Calvinist Southern Baptist pastor Mark E. Dever, having reviewed Richard A. Muller’s 1991 book, God, Creation, and Providence in the Thought of Jacob Arminius, notes, in his concluding remarks: Personally, as a pastor with Reformed…
Determinism
J.P. Moreland on Complementarity, Agency Theory, and the God-of-the-Gaps
Though the article is not primarily concerned with free will or defending free will, it does contain a good comparison between libertarian free will and compatibilism from a top notch and well respected Christian philosopher.…
Here’s an Offer You Can’t Refuse
In our frequent exchanges with those who accept the idea of exhaustive determinism, we often hear that it’s not a fair comparison to say that their philosophy makes people into robots, radio controlled planes, puppets (to include sockpuppets), or some similar deterministic automaton. They insist, despite every aspect of our being and our decisions having been meticulously crafted due to the ‘Potter’s freedom,’ people actually do things of their own free will and are thus themselves still responsible for their own actions. For anyone who believes this to be a viable line of reasoning, we present a special offer….
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A Fatal Flaw in Calvinism
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” (Deuteronomy 29:29)…
Eric Landstrom, The Reciprocal Dynamic of Grace
A reciprocal dynamic of acting and reacting occurs in any relationship between persons. If we lived in a clockwork universe operating under Calvinist assumptions of predestinating decrees, then we would be little more than very…
Church History vs. Calvinism (Part One)
To say that any semblance of a Calvinistic framework is entirely absent from the teachings of the early Church fathers, as will become evident shortly, is an understatement. Ironically enough, however, John Calvin was not…
Some Basic Thoughts on “Decisional Regeneration” From an Arminian Perspective
Someone asked a while back in the comments thread to one of my blog posts what I thought of “Decisional Regeneration”. Since this is a rather new label being thrown around mostly by Calvinists in a seeming attempt to mock a view of salvation conditioned by faith, it is important to address. Rather than write a new post I will just quote my initial response to the question below:
- I think “decisional regeneration” is a hard phrase to pin down and is just thrown around as a slander by Calvinists towards those who do not believe that regeneration precedes faith or that regeneration is irresistibly and unconditionally given to the “elect” alone. But there can be much more to it and so I wanted to be clear as to what your specific concern was.
Friday Files: Hunt – Why Simple Foreknowledge is Still Useful
In Dave Hunt’s article, Why Simple Foreknowledge is Still Useful, Hunt argues that God uses simple foreknowledge providentially. His primary case is a rock, paper scissors example: The lynchpin of my argument was a counterexample,…
Friday Files
Robert Chisholm’s article “ANATOMY OF AN ANTHROPOMORPHISM: DOES GOD DISCOVER FACTS?” explains OT texts like Genesis 18:20-21 and 22:12, which seem to indicate God does not know everything. Chisholm is not satisfied with saying they…
Calvinism’s Exhaustive Determinism and Old Testament Scriptures
“I don’t see how anyone could read the Old Testament and not conclude that Calvinism is right,” was the assessment of one Calvinist professor recently. By “Calvinism” he meant the notion of God’s exhaustive predeterminism…
Does Proverbs 21:1 Teach Calvinistic Determinism?
Very often Calvinists will cite Proverbs 21:1 as a proof text for God’s exhaustive control over the will and decisions of men. Their use of the passage is not intended to demonstrate that God may…
Dr. Thomas McCall Takes On John Piper and the Calvinistic View of God’s Sovereignty: 2 New Articles Added to Our Resources
We are excited to have added two articles by Thomas McCall, assistant professor of Biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, which critique John Piper’s theology of God’s sovereignty.
Do Calvinists Read the Same Bible?
Here is an exchange that took place in our private discussion group (edited a bit): One SEA member said: I read the following during my daily reading time today. FIRST: David was being pursued by…
Refuting Edwards and Calvinist Compatibilism and Arguments against Genuine Free Will
We have recently added a few book length resources that advance the Arminian view of free will and take on Calvinist arguments against genuine free will, especially the view that has become the dominant view…
A Problem for Open Theism
Open Theists deny God’s foreknowledge because they believe that if the future is known it is determined. Calvinists and Open Theists agree on a principle of foreknowledge. If the future is certain, it is necessary.…
David P. Hunt, “Contra Hasker: Why Simple Foreknowledge Is Still Useful”
Please click on the link to view David P. Hunt, “Contra Hasker: Why Simple Foreknowledge Is Still Useful”, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society (Sept 2009) 545-550. This article responds to William Hasker’s critique (“Why Simple…
The Lazy Man’s Guide to Refuting Edwards and Compatibilism
Recently we posted a list of resources that refute Jonathan Edwards and Calvinistic compatibilism and defend genuine free will (http://evangelicalarminians.org/refuting-edwards-and-calvinist-compatibilism-and-arguments-against-genuine-free-will/). Some of them are pretty hefty. So if you would like to get to the…
Outcomes, Foreknowledge, and Free Will
Posted by Robert (submitted to SEA on 10-21-09). I believe that I have come upon an insight that, though very simple to understand, does a great job of unlocking the supposed problem of the compatibility…
Al Jolson vs. Toby Mac Theology
1) Calvinist theology found in the opening lyrics to a famous song by Al Jolson: YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU You made me love you I didn’t want to do it I didn’t want to…
The Jealousy of God and Calvinism
Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. –Exodus 34:14 A disturbing aspect of Calvinism is how it does damage to God’s character. By improperly defining…
