. They are two apparently contradictory and co-existing realities, which are each perceived according to the perspective one takes.

Considered from this framework, divine sovereignty is the divine perspective, and human free will, the human perspective. They are both simultaneously true, all depending on the angle from which they are considered. There are many aspects of the divine perspective that are beyond our comprehension as humans. While it is possible for me as a human to theorize about a realm of existence not bound by the limitations of time, it is, at the same time, impossible for me to really comprehend it. In the day-to-day, practical side of life, we normally see things and operate from the human perspective. When we try to see from the divine perspective more than what God has chosen to clearly reveal to us in His Word, we tend to trip ourselves up, and get out of kilter. Yet, by faith, we accept the divine perspective as true.

Because of this understanding of these issues, I find it relatively easy to fellowship with those from either side of the Calvinism-Free Will debate. I just think that those on each side choose to emphasize one perspective over another. They are not necessarily in error. Perhaps a bit unbalanced, in the case of some. But not necessarily in error.

I also don’t spend a whole lot of time sifting through the technical implications of divine sovereignty, accepting that many of them are beyond my limited human capacity to understand. While I accept by faith what the Bible teaches about predestination, I live my life, in the day-to-day, more from the human perspective.

I imagine some of you who have spent more time and effort perusing all the "ins and outs" of this question will be able to completely debunk my thinking on this. And if, biblically, my thinking needs to be debunked, I welcome your input. In any case, I thought I would throw this out as "food for thought."