A critic writes that if human beings have true “free agency,” then God could not punish them for their “sins.” He sees a conflict between the ideas of freedom and responsibility. Let us briefly consider…
Agent causation
Richard Coords, “Failure”
Frequently, Calvinists contend that if God really wanted for someone to be saved but who ultimately died in unbelief and perished, then God would have proven to be a failure, and therefore only an effectual…
Friday Files: Agent Causation
One of the mistakes that many make is the belief that the Calvinism/Arminianism debate is about free will vs determinism. In reality, the two positions are soteriologies, and the debate is really about the process…
Why Do Some Choose God and Others Reject Him?
On his website, Arminian Perspectives, Ben Henshaw has a questions page at which he answers questions about Arminianism and Calvinism that visitors to his site pose in the comment section of the page. Here is a question…
God’s Sovereignty: Three Common Mistakes
The following is a conversation that recently took place in my daughter’s middle school church group. The conversation does a good job highlighting three mistakes that we often make when we talk about the sovereignty…
Michael Egnor, “More Than Material Minds”
As a Christian and a neuroscientist, I keep learning that to be human is to have a soul. Please click on the link to view Michael Egnor, “More Than Material Minds,” Christianity Today September 14, 2014.
Are There Things God Cannot Do? By Michael Brown
This is always a very difficult question, and Dr. Brown handles it with a great deal of care and grace: https://askdrbrown.org/library/are-there-things-god-cant-do
Accepting/Rejecting Calvinism (Pt. 12: Free Will)
This is from a series of posts which was copied with permission from Jordan Apodaca’s blog, “Thoughts & Anti-Thoughts,” which can be accessed here: https://jordanapodaca.wordpress.com/ This particular post, which allows comments, can be accessed here:…
Calvinist Sleight of Hand: A Brief Arminian Interaction With Wayne Grudem’s Arguments Against the Compatibility of Foreknowledge And Conditional Election
A while back someone on the SEA discussion board referenced the following comments by Calvinist Theologian Wayne Grudem arguing against the compatibility of foreknowledge and conditional election. Below is my brief interaction with this quoted…
The Teleological Argument for the Existence of Libertarian Free Will
All footnote links lead to original post Is Libertarian Free Will Cogent? Preliminaries One of the arguments that Calvinists argue is that the very notion of Libertarian Free Will (LFW) is incoherent. “It simply doesn’t make…
The Practical Implications of Free Will
In the follow-up post to “A Beginner’s Guide to ‘Free Will’,” entitled “Six Practical Reasons ‘Free Will’ Matters,” John Piper expounds upon the practicality of Free Will. After all, he states, “It is a great…
A Beginner’s Guide to Free Will
Free Will regards the ability to make choices — choices that were not necessitated and brought into reality by a proactive and eternal decree of God — choices that lead to belief systems resulting in…
God and Foresight
Bombastic Calvinist James White thinks that the deterministic-Calvinistic view of the sovereignty of God is “the single issue that separates the supernatural religion of Christianity from the man-centered religions that surround us.”1 James White, who…
Calvinism and the Knowledge of God
In this brief post I intend to engage a thought experiment I had when I suggested that God, in Calvinism, cannot foreknow the future; hence that is why God, in Calvinism, must decree or foreordain…
The Devious and Duplicitous Mind of God in Calvinism
In Calvinism, God commands the angels and the devils to do His bidding.4 Calvin explains: “[W]e infer that God was the author of that trial of which Satan and wicked robbers were merely the instruments.”5…
Does God Want All to Be Saved? A Response to Dr. Kruger
Dr. Kruger is the President and Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS). His interests in the formation of the NT canon and the early history of the church align with…
Christian Philosopher Lydia McGrew on Calvinism
This conversation took place in the comment section of one of Dr. Lydia McGrew’s posts at her blog Extra Thoughts: C. M. Granger said… Hi Lydia, why aren’t you a Calvinist? 11/26/2015 6:25 PM Lydia McGrew said……
J. Warner Wallace, “Do Neurological Studies Prove Free Agency Is an Illusion?”
Please click on the link to view J. Warner Wallace, “Do Neurological Studies Prove Free Agency Is An Illusion?” [Original post at the author’s website]
Grace: The Analogy of Sanctification
We bless thee, O God most high and Lord of mercies, who ever workest great and mysterious deeds for us, glorious, wonderful, and numberless; who providest us with sleep as a rest from our infirmities…
J. Warner Wallace, “Are Atheists Right? Is ‘Free Will’ An Unnecessary, Unimportant Illusion?”
Please click on the link to view J. Warner Wallace, “Are Atheists Right? Is ‘Free Will’ An Unnecessary, Unimportant Illusion?” [Editor’s note: The point Wallace makes that if determinism is true, then there is no use…
Recent Posts
How Do You Deal with the Limited Atonement Argument that If Jesus Paid the Penalty for All, Then People Sent to Hell Would Be Paying the Penalty a Second Time?
Roy Ingle, “Preach Perseverance”
X-Calvinist Corner Files: Testimony # 41
Richard Coords, “Regeneration”
