....the lyrics of the song 'Coming Home' by the The Soldiers (three real soldiers on active service) which I heard on Saturday in the Festival of Remembrance from the Albert Hall, and what they say about God and us and free will and its consequences...

"All the wounded and the brave

The ones God couldn't save

We salute your courage..."

At first I wanted to be cross with the line 'the ones God couldn't save' because part of me said 'yes God could.'  But then that left the question, if God could, why did God not.  And I had to think harder and remind myself how I understand omni-God-stuff.

My view of God is roughly this:

God can do anything consistent with God's character
God gives us free will
Free will has consequences and if God intervened every time we make a 'bad' choice we wouldn't be free; in effect God's hands are 'tied in love' as someone I know once put it.

So, on balance I'm left tending to agree with the words, not because God is/was incapable of saving (in the sense of preventing from dying a human death) those people, but because in allowing us to be 'grown up' and free God has to let our actions have consequences.  In terms of eternal salvation, which isn't what they meant, then of course God could save them, otherwise God wouldn't be God and Christ wouldn't have accomplished what he accomplished.

I think my theodicy is intact, and I think I can now not be cross with the line in the song.  And, on reflection, I'm glad it made me think.