"The decree, I admit, is, dreadful; and yet it is impossible to deny that God foreknew what the end of man was to be before he made him, and foreknew, because he had so ordained by his decree...Nor ought it to seem absurd when I say, that God not only foresaw the fall of the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity; but also at his own pleasure arranged it. For as it belongs to his wisdom to foreknow all future events, so it belongs to his power to rule and govern them by his hand" (Institutes of the Christian Religion, III.xxiii.7)
Here is a question. If it is true that God can do anything that is logically possible, that is He cannot create a square circle for example, and if it is true that evil is not the opposite of good but rather the absence of good, and if it is true that goodness is defined as that which corresponds to the character of God, then the following two scenarios are submitted for consideration.
It is not possible for God to create a world where there are beings who have true freedom and no possibility that those beings will choose evil. Hence the free-will defense of the existence of evil makes a certain amount of sense.
It is, however, possible for God to create a universe where beings are NOT free, and where, as a result, none choose evil. Given that scenario, why did God not create such a universe? Why does evil exist? Why did God create a universe in which He decreed that certain men would choose evil?
The answer most Calvinist put forth is that it is beyond our knowledge and wrapped up in the justice and wisdom of God. But once again, if "God not only foresaw the fall of the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity; but also at his own pleasure arranged it" then what meaning can words like justice and wisdom have?
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