This is the second 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…
Theodicy
Evil: Sometimes the Human Explanation is Better than the Divine Explanation
Evil: Sometimes the Human Explanation is Better than the Divine Explanation written by Ryan Ragozine “Everything happens for a reason.” How many times have you heard this short, pithy saying echoed in response to tragedy?…
A Challenge from Roger Olson for Calvinists
As I read Mark Talbot’s chapter on God and suffering in Suffering and the Sovereignty of God (edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor) a thought occurred to me: Since most Calvinists are harshly critical…
Calvinism and the God-as-Author Analogy
Calvinism and the God-as-author analogy written by Roger E Olson, PhD One of my faithful visitors here pointed me to the following recent essay posted to the Desiring God blog by one Joe Rigney (professor…
Michael Brown, “The Newtown Massacre and the Pain of God”
Michael Brown, “The Newtown Massacre and the Pain of God” — http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2012/12/17/the-newtown-massacre-and-the-pain-of-god-n1468169/page/full/
Another Round in the Theodicy Debate (This Time Involving Bob Dylan!)
Roger E. Olson, PhD writes: “Theodicy”–The attempt to justify the ways of God in the face of the problem of evil. A friendly correspondent sent me this URL to an article in today’s Chronicle of…
Dr. Olson’s Further Thoughts about Catastrophes and God
by Roger Olson This is a response to comments made in response to my previous post about John Piper’s blog entry about the recent tornado outbreak in the eastern U.S. True, in this particular blog…
Calvinism and the Evil of Kim Jong-Il
After the passing of Kim Jong-Il (our font makes it look like “Jong the Second,” but it is really the capital letter i followed by the lowercase letter L), Justin Taylor did a brief post highlighting how diabolical he was:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/12/19/inside-kim-jong-ils-diabolical-world/
It is simply baffling that Calvinists can decry the diabolical, heinous actions of Kim Jong-Il (and others like him), and yet they hold that God first conceived in his own divine heart every one of the man’s wicked actions, thought them up without any influence outside of himself, and unconditionally and irresistibly decreed them without any influence outside of himself, resulting in the man doing them all without any chance, power, or ability to do anything else. It’s madness I tell you! Madness!!
Haiti – Why do Disasters Happen?
Why do disasters happen? What should Christians do when disasters happen? The recent earthquake in Haiti was catastrophic. Perhaps it has caused you to wonder if it was caused by God. I don’t think that…
Brian Abasciano’s “Paul’s Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9:1-9: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis”
We just wanted to alert you to the fact that we now have Brian Abasciano’s doctoral dissertation available on our site: “Paul’s Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9:1-9: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis”…
Book Review: The Shack
(Warning: this review contains spoilers)
What would you do if you were invited to spend a weekend with God? What questions would you ask him? Maybe, why does evil exist? Why is there pain? That is the background for the book “The Shack” (Author: William P. Young).
“The Shack” has become a phenomenon. As of today (9-24-09) it is ranked #11 in sales on Amazon.com, and has over 3700 reviews.
There is a dual reaction to the book in Christian circles: people either love it or despise it. I fall into the former category, with a reservation. I enjoyed the story. It brought me to tears a number of times. As a father of two girls, I empathized with the main character, “Mack”.
The House Fire
The House Fire (Arminian version): Once upon a time there was a house on fire. Inside were three children. The dad was outside, and went in to rescue his children. He helped one child get…
Dennis McCallum, Exegesis of Romans 9 and Romans 9-11
Lead pastor of Xenos Fellowship Dennis McCallum has presented what many consider a fascinating and very well done exegesis of Romans 9. Material that can be found on his church’s website: “Romans 9: Predestination“Romans 9: Predestinat…
Daniel D. Whedon, *The Freedom of the Will as a Basis of Human Responsibility and a Divine Government*
Wesleyan-Armininan Daniel Denison Whedon’s response to Jonathan Edwards’ The Freedom of the Will is wonderful; both complete and acurate. (link) [This links to the original book available for free viewing or download.] The book has…
Friday Files: Arminius on Romans 9
In James Arminius’ commentary on the 9th Chapter of Romans, he argues that the topic at hand is justification by faith. He humbly admits that for some time the chapter was of the “greatest obscurity”,…
Recent Posts
Richard Coords, “Remote Tribes”
Steve Lemke on Irresistible Grace and Jesus’ Lament Over Jerusalem
Mark K. Olson: Famous Sermons of John Wesley 7: Salvation by Faith
How Do You Deal with the Limited Atonement Argument that If Jesus Paid the Penalty for All, Then People Sent to Hell Would Be Paying the Penalty a Second Time?
