I challenge the framework of this. It's the lesson of Job.
It seems a pretty integral lesson, from here, on attempting to not be damned when confronted with not so gentle tests of faith.
But, I suppose, for Calvinist mannequins, it's sort of besides the point?
i think myself the lesson of job is much less about abolishing god from the cruelty, and much more about accepting suffering, faith, and, most importantly, accepting submission to the divine authority.
for what calvinists think, no clue tbh.
It's like watching a movie that you have seen in the past. You know what is going to happen to certain characters. Because you know in advance what is going to happen to those characters does that mean they are therefor pre-ordained to be your friend?
What if you wrote a story and created characters for that story. In the story you decide one of the characters is going to die and one will not.
What if you wrote a story and created characters for that story. In this story you gave each of your characters wonderful personalities, excellent critical thinking skills, and good looks. Then you said have fun! All the characters you created got to play what ever part they wanted in any manner they wanted. The catch is, you knew all along how the story and the characters would turn out. Does that mean then, that you chose who would live and who would die or did they live or die on their own choices?
this is a bit vague. it kind of reads like it appeals against predestination, but you're arguing against the contrary at the same time. maybe it's just pondering. i'll answer as if the former, but there's no need to defend your position if that wasn't your point.
if i wrote a story and created characters for that story, and decided what happened to those characters, and decided what those characters would do to each other, then: i would have decided what happened to those characters, and decided what those characters would do to each other.
whether that is predestination (in the calvinist sense) is a question of temporality, which i believe god exists outside of in a sense. but whether it's god's cosmic order? whether i put the characters there and in my story had them do that to each other? unquestionable that i wrote that story and had the characters do that.
in something as controlled, even as spontaneous and sometimes surprising to the creator, as writing, there's really no gray areas. i'll add that this is somewhere i know what i'm talking about; i'm very acquainted with the process of writing, from controllingly and deliberately doing something in text to surprising yourself. understand that despite what i appear as on this forum, my reading comprehension in english, my ranting and such - what i do as a profession is to write and teach writing. what you do can surprise you, but in the end, you are the arbiter of the suffering in your text. it's actually quite close to what i'm getting at irt making your own cosmic order and being an arbiter for what happens in it; if you don't believe this outlook on god, i'm sure there are other ways to get your point across. because writing is poignant demonstration of god being an absolute arbiter of the suffering present in the world. which he then spares us from, sometimes, because of love.
it's the utmost latter - the
love - that i don't quite buy. i can accept predestination and power and authority. but on a human level, the love means nothing; divine love, if it exists, can't be the same thing. there's cradling your kid while your family dog sniffs around in the yard, laughing as the kid pokes you in the face, and then there's this:
a supposed being of love, and naturally a quite spookified interpretation, but - i really want to stress - the original due to its vagueness is honestly more terrifying (terrifying being closer to the older meaning of "awesome");
"
15Now as I looked at the living creatures, behold, a wheel
was on the earth beside each living creature with its four faces.
16The appearance of the wheels and their workings
was like the color of beryl, and all four had the same likeness. The appearance of their workings
was, as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel.
17When they moved, they went toward any one of four directions; they did not turn aside when they went.
18As for their rims, they were so high they were awesome; and their rims
were full of eyes, all around the four of them.
19When the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up.
20Wherever the spirit wanted to go, they went,
because there the spirit went; and the wheels were lifted together with them, for the spirit of the
[d]living creatures
was in the wheels.
21When those went,
these went; when those stood,
these stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up together with them, for the spirit of the
[e]living creatures
was in the wheels."
https://biblehub.com/nkjv/ezekiel/1.htm
it's absolutely stellar horror writing above anything else. and i mean -
-
whatever this love is - and sure, text says it is, fine - it's not human. it is terrifying and dominating and beyond this world. and like in job, completely indifferent to me holding hands with a loved one.
but it's no worries. i do very much enjoy the thread, when it's, uh, enjoyable - and talking to you in kind. i keep coming back y'know, i love talking about this stuff, even if it takes a bit of work sometimes, heh.
). 
