All Scripture quotations are from the 1901 American Standard Version unless otherwise noted. John 20:30-31 30 Many other signs therefore did Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book:…
Free Will
C.S. Lewis on Free Will
“God created things which had free will. That means creatures which can go wrong or right. Some people think they can imagine a creature which was free but had no possibility of going wrong, but…
Steven C. Roy, “Predictive Prophecies Concerning Future Free Human Choices or Events Involving Future Free Human Choices”
Please click on the link to view Steven C. Roy, “Predictive Prophecies Concerning Future Free Human Choices or Events Involving Future Free Human Choices.” This is an online supplement to the book How Much Does God…
Steve Sewell, “Corporate Election in 1 Peter”
All Scripture quotations are from the 1901 American Standard Version unless otherwise noted. 1 Peter 2:3-10 3 if ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious: 4 unto whom coming, a living stone, rejected…
Christian Philosopher Lydia McGrew on Calvinism
This conversation took place in the comment section of one of Dr. Lydia McGrew’s posts at her blog Extra Thoughts: C. M. Granger said… Hi Lydia, why aren’t you a Calvinist? 11/26/2015 6:25 PM Lydia McGrew said……
New Calvinist Bible – Ezekiel (satire)
The following post is a satire, written from the perspective of an overzealous Calvinist. This post is part of a series on the New Calvinist Bible (NCB) – a new Bible translation designed to show…
Rich Davis, “Carter’s Calvinism — Once More”
[Editor’s note: Dr. Rich Davis, professor of philosophy at Tyndale University College & Seminary and chair of its philosophy department, wrote “A Demonstration Against Calvinism,” to which his colleague, Professor Craig Carter, replied with a piece “In…
Steve Sewell, “The ‘Whosoever’ of John 3:16 Identified”
All Scripture quotations are from the 1901 American Standard Version unless otherwise noted. There is much debate between Arminians and Calvinists about the meaning of the words “whosoever” and “world” in the NT as it…
A. Chadwick Thornhill, “Election, Paul, and Second Temple Judaism”
Few issues exist in the interpretation of the New Testament which can become as contentious as questions of “sovereignty” and “free will.” Various terms like “election,” “predestination,” “foreknowledge,” etc., get thrown around in these discussions.…
Steve Sewell, “Get God’s Character Right, You’ll Get His Sovereignty Right”
Get God’s character right, and you’ll get His sovereignty right. God’s character defines His sovereignty, not the other way around. What separates Calvinists and Arminians, primarily, is our view of God. Calvinists are determinists. There…
Leah E. Hartman, “God’s Sovereignty Doesn’t Mean What You Think it Means”
My husband, Caleb, and I met in college and the rest, as they say, is history. Except that’s not what happened. After college graduation and before the engagement, we decided to take one of those…
Reward and Punishment Necessitate Libertarian Freedom
As is stated in previous posts on this site, libertarian free will is assumed throughout the tenor of the entire Bible, and determinism is exposed as not merely flawed but erroneous and damaging to the…
David L. Hatton, “Saving God from Philosophical Determinism”
In Bible College, I took a philosophy course where a heated discussion erupted about the conflict between a Calvinistic view of predestination and the philosophical position of free will. I believe my professor, a Calvinist,…
Video: William Lane Craig, “Evaluating Views of Appropriating God’s Grace and Salvation”
Defenders is Dr. William Lane Craig’s weekly Sunday school class on Christian doctrine and apologetics. This video is part 17 of his material on the doctrine of man. His is a link to the video…
Compatibilism and Wireless Technology, Part 2: The Wireless Transmitter Analogy
In this post I hope to show by way of analogy the incompatibility of soft determinism with human freedom. I will first lay out the technological terms and give a brief explanation of how they work. I…
Compatibilism and Wireless Technology, Part 1: Why Calvinism’s Explanation for Human Freedom and Responsibility Doesn’t Satisfy Me
In this post I will discuss why Compatibilistic Calvinism really offers no satisfactory explanation of how genuine human choice (in the common understanding of the word) is possible within the scheme of divine determinism. William Birch…
Günther H. Juncker, “The Dilemma of Theistic Determinism”
Please click on the link to view Günther H. Juncker, “The Dilemma of Theistic Determinism,” Journal for Theology and Ministry 12.2 (Fall 2015) 15-22. The link goes to a download of a pdf of the entire edition of…
Jerry L. Walls, “Why No Classical Theist, Let Alone Orthodox Christian, Should Ever Be a Compatibilist”
Please click on the link to view Jerry L. Walls, “Why No Classical Theist, Let Alone Orthodox Christian, Should Ever Be a Compatibilist,” Philosophia Christi 13.1 (Summer 2011), 75-104. The author’s abstract of the article: I argue…
The Genius of Arminian Theodicy
I do not accept what is known as a Greater-Good theodicy1 — that all sin and evil serve a purpose in the mind and plan of God, from which He will bring about a greater…
Wayne Grudem’s Flawed View of Faith (and what prevents us from boasting)
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave…
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”
