Apologetics

I recently published an article entitled, “Molinism is Biblical” the morning of June 8th. That same morning a response article was written, published, and shared on my Facebook wall by Sean Luke, a self-proclaimed Calvinist who took exception to my biblical exegesis. My article referenced several passages of scripture that seem to contradict common Calvinistic thought. Sean objected to my arguments and provided some pushback. Although I think he is missing some key aspects

How well do you know Tim Stratton , founder and president of FreeThinking Ministries ? Let me list some facts about Tim: Christian apologist who blogs at FreeThinking Ministries Enrolled in the Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics program at Biola University from 2012 - 2014 Graduated with Highest Honors on December 19, 2014 Heavily influenced by the works of Dr. William Lane Craig Has a passion for theology, philosophy, apologetics, and destroying Naturalism Predestined

Question Dear Tim, I've really enjoyed reading your articles on Molinism. I think Molinism is a great theological philosophy, but it seems to be nothing but a philosophy. I don't see how Molinism could be called a biblical view at all; where are the scriptures supporting Molinism? I simply don't see any. Because Calvinism seems to own the corner on the market regarding biblical data, I simply cannot leave my reformed tradition even if it does have some philosophical problems

Every time I turn around I find someone else denying that humans have free will . From scientists to philosophers to theologians, it’s the cool new trend. We aren’t actually making free choices. We have been programmed either by God or our DNA to act in a certain way and have no choice but to follow it. To be perfectly clear, we deny all types of determinism, whether it’s physical or divine. Free will is what puts the in Freethinking Ministries and our cornerstone is the Fre

Neil deGrasse Tyson is a world renowned astrophysicist and, in my opinion, the leading science popularizer in the world today. I greatly respect Tyson as a scientist, but he is not a good philosopher and a much worse theologian! In fact, Tyson's philosophy is that philosophy is "useless" and that it "can really mess you up." Be that as it may, Tyson seems to spend much of his time these days stepping out of his field of expertise -- science -- and stepping into philosophical

Question Dear Tim, In your article The Omnibenevolence of God you pointed out that on the Islamic view, Allah is quite similar to some Calvinistic views of God. Regarding this view, you said: “God is not all-loving, and whatever Allah does is simply called “good,” even if it is really hateful.” I agree with you, but an atheist recently objected to your statement with the following: This sounds like the Christian view point too. If God is the standard of ‘good’ then whateve

Welcome to another installment of Stuff Atheists Say , a series dedicated to combatting slogans and sayings that skeptics raise to stop conversations in their tracks. You can catch up on the previous articles here: part 1 , part 2 , part 3 , part 4 . Today’s slogan is a common skeptic phrase, made famous by the late Christopher Hitchens. And recently I was surprised - and annoyed - to hear it regurgitated in a children’s television show. It is typically raised in regard to so

Question Dear Tim, I recently ran across a blog post by an atheist who is a physics major with a philosophy minor. In response to the Kalam Cosmological Argument, he contends that God could not have created the universe. His argument proceeds as follows: 1. The word "choice" must imply a progression from a state of multiple possibilities to a state of single actuality. 2. The word "time" must imply a progression from one state to another. 3. Since a choice is one such progr

Dear Dr. Welty, Tim Stratton recently wrote an article critiquing your essay in Calvinism and the Problem of Evil . Since that time, you wrote a response to Stratton on your website and Stratton responded with a well-written counter-rebuttal to your response entitled " Gunslingers & Guilty Minds ." As a lawyer who deals with "guilty minds" on a daily basis, I would like to join the conversation. Although your response to Stratton was well written it contains a few errors

Thursday the 27th of April, I published an article responding to Greg Welty’s chapter in the book Calvinism and the problem of Evil . I specifically argued against a view of Calvinism that is wedded to exhaustive divine determinism (a view that God causally determines all things: actions, behaviors, beliefs, and thoughts) .  I was shocked — and honored — that Greg Welty himself wrote a rather long article on his website in response to me just two short days later! As Welty

