Philosophy

Una cosa de la que no puedo ser acusado es de no estar dispuesto a cambiar de opinión si se me proporcionan buenas razones para hacerlo. He cambiado de opinión sobre muchos temas teológicos en los últimos años, pero uno de estos puntos de vista en particular ha causado mucha controversia en los últimos tiempos. Durante un par de décadas, creí sinceramente que la tierra y el universo tenían solo unos pocos miles de años. Cuando los maestros o programas de televisión decían que

Un debate significativo en la iglesia de hoy en día involucra la soberanía de Dios y la responsabilidad humana. A simple vista, estos dos conceptos pueden parecer mutuamente excluyentes, y por lo tanto, muchos feligreses sienten la necesidad de "elegir un lado". Este debate generalmente divide a la Iglesia en dos fuerzas opuestas: Calvinismo vs. Arminianismo. Los calvinistas son rápidos para afirmar la providencia exhaustiva de Dios; sin embargo, en el proceso, sus afirmacion

Uno de mis argumentos favoritos para la existencia de Dios se llama, "El Argumento Moral". Este caso tiene dos premisas que conducen a una poderosa y lógicamente "irrefutable" conclusión deductiva. La primera premisa del argumento dice: 1- SI DIOS NO EXISTE, LOS VALORES Y DEBERES MORALES OBJETIVOS NO EXISTEN. La palabra "objetivo" significa algo que es verdadero fuera de la opinión humana. En contraste, la palabra "subjetivo" significa algo que es verdadero que depende de l

Recently a committed Calvinist sought to interact with me regarding the model I have offered showing how Molinism can be completely monergistic (See A Molinistic Model of Monergism ). That is to say, the model of Molinism I have offered shows how God is the author of salvation from beginning to end and man plays no role in the salvation process, yet is still genuinely responsible for his damnation. This Calvinist claimed that although I used to be a Calvinist (who bought it,

The results are in (actually Google Analytics, but whatever), and we now present to you the top 10 most viewed articles of 2017: 10. If Evolution is True, Atheism is False - While many atheists think that the theory of evolution disproves the existence of God, Tim Stratton argues the opposite: evolution proves atheism is false! 9.  Neil deGrasse Tyson: Stick to Your Day Job - Tim Stratton responds to commends made by Neil deGrasse Tyson about the existence of God and c

Last year, Tim Stratton proposed an outline for “ Mere Molinism .” The concept is essentially that Molinism rests upon two fundamental pillars to which all Molinists agree while other components of Molinism are ancillary and can be disagreed upon by Molinists. The two pillars are: 1- God eternally possesses middle knowledge . 2- Humans possess libertarian free will . This concept, inspired by C.S. Lewis’ approach to “ Mere Christianity ”, has proven to be quite fruitful

One of my primary goals is to help others comprehend God accurately. I have previously written about the attribute of God's perfect love for all people (See The Omnibenevolence of God ). I spend much time on this specific attribute because so many people (Christians and non-Christians) have a faulty and low view of God. While understanding God's perfect love is vital, it is also of importance to grasp other truths about the Maximally Great Being! The next attribute of God tha

Over the last year and some change I’ve been tackling objections to Christianity that have been gaining traction within the context of the African-American community. When I wrote my first FTM article on this subject, “Introducing the Conscious Community” , I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into. However, I can certainly say this first year of public apologetics ministry has been a fun ride and I’m excited about whatever God has planned moving forward. With tha

Monergism Books (a partir de aquí, MB) publicó lo siguiente en Facebook: Fuente:  https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150964832184949&id=15086969948 En caso de que la publicación de MB se vea comprometida, repetiré su afirmación aquí: “¿Piensas que tienes libre albedrío? Demuéstralo: por tu propio poder, deja completamente de pecar. El hecho de que ninguna persona puede escoger vivir una vida sin pecado es prueba positiva de que no hay libre albedrío. Somos ca

Monergism Books (hereafter, MB) posted the following on Facebook: Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150964832184949&id=15086969948 Just in case MB's Facebook post gets compromised I will reproduce their statement here: "You think you have a free will? Then demonstrate it: in your own power, stop sinning altogether. The fact that no person can choose to live a sinless life is proof positive that he has no free will. He is held captive under the y

A few months ago in a Facebook group (I think it was either Molinist - Official Page or The Christian Apologetics Support Group), someone made a poll asking what everyone's favorite argument for God's existence was. The poll creator exempted the historical case for the resurrection of Jesus from being among the options because, let's face it, we all would put that one in our number 1 spot as the resurrection of Jesus is where the rubber hits the road. If it's a historical eve

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Ricky Gervais is an English comedian, actor, writer, producer, director, singer, and musician. He is also an outspoken atheist who regularly ridicules Christians. Recently a friend of mine (who happens to be a scientist and a Christian) shared that Gervais had posted a challenge on his Facebook wall. It read as follows: "I don't believe in any gods because I have no evidence of any. This is not being closed minded. Evidence would change my mind. Go for it." I surveyed many of

This is the second article in my series where I address passages of the Bible where God seems to do some immoral things. In the introductory article , I discussed what it means for an action to be immoral, that it goes against some moral code. However, I argued that God is the best explanation of an objective moral code, so to call something really wrong is actually to provide evidence for God’s existence. But still, this does not resolve some of the more troubling passages

Este es el comienzo de una serie titulada "Molinismo para Tontos" (y también para personas inteligentes). El Dr. David Oldham es un pastor que ha sido calvinista durante décadas. Dave en realidad influenció mis creencias calvinistas, que eventualmente llegué a rechazar años después. Después de los últimos meses de debates amistosos con un café, ¡Dave Oldham es ahora un molinista activo! Mira el fantástico ensayo de Oldham sobre cómo la oración cambia las cosas desde una persp

¿Qué es la verdad? La gente ha estado haciendo esta pregunta durante siglos. De hecho, Pilato le hizo a Jesús esta misma pregunta hace más de dos mil años (Juan 18:38). La respuesta a esta pregunta intrigante es muy simple: las declaraciones que son verdaderas corresponden a la realidad. Esto plantea otra pregunta: ¿qué es la realidad? La respuesta a esta pregunta tampoco es complicada: la realidad es como son las cosas. Estoy comprometido con la verdad. De hecho, he dicho q

SPOILER ALERT!  SPOILER ALERT!  SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!!! A long time ago . . . . Ever since I was a four-year-old, my hero has been Luke Skywalker! I would pretend I had the power of the force and I would always have a lightsaber on my belt (usually my dad’s flashlight). Moreover, my Luke Skywalker action figures were always the ones to wear out first (or, as I would say, get “flopsy”). For decades I dreamt about all of Luke's adventures after  Return o

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I’ve always been intrigued by conspiracy theories. New World Order, Illuminati, stuff like that. Christianity has its own share of conspiracy theories, like the existence of “lost” gospels suppressed by the Church. However, we all must wonder why the Bible contains the books that it does. What if there really are texts purposely omitted from the canon that would have produced a radically different Christianity? Far from being mere conspiracy theory, this is an important claim

Question: Tim, you suggest that the determinist would probably think, or be committed to thinking, that either God or nature evaluates our beliefs (one of these is "the 'thing' evaluating and judging" our beliefs). But at the same time, you allow that on determinism we have mental states, presumably including these evaluative mental states (about our beliefs) that God or nature forces on us. This puzzles me, because I take it that to evaluate a belief *just is* to have an eva