Free Will

In 2012 I was sitting next to Timothy Fox listening to Dr. R. Scott Smith teach about the philosophy of intentionality at Biola University. Smith was explaining that intentional states of consciousness entailed an awareness OF and ABOUT things. With "of-ness: and "about-ness" in mind, I started thinking of the laws of logic and about competing hypotheses. It soon occurred to me that if one cannot think of and about competing hypotheses, then it would be impossible for one

I saw Free Guy , starring Ryan Reynolds, on opening weekend -- TWICE! I went to it on opening night with my lovely bride and then on Sunday afternoon I took my 19-year-old son to see the matinee. I absolutely loved this flick for several reasons: 1- it made me laugh, 2- it was well-written, 3- the acting was superb, and 4- once again we have a movie highlighting the importance of libertarian freedom.   SPOILER ALERT!  Oh yeah, and 5- a couple scenes at the end will bring tear

To become a Mere Molinist all one has to do is affirm two propositions: 1- God possesses middle knowledge.  2- Humans possess libertarian freedom. These are the two pillars of Mere Molinism, and after surveying the scriptural support, perfect being theology, and philosophical arguments, many Christ followers seem to think that these two key ingredients are non-controversial and easy affirmations -- unless one is previously committed to either exhaustive divine determinism (E

I recently launched a new Facebook group called Mere Molinism (click here to join) . This private group is focused on discussing the essential ingredients of mere Molinism (human libertarian freedom and divine middle knowledge) along with related issues. This group is unique for several reasons. First, all the admins possess or are currently pursuing graduate degrees in theology or philosophy. Second, one does not have to affirm Molinism to be in this group. As noted in the "

In this Apologetics315 Podcast , Brian Auten and Chad Gross chat with me about . The show notes are as follows:1:03 – Intro to Tim Stratton1:41 – Why Molinism on the podcast?3:20 – Welcome to Tim Stratton3:54 – How Tim became a Christian9:37 – God as a maximally great being10:43 – Tim’s dissertation11:18 – What does Tim find compelling about Molinism?12:42 – The  Mere Molinism Facebook group 16:14 – What is the problem that Molinism is trying to solve?22:47 – How to briefly s

Since publishing Human Freedom, Divine Knowledge, and Mere Molinism in October of 2020, almost every day I have dialoged with determinists. They are either theological determinists (typically Calvinists) who are seemingly committed to exhaustive divine determinism (EDD) or they are scientific determinists (typically naturalists/atheists) who believe that all things about humanity are ultimately causally determined by the laws and events of nature. These folks seem determined

Suppose a mad scientist while you were sleeping gained access to your brain, implanted special microchips, and now has the ability and opportunity to exhaustively control (causally determine) all of your thoughts and beliefs all the time. Although you are unaware, the mad scientist now has control over exactly what you think of and about and -- more importantly -- exactly how you think of and about it. All of your thoughts about your beliefs and all of your beliefs about yo

Question Dr. Tim, You recently shared a Facebook post high-lightning the Apostle Paul's words in 1st Corinthians 10:15. It reads: "I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say." You then added the following: "Be a FreeThinker. Don’t let something or someone else causally determine your judgments!" Do you really want to trust your own judgements and not let God cause and determine all of your judgements? Being led by the Spirit means letting God lead your min

Circular reasoning is generally understood to be fallacious. The reason for this is that circular arguments assume what they purport to prove. At least one premise in a circular argument depends upon the truth of the conclusion, making the argument lose any justifying force. For in order to accept the relevant premise, one would have to already believe the conclusion. But if one already believes the conclusion then one has no need for the argument, and if one does not already

Recently I had an enlightening conversation with EDD (an exhaustive divine determinist). Calvinists who affirm exhaustive divine determinism believe that God causally determines all things all the time (unless they are discussing 1 Timothy 2:4 , these Calvinists do affirm that "all" means "all"). This means that everything about a human -- every thought, belief, action, behavior, evaluation, and judgement -- is always causally determined by something or someone other than

