If none of Allah's attributes/actions point to His essence, what, if anything, describes Who He is? God's absolute will, one that wills everything in the universe, seems to be the unifying principle of this unknowable god. Both good and evil are directly willed by Allah. Surah 32:13 states that Allah could have willed salvation, but chose damnation for many. He wills belief and unbelief and creates the sin of the latter. The creeds of Islam portray the will of Allah as absolute--nothing in the universe can will contrary to his will. The Biblical description of Yahweh and Jesus Christ requires a distinction between God's perfect will and His permissive will. "God is not willing that any should perish but that all come into repentance" (2 Peter 3:9) communicates God's PERFECT will. While He only wills the good, He nevertheless PERMITS men and angels to will contrary to His own. Yahweh's will is not absolute in the above sense, for it allows choices contrary to His will. This permissive will underscores the essential goodness of the Christian God, One who would draw His creatures to freely choose Him out of genuine love for Him. He is not so insecure that He is threatened by any being in the universe that wills contrary to His will. The self-limiting permissive will of God, grounded in His loving essence (1 John 4:8) "risks" the rebellion of other wills, while He woos them with His essential goodness. Allah and Jesus Christ couldn't be more different. The episode also addresses common questions regarding God's sovereignty and God's "hardening of Pharaoh's heart."
Evil within is the Real Issue
This episode unpacks the Micah 6:8 inversion that characterizes the misplaced focus of identity politics. Micah 6:8 commands believers to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God. The distorted version of Micah 6:8 operative in identity politics, and sadly to say among many carnal evangelicals, is "demand justice from others, love mercy for yourself (not so much for others), and use God accordingly. Solzhenitsyn noted the tendency among all men to address evil out there without dealing with the evil within.
“Whose side are you on?”
This episode was recorded on election day and appropriately deals with the question, "Which candidate does God favor?" Joshua also asked a variation of this question to an angelic being but soon realized his question was irrelevant. The only pertinent question is are we in step with God's plan and are we obedient servants to His instructions. A real encounter with the holy God of Scripture destroys any secondary tribal identity that one might depend on.