This is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live” Amos 5:4 This passage comes at the end of an indignant tirade on behalf of God. Amos, up to this…
Arminianism
Arminius on the Understanding of God
written by SEA member Roy Ingle Arminius has often been used by open theists to try to teach that he held to a form of open theism. When we read his Works we realize that…
The Common Ground of Lutherans and Arminians With Regard to the Free Will of Men
In combating charges of Pelagianism and heresy, Lutherans and Arminians have both expressed clear sentiments defining the orthodoxy of man’s limited freedom of the will. Philip Melancthon, Martin Luther’s contemporary friend and colleague, systematized Lutheran…
Evangelical Calvinism?
This post is written by Roger E. Olson, PhD I have been reading a new book about Calvinism entitled Evangelical Calvinism: Essays Resourcing the Continuing Reformation of the Church edited by Myk Habets and Bobby…
Why is Jonathan Edwards considered so great?
WHY IS JONATHAN EDWARDS CONSIDERED SO GREAT? by Roger E Olson, PhD I know. I’m almost committing blasphemy by questioning Jonathan Edwards’ greatness. I wouldn’t be doing it except there seems to be a kind…
John Wesley on Assurance: Can You Know You’re Saved
This post is written by Andrew Dragos of Seedbed. Although not a member of SEA, he expresses well Arminian-Wesleyan thought on assurance of one’s faith.
Predestination Second
This article is written by Howard A. Snyder. Although not a member of SEA, this entry typifies the Arminian view on predestination. PREDESTINATION SECOND—LOVE FIRST! Have this clearly in mind: Salvation is not based on…
Jerry Walls, “Does God Love Everyone? Clarifying Calvinism”
[From Dr. Walls’ Facebook page, and posted with his consent] Several days ago, we had a rather energetic discussion on this page in response to classic Calvinist theologian Arthur Pink’s forthright claim that God does…
A New Book on Justification and Some Questions about Calvinism and Heavenly Rewards
A New Calvinist Book on Justification Perplexes by Roger E. Olson, Ph.D. I have been asked to review Justification: A Guide for the Perplexed by Reformed theologian Alan J. Spence (T&TClark, 2012). Spence is a…
Justin Taylor, “A Conversation with My Favorite Wesleyan Theologian”
Calvinist Justin Taylor’s post on, “A Conversation with My Favorite Wesleyan Theologian”: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/06/26/a-conversation-with-my-favorite-wesleyan-theologian/ Taylor talks about Calvinist John Stark’s interview with Wesleyan theologian Fred sanders. And in so doing, Taylor makes some of his own…
Allowing is not commanding
This reprint of a blog post by Randal Rauser, PhD is placed here due to his accurate reflection of the Arminian position on the allowing vs commanding controversy. Note that Dr. Rauser is not a member of SEA and does not necessarily claim an Arminian stance.
Over the last week I have heard on at least three different occasions claims made to the moral equivalency of God allowing x and God commanding x. The argument has been made by Christians to demonstrate that if I accept that God providentially allows evils like genocide and infant sacrifice, I should have no problem if God also commands genocide and infant sacrifice. The argument has also been made by non-Christians to argue that if I have a problem with God commanding genocide and infant sacrifice, I should also have a problem with God allowing genocide and infant sacrifice.
You’re a Calvinist, Right? A Calvinist Interviews a Wesleyan Theologian
Calvinist John Stark interviews a Wesleyan theologian he has great respect for, Fred Sanders: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/06/25/youre-a-calvinist-right/. Introducing the interview, Stark writes, “And so, I had to know: For a guy who loves, quotes, and depends upon…
Free Will in Heaven?
Due to the contradictory and confusing nature of Calvinism, Calvinists often struggle to articulate their own arguments. So Arminians with whom they are in dialogue, are often found having to first unscramble their own logic…
The New Calvinism and Preaching
This post is from the blog of Roger E. Olson, PhD written by Austin Fischer Neo-Calvinism Preaching My Conversion…to Calvinism I was converted to Calvinism because of the preaching of John Piper. I was in…
New Research On the Level of Calvinism vs. Arminianism in the SBC
New Research On the Level of Calvinism vs. Arminianism in the SBC: http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2012/06/new_research_su.html
Roger Olson, “Thoughts about the Terms ‘Heresy’ and ‘Heretic'”
By Roger E. Olson, PhD The recent “dust up” over possible semi-Pelagianism among certain Baptists has given rise to the usual confusion about terms like “heresy” and “heretic.” So let’s clear things up a little…
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 Fallacies of Calvinist Apologetics
Related Fallacies:
Equivocation
How Coporate Election Works
As I discussed last week, the idea of Corporate Election is that God chooses a group of people, as opposed to God directly choosing persons individually. However, an individual person who is part of God’s…
Brian Abasciano’s Response to a Review of His Book on Romans 9:10-18
Brian Abasciano’s response to a review of his book on Romans 9:10-18
by Roger E. Olson, PhD
I don’t normally do this at my blog, but friend Brian Abasciano of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical Arminian, has written an important book on Romans 9-11 from an Arminian perspective. An early review appears to misrepresent some ideas of the book and Brian has asked me to post his response here. If you know someone who has read the review in question, please see that they read Brian’s response.
Here is the response:
