It is difficult to find a brief layman’s explanation of the “New Perspectives on Paul” (NPP). To rectify the problem I humbly offer “The Idiot’s Guide to the New Perspective on Paul” An analogy: Imagine…
Faith
Is There Trauma in Sovereignty? A Response to James Swan by Brennon Hartshorn
Arminians and other Libertarians are concerned with determinism, the proposition that all of our actions are made necessary by God in some way. We are concerned because determinism seems to make God the author of sin.
The compatibilist wants to show that we can still be free and responsible for our own actions and they can be determined. David Hume, a skeptic philosopher, tried to show this is the case on a naturalistic framework. Theist determinists adopt some of Hume’s arguments and augment them in order to argue that it is possible that all our actions have been pre-determined, but we freely do those actions and are therefore responsible for them. There have also been other attempts at trying to show that this is possible.
Provisional Atonement Part 3: The Integrity and Justice of God in the Gospel Offer
In this post we will defend the premise that only a universal provisional atonement view can maintain the integrity of God in the gospel offer and the universal command to repent. The Bible is clear…
James White and Turretinfan on 1 John 5:1
James White and company have used 1 John 5:1 to argue that regeneration comes before faith. (link) I actually called in to the Dividing Line (James White’s webcast) to explain to him my take on…
Kenneth Keathley and the Doctrine of Overcoming Grace
Kenneth D. Keathley, Professor of Theology and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, has completed his latest book, Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach, published by B&H…
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….
Announcer:
“Ever had that urge to accomplish something truly vile, but don’t want to be held responsible? Well your wait is over! Introducing:
Radio-controlled, flying free-agent ceramic sock-bots!
Mission Possible: A Response to Shai Linne
The following is an edited response to Shai Linne’s Limited Atonement rap song, “Mission Accomplished.” The original version was posted by “Murray” in the comments at the Gadgetry, Thoughts, Unleashed! blog. What is in brackets…
Ephesians 2:10; A Devotional
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared for us to do.The beautiful thing about this verse is how close one feels with God when thinking that He…
Ephesians 2:8-9; A Devotion
For you see it is from grace that you have been saved through faith; not from yourself. This is a gift of God, not from works so that none may boast. Ah yes, we are…
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.
In Defense of Resistible Grace to Retain the Goodness of God
To Calvinists, God’s grace is irresistible. This follows naturally in their entire scheme of salvation by logical necessity. It is a point that must stand or the system falls. If God has not made His…
An Apparently Not so Brief Response to C. Michael Patton on Rom. 9
Below is a response to C. Michael Patton from my site. It has been slightly edited for publication here. I wrote a lengthy response to C. Michael Patton’s post on Rom. 9 entitled “Why Doe…
Arminius’s Christology
One’s justification and thus atonement before God is realized by one’s faith in and union with Christ Jesus (which is akin to Calvinistic doctrine and very much unlike Roman Catholic doctrine). The following is what…
Supralapsarian Calvinists Criticize Infralapsarian Calvinist C. Michael Patton
Calvinist C. Michael Patton recently did a post entitled Calvinism and the Divine Decrees – Correcting a Misunderstanding. In the post Patton argues for the Infralapsarian view of Calvinism. The infralapsarian view is a less…
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.
Scholarly Resources Added – Steve Witzki
We have added several new scholarly resources on the topics of faith and perseverance. These have been written and / or compiled by Arminian Steve Witzki. Be sure to check them out! Arminianism–The Conditional Preservation…
Eric Landstrom, Proof-texting Presuppositions with John 6:44, 65
Proof-texting Presuppositions with John 6:44, 65 John 6:44 and 6:65 are commonly used as proof-texts that more often than not reveal the exegete’s presuppositions that are imposed upon the Gospel According to John than I…
The Simplicity of Salvation
The Simplicity of Salvation — by Christopher Skinner We cannot save ourselves from God’s wrath but God has provided salvation for us. It is easy to be saved. Numbers 21:4: And they journeyed from mount…
Arminius on the Gift of Salvation
In Arminius’ “Apology” he tackles several charges that have been brought against him by his critics and addresses them by both demonstrating the inaccuracy of the chargers and bringing clarity to his own thoughts on…
Is God a Miserable Failure?
A favorite apologetic argument of Calvinists is that if Arminianism is true in regard to universal atonement (i.e., Jesus died for everyone, and not just for the elite few), then he has failed miserably. Here is…