Summary: In my essay "How Should a Molinist Understand 1 Peter 1:3?" I defended the idea that 1 Peter 1:3 underdetermines whether libertarian free will (LFW) or divine causal determinism (DCD) obtains. One way one could attempt to adjudicate between these competing theories is to appeal to Ockham's razor. Specifically, one could argue that a determinist rendering of the relevant verse (and verses relevantly like this) are preferable to libertarian understandings of the texts

In my last article I tackled what I referred to as Thomistic Compatibilism. This article can be considered a clarification of some of the earlier material while adding more argumentation against the doctrine of divine simplicity (DDS). Thomas Aquinas modeled his understanding of human free will after his take on the divine free will. Thomas posited that God is the efficient cause of all that occurs (SCG I 11.70.8). But God joins other causal agents in a sort of dual causali

Question Tim, First, I want to thank you for your message today, Marci and I both thought it was awesome. In particular, Marci wanted me to let you know that she has struggled for years with why did God give man free will, and your explanation about arranged marriages and your example of how you knelt on one knee and proposed to your wife and how she had the "free will" to accept or decline your love proposal is the piece that finally opened the door with her understanding

Calvinism has been one of the most popular theological traditions within the church for half a millennia. This reformed view is the tradition in which I was raised. In fact, I believed it, bought it, and taught it as a minister for over a decade. I was not alone in my pursuit to spread the teachings of Calvin and the five famous points of TULIP to the masses. While many behind the doors of the church bought into Calvinism as I did, there was one group of Christians who seem

Should data gained apart from the Bible influence our interpretation of it? Before answering that question, consider what could be implied based on a face-value interpretation of the following passages of scripture: Genesis 1:16 – The sun and moon seem to be the largest heavenly bodies. Genesis 1:16-18 – The moon is literally a light, rather than a reflector of light! Genesis, Deuteronomy, and Psalms – The sun rises and sets! It is not stationary. Psalm 93:1 – The earth d

There are so many great scientists out there. The things they get to discover and explain to the rest of us lay people are always very cool. Every so often, however, a well-known scientist will get a bit of publicity over a controversial comment they make. When theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking’s book, The Grand Design was released, it caused quite a stir in the philosophy community regarding his statement in the book that “philosophy is dead.” Hawking’s claim that “phi

Question Tim, have you seen that CERN has provided  scientific proof that the soul (or the "ghost in the machine") does not exist! Too bad for your Freethinking Argument! This scientific data does fatal damage to the Interactionist Substance Dualism you argue for because the only way for an immaterial substance to move a material object is to create energy ex nihilo (as energy transfer is necessary to move a material object). The problem is that if there is this external en

Resumen: CARM (o MIAPIC en español), un ministerio reformado, ha dado una apreciación negativa del Molinismo. Expongo 9 problemas de su explicación y crítica de la doctrina, socavando sus afirmaciones demostrando que se basan en errores comprensivos, dicción ambigua, o petición de principio (o alguna mezcla de estos). Fuente: http://carm.org/what-molinism (Inglés) | http://www.miapic.com/que-es-el-molinismo (Español) Problema 1: CARM Representa Mal el Libre Albedrío Libertar

Is your brain true or false? How much does a belief weigh? If you gain new beliefs do you gain weight? Do these questions even make sense? These are more examples of incoherent questions ! Why are these questions incoherent? Because based on the logical law of identity we know that brains and beliefs are two different kinds of things because they possess different properties. Based on the law of identity, if two things possess all the same properties then they are identical.

While attending Biola University, Dr. Clay Jones gave me the assignment to engage in a friendly and respectful debate with a skeptical non-believer regarding the historical resurrection of Jesus. A deep-thinking friend of mine (who happened to be an atheist who would debate my views quite often) graciously accepted my invitation to have this conversation. The following is my conversation with Justin. I am humbled and honored to have a friend like you, Justin! Thank you! My in