Libertarian free will is the concept that men and angels have the ability to make real choices that have not been pre-determined by God. Arminians believe in free will, while Calvinists generally do not. The…
Recent Posts
Libertarian Free Will
Calvinism And Free Will: An Exegetical Vindication of Matthew 23:37
The following post was first published at http://www.indeathorlife.org/. I decided to re-post it as it relates to the previous post regarding God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Free Will. A few minor revisions have been made.
Arminians have long pointed to Matthew 23:37 to respond to the Calvinist doctrines of determinism, limited atonement, and irresistible grace.
Calvinism teaches that Christ died only for the elect (particular atonement), that he has decreed whatsoever shall come to pass in human history (determinism- no human free will as pertains to true contingencies), and that man has nothing to do with his own salvation (monergism), which necessitates their doctrine of irresistible grace.
A Recent Reading of Ephesians
My wife and I have a daily reading of Scripture where we read through large sections of the Bible at once, to get the bigger pictures in Scripture, and cover the full ground of Scripture…
Sacrifice And The Nature of Human Freedom
The word of God commands people to submit and surrender their wills to the will of God. This is inherent in the nature of sacrifice. Paul tells us to offer ourselves to God as a…
Struggling With Regrets
Do you sometimes struggle with regrets? I certainly do. Part of the glory of Christianity is the forgiveness we have in Christ Jesus. We should never cease to rejoice in the fact that the blood…
Jack Cottrell, “Sovereignty and Free Will”
Please click on the link to view Jack Cottrell, “Sovereignty and Free Will”
1 John 2:21-23; A Devotional
I did not write to you that you do not know the truth but that you know it and that all lying is not from the truth. 22 Who is the liar if not the…
Born Again Calvinism
One thing I’ve often noticed when speaking with Calvinists is that they seem to uphold an understanding of themselves as credible deliberators between Arminianism and Calvinism, especially when it comes to sharing their theology with…
Free Will & God’s Sovereignty
My dormmate at college was reminded of a statement that one of his professors made in class. He stated the fact that, at times, we miss out on a lot in our experience with God…
God Is Still Sovereign
Thus far this week (see: http://classicalarminianism.blogspot.com/2008/06/turretinfan-on-gods-nature.html — Editor’s update note: broken link]) we have been dealing with the Calvinistic view of an absolutistic God, and contrasting that with an Arminian understanding of a God who…
Eric Landstrom, Semi-Pelagian or Semi-Augustinian?
The term “Semi-Pelagian” is often bandied about by laymen as a summary term that is descriptive of those persons who follow in the Arminian and Wesleyan theological traditions. AA. Hodge defined the term, stating: Semi-Pelagianism…
Answering Greg Elmquist’s “Four Unanswerable Questions”
The content of this post was authored by J.C. Thibodaux and is posted on his behalf. I came across a writing some time back by Pastor Greg Elmquist called, ‘Four Unanswerable Questions,’ which I’ve seen…
Eric Landstrom, Adam’s Fall from Grace in the Eastern-Wesleyan Tradition
It is not within our capacity to say anything about God beyond what he has revealed to us. Sometimes it is best to step away from our presuppositions that we proof-text with the Bible and…
Perseverance of the Saints Part 10: Examining Wilderness Typology in Hebrews
Some Calvinists have argued that the frequent references to the wandering Israelites in the desert suggest that the writer of Hebrews is not addressing apostasy from true faith. It is assumed that the wandering generation…
Charles Ryrie, “The Extent of the Atonement”
This is an excerpt from Basic Theology by Charles Ryrie, and has been taken from http://www.bible-reading.com/atone.html#extent Please note that Ryrie is not really an Arminian, but we make the article available because it argues for…
1 John 2:18-20; A Devotional
Little children, it is the last hour, and as you heard that an antichrist is coming, and even now many antichrists are here, because of this we know it is the last hour. 19 They…
The New Perspective and the Development of Reformed Doctrine
The New Perspective on Paul is a development that has taken place over the last few decades in biblical studies, regarding the background and context against which the New Testament, and the writings of the…
Synod of Dort (Part Three)
“Because the members of the regular provincial Synods could not be long absent from their respective congregations, such galloping commissions as these, endowed with ample powers, were appointed to traverse every province in which Arminianism…
Pinson, J. Matthew. “Review of ‘Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities’ by Roger E. Olson”
Arminianism; Book Reviews; General
Pinson, J. Matthew. “Review of *Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities* by Roger E. Olson” published in the Dec. 2006 issue of *JETS*.
Synod of Dort (Part Two)
It was the “ardent wish of the Calvinists only to have the company of those choice spirits of other countries that would readily coalesce with themselves in devising measures to crush Arminianism. To obtain the…