I recently was listening to a series of teachings by a Calvinist speaker that I enjoy when he began to discuss praying evangelicstically for the lost. He asserted that Calvinist can truly pray for the…
Sovereignty of God
Rich Davis, “Calvinism’s Misplaced Culpability”
Calvinism and TULIP go hand in hand. When you think of the one, it’s rather hard not to think of the other. However, certain qualifications are in order. “The truth is,” says Michael Horton, “there…
Mike Barlotta – How Free is Free Will?
Over the last week I have been in a discussion over soteriology, which started with the request to define free will. Free will can be a hard concept to define because there are very different…
Compatibilism vs. Free Will
God’s relationship with not only His universe but also the creatures whom He created in His own image has been debated, fashioned, and refashioned throughout the history of the Church. From what one may gather,…
Rich Davis, “The “C” in Calvinism?”
In 2009 Time magazine ran a story entitled “10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now” (Thursday, March 12). Not surprisingly, the top two spots were occupied by new trend setting thinking on career/workplace and life…
Book Review: Rowe — Can God be Free?
William Rowe’s book asks the question: Can God be Free? First, he gives an interesting historical introduction to the subject, covering the views of Gottfried Leibniz, Samuel Clarke, Thomas Aquinas and Jonathan Edwards; meanwhile he…
Dekker and Muller on Middle Knowledge in Arminius’ Theology
The following quotes are taken from Eef Dekker’s Was Arminius a Molinist? The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Summer, 1996), pp. 337-352. Arminius: The knowledge of God is a faculty of his life, which…
Was Arminius an Open Theist?
There exists a false charge that Arminius’ theology, when consistently maintained, renders one an Open Theist. This charge is merely a rhetorical one, synonymous with the insistence that the only consistent Calvinism is hyper-Calvinism, or…
Genesis 50:20 – Commentary in Light of Calvinism
Genesis 50:15-21 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to…
Roger Olson, “C. S. Lewis Said It: God’s ‘Goodness’ Cannot Be Wholly Other”
For years now I have been insisting that the main reason I am not a Calvinist (or any kind of divine determinist) is that, taken to its “good and necessary consequences,” Calvinism makes God morally…
Charles Edward White, “Does God Call All the Shots?”
Please see below or click on the attachment to view Charles Edward White, “Does God Call All the Shots?” Light and Life (July/August 2003), pp. 29-31. Does God Call All the Shots? By Charles Edward White …
Regret Doesn’t Make Sense If Determinism Is True
Roger Olson, “A Reformed Theologian’s Critique of Divine Determinism”
Hearty thanks go to publishers Wipf & Stock for re-publishing theologian Emil Brunner’s three volume Dogmatics which was originally published in English by Lutterworth Press in England and subsequently by Westminster Press in America. At…
Charles Edward White, “John Calvin’s Five-point Misunderstanding of Romans 9: An Intertextual Analysis”
Please click on the attachment to view Charles Edward White, “John Calvin’s five-point misunderstanding of Romans 9: An Intertextual Analysis,” Wesleyan Theological Journal 41 (Fall 2006) 28-50.
Ron Callaway, “The Omniscience of God and Open Theism”
Please click on the link to view Ron Callaway, “The Omniscience of God and Open Theism” Integrity 3 (2006) 111-139.
Roger Olson, “Is There a Difference between ‘Permitting Evil’ and ‘Doing Evil?’”
They may make strange bedfellows but on one issue some Calvinists, many atheists, and most process theologians agree: there is no real difference between “doing evil” and “permitting evil.” For them, the traditional claim of…
God, Pharaoh, and God’s Sovereignty in Romans 9
In Udo Middelmann’s The Innocence of God, he grants us biblical evidence advocating the truth that God is innocent of the tragedies and evil experienced by and among fallen human beings. God has neither decreed…
James Anderson, “Libertarian Calvinism?” and “Libertarian Reformed Baptists?”
Calvinism’s standard position is exhaustive divine determinism, that God unconditionally decreed all things, including sin and evil, every sin, every evil act, every thought, motive, desire, mood, decision, everything. One standard criticism of Calvinism is…
Tim Keller and D.A. Carson: Prime Examples of the Gumby Theology of Calvinism
Gumby—a green clay humanoid character that can twist and turn to get out of every predicament. A great toy it makes; a great theologian it does not. There is no greater theological imperative today then…
Essay in a Book Edited by John Piper Claims that God Brings About the Sexual Abuse of Children
In a book edited by John Piper, Calvinist philosopher Mark R. Talbot writes: God . . . brings about all things in accordance with his will. In other words, it isn’t just that God manages to turn…