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…
Thibodaux. Josh
J. C. Thibodaux, “The Cancer in Calvinism”
From the outset I want to make it clear that I’m not asserting that Calvinism is heresy, as I consider most Calvinists to be genuine brothers and sisters. This post is rather about a serious…
Josh Thibodaux, “The One”
[The following is an expanded version of a devotional I wrote for a friend’s ministry newsletter] “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to…
Highlighting an Important Series Critiquing The Calvinist Interpretation of Romans 9
Back in 2010 J.C. Thibodaux started what would eventually become a four part series on Romans 9, with special focus on the problems inherent in the typical Calvinist interpretation of Romans 9. This short series…
Joshua Thibodaux, The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #14: Conditional Election Makes God a Respecter of Persons?
Related Fallacies: Equivocation John Hendryx, who we’ve noted has employed numerous fallacies in defense of Calvinism and distortions against Arminianism, is at it yet again. This time he’s trying to prove that it’s conditional election,…
Joshua Thibodaux, The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacies #12 & #13: The Arminian View of Divine Foreknowledge Attacks God’s Simplicity and Immutability
Related Fallacies: Conflation Hasty Generalization Oversimplification Tim Prussic attempts to salvage his hopeless case after I pointed out his fallacious reasoning concerning God’s aseity. Tim makes a tenuous appeal to divine simplicity; in his words,…
Joshua Thibodaux, The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #11: The Arminian View of Divine Foreknowledge Attacks God’s Aseity
Related fallacies: Non Sequitur Equivocation Special Pleading One apparent ramification of holding to both libertarian free will and God’s omniscience is that God (apparently) derives His knowledge of our choices from us, since our choices…
Joshua Thibodaux, The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #10: Wait, Now Faith is a “Work?”
Related Fallacies: Equivocation Category Mistake “[Arminianism] denies sola fide (faith alone) by changing the character of faith so that it is basically a work.” (Rev. Richard Phillips [Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals], Is Arminianism a Biblical…
Joshua Thibodaux, The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #9: Faith is Some Reason to Boast?
Related fallacies: Pettifoggery Category Mistake A charge typically leveled by Calvinists is that Christians who don’t believe in irresistible grace would have some reason to boast in their faith. John Hendryx concisely expresses this fallacious…
Joshua Thibodaux, The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #8: “Calvinism Doesn’t Charge God With the Authorship of Sin”
Related Fallacies: Red Herring Equivocation “All I have tried to do here is show how clearly, succinctly and simply that Calvinism does NOT charge God with the authorship of sin and so (to employ the…
Joshua Thibodaux, The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #7: Arminianism Leads to Universalism
Related Fallacies: Oversimplification Non-Sequitur Slippery Slope “The choices are not between Calvinism and Arminianism; it’s between Calvinism and universalism. Arminianism is a self-contradictory mess that can never defend itself.” – James White This is a…
Joshua Thibodaux, The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #6: Is God Cruel If He Lets a Believer Fall Away?
Related Fallacies: Special Pleading (Double Standard) Equivocation Straw man “Of course, this raises the question, why does their God save a person to damn him? Why not simply leave him in his unsaved state?” –…
Joshua Thibodaux, “The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #5: Choices Apart From Intent?”
Related Fallacies: Strawman Begging the Question “While libertarians uphold the philosophy that “choice without sufficient cause” is what makes one responsible, the compatibilist, on the other hand, looks to Scripture which testifies that it is…
Joshua Thibodaux, “The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #4: “Free Will is the Power to Do Anything!!”
Related Fallacies: Oversimplification Strawman False Dilemma One of the most telling signs of the fallacious nature of Calvinist apologetics in general is its heavy reliance upon caricatures and misrepresentation of the beliefs of other Christians.…
Joshua Thibodaux, “The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #3: We Choose by ‘Chance?’”
Related Fallacies: Begging the Question Special Pleading [given that God has power of contrary choice] False Dichotomy If all men are neutral in prevenient grace was it by chance that one believed and not another?…
Joshua Thibodaux, “The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #2: Arminianism Entails Salvation by ‘Inherent Ability’”
Related Fallacies: Strawman “Bait and Switch” “Why are you a Christian and your friends aren’t? … Is it because you are smarter than your friend?” (The Pelagian Captivity of the Church, R.C. Sproul) …I believe…
Joshua Thibodaux, “The Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics – Fallacy #1: ‘If We Have Libertarian Free Will, What Makes Us Choose One Way or the Other?'”
Related Fallacies: Begging the question Calvinists often pose questions along the lines of, “If 2 people are given the same grace, why does one receives it and another reject it?” This question was popularized on…
Republishing the Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics Series
Each weekday, we tweet a reference to an old post and put that reference on our outreach Facebook page. As we systematically review old posts in that way, we take the opportunity to fix any major technical…
Limited Atonement and the Divine Command to Believe Falsehood
When Christians who aren’t from a Calvinist tradition hear about limited atonement, something usually seems entirely wrong about the idea. Indeed, in the face of having no clear biblical data to support such an idea,…
Double-Talk From a Double Predestinarian
Dr. John Piper recently responded to the question, “What did the death of Jesus on the cross accomplish for the non-elect? Anything?” His reply, oddly, raises more questions than it answers. Despite his views on unconditional election and reprobation, Piper frames his answer in terms of God giving those who aren’t chosen a “chance” at salvation. Ted Kaczynski, aka the Unabomber, was identified partially by his unusual, but correct use of an oft-misquoted proverb that’s very applicable here: “You can’t eat your cake and have it too.”