Question Hey Dr. Stratton, A fellow libertarian has taken issue with your definition of libertarian freedom. Although you offer multiple definitions in your book and other writings, you often describe libertarian freedom in the following manner: "the ability to choose among a range of alternative options, each of which is compatible with one's nature at the moment of choice." The objector said that this definition fails and "simply isn't correct since it describes a view tha

God is a maximally great being by definition. He always has been and always will be perfect and maximally great (see Job 42:1-2 ; Psalm 145:3 ; 147:5 ; Isaiah 41 ; Jeremiah 1:5 ; 32:27 ; Luke 1:37  and the Ontological Argument ). With that said, however, for nearly 500 years many Christians have sadly advanced a "low view of God." In the book, The Knowledge of the Holy , A.W. Tozer says: “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Question: Hey Dr. Stratton, In a FB group, Tyler Vela (a well-known internet Calvinist) posted the following question: “Libertarians - will we be robots in the eternal state since we will not be able to sin? (Note: if you make a nature or “we won’t want to” argument then you’re just making the same nature/ultimate desire argument as a compatibilist does.)” In the ensuing thread, Colton Carlson, who affirmed your definition of LFW (libertarian freedom), stated that LFW must no

Watch the YouTube video here (please like, share, and subscribe)! What’s up Free-Thinkers and True-Believers? I’m Dr. Stratton . . . and today I’m going to be talking about Doctor Strange and the Avengers. Marvel Studios took their time and spent a good decade developing many of my favorite childhood comics into fantastic movies. And they continue to build on top of this foundation on Disney Plus with shows like WandaVision and The Falcon & The Winter Soldier! Marvel starte

How does God’s knowledge relate to the created world? And if God knows the future, what does that mean for human freedom? In Human Freedom, Divine Knowledge, and Mere Molinism Tim Stratton seeks to shed light on these questions by engaging with the apparent conflict between human freedom and divine knowledge. The bulk of the book is an historical survey of significant Christian thinkers. But Stratton also engages with myriad philosophical and theological arguments pertaining

Question: Dr. Tim, The location of determinism, if external, could be seen as warrant to the conclusion that we are "meat puppets". But why must we accept that determinism is solely through external "forces" beyond our control? First, this assumes control *must* be regulative. But more importantly, why can the location of determinism not be through our agency, or through our wills? In accordance to ourselves? This would be internal and not external. If qualified as internal d

A lot can be said about Marvel’s first Disney+ series, ( Spoilers ahead! ), from its weird, off-putting sitcom beginning to the broader impact the series’ events will have on the MCU. But, being that we’re named Thinking Ministries , obviously we have to talk about what confirms to us about free will. This show isn’t the first MCU story to address free will, determinism, and human responsibility (see my article “Captain America, Bucky, and Moral Responsibility” ). Superhero

My recently published book,  Human Freedom, Divine Knowledge, and Mere Molinism , has, for the most part, received positive reviews. But I had anticipated a negative response from one particular philosopher, Guillaume Bignon, a Calvinist, whom I critiqued in the book. Bignon provided a 50-page “extremely negative assessment” criticizing almost everything in the book — from my English and grammar, to my philosophy and theology. In the paper linked below, I offer a critical re

Question: Dr. Stratton, in your book you point out that if our thoughts and beliefs are causally determined by physics and chemistry, then they are not reliable. I agree since physics and chemistry are not intentionally aimed at true beliefs. However, related to that, you also say that even if God casually determines all of our thoughts and beliefs all the time, then they still aren’t reliable. God is an intentional being (much different than physics and chemistry), so why wo

I recently made a video for the FreeThinking Ministries YouTube channel entitled Divine Determinism and the GOD OF MISCHIEF . In this video I point out that if naturalistic determinism is true, then all human thoughts and beliefs are causally determined by the forces of nature, the initial conditions of the big bang, past events, perhaps some quantum mechanics, and all other things outside of human control. Since these naturalistic events would be causally determined by proce