[This article may also be downloaded as a pdf.] 1. There is an inadequate exegetical basis for Calvinism. Determinism is based on a relatively small number of texts which are read in isolation from their…
Determinism
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…
In Calvinism, God Is the Problem of Evil
John Piper argues that, when kings are “in their God-appointed place, with or without Satan’s agency, they are in the sway of God’s sovereign will.”1 He quotes Daniel 2:20-21; 4:17, and Proverbs 21:1, failing to…
Ben Witherington and Keith Stanglin, Jacob Arminius, Theologian of Grace– Part Four
BEN: Arminius seems to work hard to avoid making God the author of sin, or of anything evil for that matter, including the Fall. He is very willing to talk about God’s ‘permissive’ will when…
The Calvinist Conception of God on Trial
A Calvinist named Jared responds to an Arminian post entitled “The Devious and Duplicitous Mind of the Calvinist God,” and entitles his response “God on Trial,” which I think is quite the misnomer. God is…
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…
Jerry L. Walls, “Pharaoh’s Magicians Foiled Again: Reply to Cowan and Welty”
Please click on the link to view Jerry L. Walls, “Pharaoh’s Magicians Foiled Again: Reply to Cowan and Welty,” Philosophia Christi Vol. 17, No. 2 (2015) 411-26. Here is the author’s abstract: In this paper, I respond to…
That Wonderful (Mind-Controlling) God?
“You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are…
J. Warner Wallace, “The Problem of Evil: The Role of Eternity and Free Will (Cold-Case Christianity Broadcast #57)”
From the video’s YouTube page: In this episode of the Cold-Case Christianity Broadcast, J. Warner Wallace examines the classic problem of evil and offers a cumulative case response. In this first of several related broadcasts, J.…
The Cause of God and Presuppositions: Irenæus
English Baptist and theological hyper-Calvinist John Gill (1697-1771), in his work, The Cause of God and Truth, is found guilty of not only committing numerous logical fallacies regarding the writings of the early Church fathers…
Blogging through Grace for All: Evil Is a Tough Pill to Swallow When One Holds to Theological Determinism
Glen Shellrude, Professor of New Testament at Alliance Theological Seminary (link, blog) offers us, what may be the longest titled article in Grace For All, “Calvinistic and Problematic Readings of the NT Texts, or Why…
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…
Kevin Timpe, “Truth-making and Divine Eternity” (A Defense of the Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Libertarian Human Freedom)
Please click on the link to view Kevin Timpe, “Truth-making and Divine Eternity,” Religious Studies 43 (2007) 299–315. Here is the author’s abstract of the article: According to a widespread tradition in philosophical theology, God is necessarily…
Ben Witherington and Chad Thornhill on *The Chosen People: Election, Paul and Second Temple Judaism*, Part 8: Conclusions
I hope to have demonstrated the value and necessity of placing Paul’s election language back in its original context, which was a decidedly Jewish one. As we reviewed the Jewish literature, we discovered a view…
Ben Witherington and Chad Thornhill on *The Chosen People: Election, Paul and Second Temple Judaism*, Part 7
BEN: In terms of the modus operandi of this book, one of the basic approaches you take is to argue that if an idea is not found elsewhere in early Jewish literature, then it is…
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…
Ben Witherington and Chad Thornhill on *The Chosen People: Election, Paul and Second Temple Judaism*, Part 6
BEN: The discussion in chapter six about the heavenly tablets in Jubilees and their relationship to the book of life and the book of destruction is especially interesting in light of the discussion in Revelation…
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.…
Ben Witherington and Chad Thornhill on *The Chosen People: Election, Paul and Second Temple Judaism*, Part 5
BEN: In Chapter 5 it becomes clear that early Jews mostly thought that election was conditional, and the condition was faithfulness to the Mosaic covenant and its Law. You quote deSilva approvingly as follows “fidelity…
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?…
Recent Posts
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?”
Adam Roe, “The Crucial Thread of Prevenient Grace: A Wesleyan Perspective on Divine Drawing”
