Security in Christ (the S in FACTS) [Cf. Article 5 of the 5 Articles of the Remonstrance] At base, “Security in Christ” means that a person’s salvation is secure as long as he is in Christ,…
Posts By Martin Glynn
The FACTS of Salvation
C: Conditional Election
Conditional Election (the C in FACTS) [Cf. Article 1 of the 5 Articles of the Remonstrance] There are two main views of what the Bible teaches concerning the concept of election unto salvation: that it is…
The FACTS of Salvation
F: Freed to Believe by God’s Grace
Freed to Believe by God’s Grace (the F in FACTS) [Cf. Articles 3-4 of the 5 Articles of the Remonstrance] As we have noted, because human beings are fallen and sinful, they are not able to…
The FACTS of Salvation
A: Atonement for All
Atonement for All (the A in FACTS) [Cf. Article 2 of the 5 Articles of the Remonstrance] As observed above, due to total depravity, no one can be saved unless God takes the initiative. The good news…
The FACTS of Salvation
T: Total Depravity
This week we are devoting each day to presenting one of the 5 points of Arminainism as represented by the acronym FACTS. These points are loosely derived from the Articles of Remonstrance, but also have…
Middle Knowledge and Arminianism Are Compatible: A Response to Roger Olson
This post was written by SEA member Adam Omelianchuk specifically for SEA What exactly is the problem that Roger Olson has with Molinism? Answer: it collapses into determinism. But it isn’t clear what he means…
N. T. Wright on the Proper Way to Approach the Subject of the Atonement
N. T. Wright is actually a Calvinist, but his emphases on understanding the full breadth of atonement theory and priority of the gospels in understanding the cross are excellent correctives in regards to much of…
A Day With Arminius Session 4: Sin and Salvation
This is the fourth video in a fantastic series of lectures by Dr. Keith Stanglin and Dr. Thomas McCall on who Jacob Arminius was, and what he believed. McCall and Stranglin wrote the book Jacob…
A Day With Arminius
Session 3: Providence and Predestination
This is the third video in a fantastic series of lectures by Dr. Keith Stanglin and Dr. Thomas McCall on who Jacob Arminius was, and what he believed. McCall and Stranglin wrote the book Jacob…
A Day With Arminius
Session 2: God and Creation
This is the second video in a fantastic series of lectures by Dr. Keith Stanglin and Dr. Thomas McCall on who Jacob Arminius was, and what he believed. McCall and Stranglin wrote the book Jacob…
A Day With Arminius
Session 1: Biography of Arminius
This is the first video in a fantastic series of lectures by Dr. Keith Stanglin and Dr. Thomas McCall on who Jacob Arminius was, and what he believed. McCall and Stranglin wrote the book Jacob…
John Wesley’s Thoughts On Natural Disasters
Sermon 129 (text from the 1872 edition) [First published in the year 1750.] “O come hither, and behold the works of the Lord; what destruction he hath brought upon the earth!” Psalm 46:8 Of all the…
Report From The SBC’s Calvinism Advisory Committee
We have long been aware of the dramatic tensions regarding the recent Calvinism resurgance as it relates specificly to the Southern Baptist Convention (or the SBC). Last year, the SBC’s annual meeting organized the Calvinism…
Back in Business
After much tinkering, our website is finally mostly back in order. All of our former material has been transferred from the old platform to the new one, though unfortunately the dates of many (but not all or…
Amyraldism vs. Four-Point Calvinism
I’ve been musing about the idea of Limited Atonement, and there are a few posts that I intend to write about it. In preperation though, I would like to make a point about a distinction…
CALVINIST RHETORIC: Jargon
Or “The Obscenity of Obdurate Obnubilating Obfuscation” What I mean by Jargon If we equate any philosophical debate to battle I would argue that our basic weapons are our ideas and arguments, and our rhetoric…
Molinism, Calvinism, and I Corinthians
I just finished Dr. Olson’s book Against Calvinism (It is really difficult to find time to read when you have a one year old). In appendix 1, Dr. Olson goes over several attempts by Calvinists to protect God’s character despite their theology. One particular argument caught my eye: the use of middle knowledge.
Roger Olson explains:
Molinism… is the belief that God possesses “middle knowledge” — knowledge of what any creature would do freely in any possible set of circumstances. The creature may possess libertarian freedom — freedom not compatible with determinism and able to do other than it does — but God knows what he or she wold do with that ability in an conceivable situation. [Roger Olson, Against Calvinism, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2011), 184]
Playing With Dolls
A question that I was recently considering was whether or not God could truly love us if we did not have free will. Clearly He could care about us like I care about my grandfather’s jacket or my car, but could one really say that He loved us? I think the answer is both yes and no.
For context let us consider the kind of love that we are dealing with. In the Bible, it uses the analogy of marriage to define God’s love for His elect people. However, it uses the analogy of a parent and child to define His relationship with creation. When we are talking about free will, we are naturally talking about how God designed us. Therefore the parent/child relationship is at the forefront and so it is this kind of love that I am going to be addressing.
The Empty Set Criticism of Corporate Election
One of the most common criticisms that I have heard against corporate election is the argument of the empty set: if God elects a group what happens if there is nobody in that group. There…
Corporate Election Analogies
Baseball
I wrote on this analogy a couple of years ago, but it is worth repeating. For many, corporate election doesn’t make sense because groups, or certain kinds of groups, aren’t real entities. James White once referred to it as a “impersonal nebulous group” in his debate with Michael Brown. This doesn’t quite make sense considering that the group is formed through personal relationship with Jesus Christ, but I digress.
My point of the baseball analogy is that one can in fact elect groups, and have personal connection to both the group and to the members of the group in a way that makes sense. So I use something which is very familiar: the election of one’s sports team, in this case baseball.
Recent Posts
Video: Joel Korytko, “Why Romans 9 Doesn’t Teach Calvinism”
Roy Ingle, “Calvinism and the Atonement”
Why Does God Deny the Opportunity of Choice for or Against Him to Young Children Who Die and the Mentally Impaired?
Mark K. Olson, “Wesley’s ‘Warmed Heart’ at Aldersgate – What Really Happened?”
