I was going to write a second post on corporate election, but I am postponing it to look at something which Alan Kurschner has recently put out on Dr. James White’s blog. He calls it…
Recent Posts
A Response to an A/C “Primer” from A&O ministries
A primer on prevenient grace
One of John Wesley’s finest contributions to theology was his understanding of prevenient grace. Broadly speaking, this is the grace that “goes before”—that grace which precedes human action and reflects God’s heart to pursue his…
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…
Would I Worship A Calvinist God?
This question was once posed to Dr. Roger Olson, and I’ve been thinking it over: if I became convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that God really did govern the way that Calvinists claim…
Roger Olson on Judging God’s Morality
This is a brief snippet from Dr. Roger Olson’s post: “About judging God’s morality” Recently, an acquaintance asked me if I am guilty of “judging God’s morality.” He explained that his reason for asking is…
Can We Morally Judge God?
I have noticed a new tactic from Calvinists—accusing Arminians of “judging God” (cf. Roger Olson’s post about this from January of 2012). But is that a fair accusation? Can we judge God?
First of all, we have to ask what in the world it means to judge God. Let’s first take it in the broadest sense: Do we have the right to make a judgment about whether God is good or bad? Well, clearly we do, since the Bible declares God to be good, and calls us to recognize His goodness. Declaring God to be good is judging Him; judging Him to be good that is. So clearly we are allowed to do this.
Alright, well perhaps our Calvinist friends mean something different when they say judge. So let us consider the most restrictive/literal sense: a judge presiding over a court of law. However, this doesn’t really make sense either since we can’t really pass a verdict on God. At least we can’t enforce one.
An Explanation of Simple Foreknowledge
In the book Against Calvinism, Roger Olson asserts that Calvinism damages God’s reputation, and that it (unintentionally) turns God into a moral monster who is hardly distinguishable from the devil. Olson doesn’t argue that Calvinists affirm that God is like the devil. Rather, in his view it is the logical implication of Calvinism. It’s a strong assertion, but I agree. John Wesley did also.
Response to Piper’s “What Made It OK for God to Kill Women, Children in Old Testament?”
This was written by SEA member Bob Anderson in response to John Piper’s recent post “What Made It OK for God to Kill Women, Children in Old Testament?” He gave us permission to post it…
Bruce A. Ware, “Extent of the Atonement”
Ware is a 4 point Calvinist who affirms unlimited atonement. This overview of the issue of the extent of the atonement is useful for its arguments against limited atonement (see the attachment). But beware of…
CALVINIST RHETORIC: Prooftexting
Or “Say hello to my little friend!”</ What I mean by Proof-texting There are four different ways to interact with Scripture within a discussion: Exegesis: Carefully breaking down the meaning of a text through grammar,…
Church Fathers on Foreknowledge and Freewill
Some Calvinists suggest that God’s foreknowledge is based on His plan and/or knowledge of causal relations rather then based on the future. I thought I would look up what the church fathers had to say…
Bavinck on the Unknowability of God’s Decrees
In Bavinck’s article on supralapsarian and infralapsarian predestination (link), he disagrees with supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism about 90% of the time, so we get very few glimpses of what he actually believes. I went through the article and pulled out all the positive statements by Bavinck about predestination. I came out with 10 statements. Upon examining the statements, I noted that the majority of them are either in tension with each other or leave a major term undefined.
Statements in tension with each other (i.e. that seem to move in opposite directions – although they don’t formally contradict each other, no reconciliation is provided):
Arminius on Regeneration
The purpose of this paper is to delineate Arminius’ view on regeneration. The Arminian view on regeneration has frequently been mischaracterized, both by Calvinistic opponents, as well as adherents to his views. His view is…
Focus on the Family’s John 3:16 video
In celebration of Good Friday and Easter, we felt it best to review a well known text from some young, insightful exegetes.
Arminianism Overthrows Biblical Inerrancy?
Calvinists have put out a DVD called “Amazing Grace,” which makes the following charge against Arminianism: One Calvinist explains: “Arminianism has real implications for the doctrine of Scripture. How can God superintend men’s words so…
Free Audio and Video Resource – David Pawson
UK preacher David Pawson now has a website up where all of his teachings can be downloaded for free. If you’re looking for a good source of Arminian audio and video, this is the jackpot.…
John Piper and Pietism
John Piper and Pietism Posted on April 1, 2012 by Roger E. Olson, PhD Recently John Piper declared himself a pietistic Reformed person. See: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2012/marchweb-only/john-piper-racism-reconciliation.html?utm_source=ctweekly-html&utm_medium=eNews&utm_term=3050084&utm_content=122851977&utm_campaign=2012 As someone who likes to think of myself as a…
Sermons from Trinity Evangelical church from an Arminian Perspective Online
Sermons from an Arminian perspective by Wendel Brane, Dennis Laub, and Ted Rapone of Trinity Evangelical Church may be found online at http://www.trinity-evangelical-church.org/index.html, and Ted Rapone’s may also be found online at http://cgsleo.org/audio/sermons.
Brian Abasciano, “Paul’s Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9:1-9: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis”
This is the author’s doctoral dissertation (in the attachment below), which has been published in a shortened form under the same title by T & T Clark in its Journal for the Study of the…
I Bless God
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name.
I bless the Arms of God that reached out to me during times of loneliness and despair.
I bless the Artistry of God for the beauty in nature and in every sunrise and sunset.
I bless the Authority of God that makes Him the great and undeniable, “I AM”.
I bless the Breath of God that gave life to all living creatures great and small.
I bless the Brightness of God that outshines the blinding brilliance of the sun.
I bless the Closeness of God that He regards me as His friend.
I bless the Compassion of God that looks beyond my faults as He continually cares for me.
I bless the Creativity of God for all creatures that walk, run, crawl, hop, swim, leap, jump, and fly.
I bless the Cross of Christ that assures the promise of eternal life to every believer.
I bless the Desire of God in that He wants me to be at one with Him forever.
Recent Posts
Roy Ingle, “Set Free From Sin Or To Sin?”
Richard Coords, “Purpose”
Mark K. Olson: Famous Sermons of John Wesley 5: The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption
Video: Arminian Denominations & Arminius’ Lutheran & Anabaptist Influences: “Who Are the Arminians?” Part 1
