Does God Foreordain and Render Certain Sins? (And Why Some Questions Annoy Me) Not infrequently some Calvinist confronts me with a question that, in the way it is asked, implies two things: 1) I must…
Predestination
Calvinism on the Horns: The Problem of Divine Foreknowledge in Calvinism and Why You Should Be an Arminian
Calvinists often lead the charge against Open Theism and traditional Arminians agree that Open Theism is Biblically problematic. However, Calvinists often seem to hide the unfortunate implications of their own view of foreknowledge. Open Calvinism?…
A Telling and Ironic Tweet by John Piper on “Waking up in the Morning” as a Believer
Calvinist John Piper recently gave the following Tweet: I fall asleep quietly confident that I will be a believer in the morning not because of my free will but God’s free grace. This is an obvious…
Romans 9 in Context (John F. Parkinson)
Click the link below to see John F. Parkinson’s solid and concise interpretation of Romans 9 from a non-Calvinist perspective. Please note that while Mr. Parkinson seems to approach Romans 11 from a pre-trib dispensational…
Roger Olson, “Can a Calvinist Pray for His Child to Be ‘Elect?'”
Recently I heard of a well-known Calvinist pastor, author, speaker, who, on a podcast, testified that he often goes into his little son’s bedroom after he’s asleep and prays over him that he be among…
If God Determined Everything, How Would He Be Worthy Of Worship?
When I think about the God as represented by the T.U.L.I.P., I sometimes have to stop myself or else I might get an ulcer. I find God as represented in the T.U.L.I.P as detestable. The…
The FACTS of Salvation
C: Conditional Election
Conditional Election (the C in FACTS) [Cf. Article 1 of the 5 Articles of the Remonstrance] There are two main views of what the Bible teaches concerning the concept of election unto salvation: that it is…
The FACTS of Salvation: A Summary of Arminian Theology/the Biblical Doctrines of Grace
The FACTS of Salvation: A Summary of Arminian Theology/the Biblical Doctrines of Grace By Brian Abasciano (For a pdf file of the present article, see here.) The distinctive tenets of Arminian theology may…
Eternally Frustrated God
Some Calvinists say God desires for us not to sin, even though He determines us to sin. This divine desire is like Paul’s unfulfilled desire not to sin (Romans 7:15) or my desire to eat…
“Whatever that Scripture proves, it never can prove this…” – John Wesley’s Sermon on Free Grace
John Wesley SERMON 128 (text from the 1872 edition) FREE GRACE Preached at Bristol, in the year 1740 TO THE READER Nothing but the strongest conviction, not only that what is here advanced is “the…
Arminius: Why Unconditional Predestination Hurts Salvation
This doctrine is also hurtful to the salvation of men. 1. Because it prevents that saving and godly sorrow for sins that have been committed, which cannot exist in those who have no consciousness of…
4 Questions 4 Calvinists
1. If Calvinism were true, what is the point of the Final Judgment for the unbeliever? It would be like me walking into a courtroom and the judge telling me that I get a life…
Predestination and God’s Sovereignty
This post is taken from Seedbed and written by James E Pedlar* Beginning in the early days of the Methodist Revival, John Wesley’s position on predestination became a controversial issue. His friend and partner in…
A Day With Arminius
Session 3: Providence and Predestination
This is the third video in a fantastic series of lectures by Dr. Keith Stanglin and Dr. Thomas McCall on who Jacob Arminius was, and what he believed. McCall and Stranglin wrote the book Jacob…
What are you reading for?
written by SEA member, Roy Ingle After reading a commentary on the book of Romans and especially studying Romans 9 for a series of posts I was doing on the subject of prevenient grace, I…
The Tweet After the Tweet
By Derek Ouellette in response to John Piper’s Oklahoma debacle By now you are probably aware of another tweet by John Piper which fired up an otherwise friendly Christian community (<– yes, facetious). For…
G.K. Chesterton on Calvinism
“The Calvinists took the Catholic idea of the absolute knowledge and power of God; and treated it as a rocky irreducible truism so solid that anything could be built on it, however crushing or cruel.…
An Arminian Response to C. Michael Patton’s “The Irrationality of Calvinism” Part 5: Taking The Mystery Out of Mr. Patton’s Strange Arguments
Part 5: Taking the Mystery Out of Mr. Patton’s Strange Arguments
Patton: These two issues, human freedom and sovereign election, are not contradictory when put together, but they are a mystery.
This is the same claim Mr. Patton made in his first post called “Why Calvinism is the Least Rational Option.” We have already begun to highlight the problems with this claim.
An Arminian Response to C. Michael Patton’s “The Irrationality of Calvinism” Part 4: Returning the Favor (Reversing the Argument)
Part 4: Returning the Favor (Reversing the Argument) Patton: To the Calvinists, man is fully responsible for his choice, yet God’s election is unconditional. This creates a problem. It creates great tension. I agree that…
An Arminian Response to C. Michael Patton’s “The Irrationality of Calvinism” Part 3: False Assumptions and Question Begging
Part 3: False Assumptions and Question Begging
Patton: Therefore, [according to Arminianism] God’s predestination of people is “fair” and makes sense. After all, there are too many questions left unanswered when one says that God chooses who will be saved and who will not. Why did he choose some and not others? Did God make people to go to hell? Is God fair? “Why does he still find fault, for who resists his will?”
The Arminian chooses this position because, for them, it is the only way to reconcile human freedom and God’s election.
Here is where Mr. Patton really missteps.