Theodicy and the Hell of Error

Augustine was no stranger to theodicy. He struggled with it honestly and intensely. After his conversion to the catholic church, he inquired as to the origin of sin. God himself is the Creator, the source of all things; does that mean he is the author of evil? If God created everything good, then why does man sin? If man sins because he was tempted by the devil, then why wasn't the devil good? If the devil was at first good but had a corruptible will, did God know it was corruptible? If not, is he still God? If so, is he still good?

These thoughts swept me back again into the gulf where I was being stifled. But I did not so far sink as far as that hell of error where no one confesses to you his own guilt, choosing to believe that you suffer evil rather than that man does it. (1)

It is good to ask questions, but when answers do not suffice, it is better to simply believe the truth we know is true rather than succumb to error through rationalism. God is good; God is just; God is all-knowing and sovereign over all things--this we know from the apostles' teaching. Men and devils sin of their own corruptible wills, yet God who created them is not to blame for their evil acts. The blame is theirs. I'm reminded of that great Victorian preacher Charles Spurgeon.

Some seem to believe in a kind of free agency which virtually dethrones God, while others run to the opposite extreme by believing in a sort of fatalism which practically exonerates man from all blame. Both of these views are utterly false and I scarcely know which of the two is the more to be deprecated. (2)

Spurgeon was a Calvinist's Calvinist who firmly believed each man sins of his own volition, that each man's sin was his own and he was responsible for it. He and Augustine would agree: neither sado-theism nor open theism will do. God is good, God is sovereign and man is responsible for his sin. Scripture recognizes no inconsistency between them; therefore we should be careful lest we ourselves walk off the cliff of God's Word into the hell of error.

(1) Augustine's Confessions, VII.3
(2) C.H. Spurgeon, "The Way of Wisdom"

EDIT: Commented on Mallory Searcy's "Until We Find Our Rest in Thee."