Having never read Philip Yancey before, I went on ahead and opened to a random page of his “The Jesus I Never Knew” (my father gifted me this book among many others). Yancey was briefly interacting with the one and only Soren Kierkegaard and proceeds to quote him on the concept of God’s Sovereignty (p. 76):

Omnipotence which can lay its hand so heavy upon the world can also make its touch so light that the creature recieves independence.

He had me at light touch with a quote reminding me much of John Wesley, an extraordinary (and, by many, underrated) man who was adamant on equally stressing God’s Sovereignty as well as human responsibility. Wesley found the God of Calvinism to be a “devil” and wholeheartedly rejected the notion of a God who is more sovereign than he is love and just, and to Wesley a love and just God will not choose for humans where they will spend eternity.

Question: How do you reconcile God’s Sovereignty and Human Free-Will?

Also, how do you feel about Kierkegaard’s comments about God perhaps having a “soft” touch on the earth in order to allow freedom? Does this (to you) undermine God’s Sovereignty?

Do you feel the God of Calvinism is in fact a devil, or do you think Wesley is over-reacting? Or does it perhaps depend on which Calvinistic interpretation is being presented (or how it’s presented)?