[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…
Sovereignty of God
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…
Video: Seven Minute Seminary: The Problem of Evil
How do you reconcile the reality of pain and suffering in our world with the existence of a loving God? Dr. Michael Peterson, Professor of Philosophy of Religion at Asbury Theological Seminary, explains. This video…
Joe Manzari, “God, Freedom, and Evil”
Please click on the link to view Joe Manzari, “God, Freedom, and Evil”.
Charles Edward White, “Is There Something that God Values More Highly than Human Salvation?”
A common argument of Calvinists is that both they and Arminians think that there is something which God values more highly than universal salvation. They say that God values his own glory in damning the…
Chad Thornhill, On William Klein’s Revised and Expanded Book on Corporate Election, Part 3
[This post was taken from Scot McKnight’s Blog, where comments can be made.] Klein’s Conclusions and Questions on Election, by Chad Thornhill In The New Chosen People, William Klein challenges the view that “election” in…
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…
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…
Chad Thornhill, On William Klein’s Revised and Expanded Book on Corporate Election, Part 2
[This post was taken from Scot McKnight’s Blog, where comments can be made.] By Chad Thornhill, PhD Chair of Theological Studies, Director of the MA in Christian Apologetics, Assistant Professor of Apologetics and Biblical Studies [all at Liberty University],…
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…
Roy Ingle, “Arminianism And The Glory of God”
The Church today seems to be caught up with self. Visit your local Christian bookstore and you will find entire sections entitled, “Self Help” filled with books but visit the “Theology” section and you will…