>What about Job? (Part 1b)

>I received a couple questions on this blog and on my facebook notes (which is linked to http://www.kurtjohnson.info) While I was answering them it got kind of long winded, so it was worth writing a follow up to part 1. Here it is…

The “Blueprint Worldview” (furthermore BW) supposes more than just God has plans, purposes and a general framework for redemptive history. The BW supposes that EVERYTHING that happens is somehow connected to God’s higher purposes or else He would have A. never ordained/caused it to be or… B. never allowed it to occur.

Over against these ideas, the Warfare Worldview (furthermore WW) supposes that NOT everything that happens is somehow connected to God’s purposes, but is in fact contrary to them, and orchestrated, not by divine providence, but by diabolical forces. History does not follow a divine blueprint, whereby every event is settled by the will of God, but it is engulfed in real conflict of wills.

There is no question who wins the war, but many battles along the way, hang in the balance, for which the people of God are called to play an instrumental role in the plans and purposes of God.

That is not to say, however, that the general flow of history and ultimate purposes of God are not known and settled, but that, there are many of the details (even human lives) “up for grabs” by the two diametrically apposed kingdoms. The kingdom of God vs. the kingdom of Satan.

In the WW, the kingdom of Satan is not a “subset” of the kingdom of God, but it is an opposition to God’s kingdom, albeit, an inferior one. This is why, for example, Jesus says,

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Matthew 12:25-28 ESV

Two different kingdoms. Two very different agendas. (John 10:10)

The BW supposes that everything, including that which finds it’s “proximal cause” in the kingdom of Satan, as all part of God’s divine plan and design. The WW says “NO!” to this, and sees the two in direct conflict with one another at the deepest levels.