Philosophy

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

Question In scripture (Hebrews 4:15) Christ was tempted like us, however He not being born into a sinful nature and lived a perfect life (which is needed in order to be a sacrifice for the unjust). So, was is it really a temptation for Christ? We are tempted with a sinful nature that is prone to give in, Christ was tempted with a pure nature. So is it really temptation if Jesus could not sin? -- Beau Tim's Response This is a great question, Beau, and one that I struggled wi

As the title suggests, what I'll be presenting is an updated version of the argument from contingency . This version is heavily inspired by the work of Joshua Rasmussen, so, if this piques your interest, I recommend looking into his two papers on the subject. Why an updated version? Two reasons. First, this version utilizes weaker premises and is therefore easier to hold and defend. For instance, the version I will be defending does not entail that the universe as a whole is

As a pastor who spends a lot of time on the college campus, I hear the following challenges quite often from young skeptics: “There is no good evidence to think that Jesus ever existed,” or “Christianity has pagan roots!” One might put these common challenges as two questions: (1) Did Jesus of Nazareth really exist? (2) Are the gospel records of this man merely fictional mythology? In this essay I want to explore several lines of evidence that will show that the answer to th

1. Thallus, the Samaritan-born historian One of the first Gentile writers who mention Christ is Thallus, who wrote in A.D. 52. He wrote a history of the Eastern Mediterranean from the time of the Trojan War to his own time. However, his writings have disappeared, and we only know of them from fragments cited by other writers. One such writer is Julius Africanus, a Christian writer about A.D. 221 One very interesting passage relates to a comment from Thallus about the darkness

Over the past week, FreeThinking Ministries has taken a close look at various shades of compatibilism . The shade we will be concerned with today is one that is found in both Protestant and Catholic circles and is what I will refer to as Thomistic Compatibilism. Before elaborating this view, I think it’s important to get some basic assumptions out of the way first. There are many interpretations of Thomas Aquinas out there. Some philosophers and theologians argue that he was

When one finally has a firm grasp of the philosophical and theological underpinnings of Calvinistic thought, one cannot bear to wonder whether Calvinism is true because surely no contra-causally free creature would to believe a system that invokes the logical deduction of God being the author of sin. Of course, many Calvinist's will not assert this, nonetheless - this is the implied conclusion.   Of course, there are many forms of Calvinistic thought in relation to God's sove

Recently a friend of mine — a philosophy professor who believes humans possess libertarian freedom — posted a question on social media directed to Christians. He asked: “If you had to choose between the two, would you rather be a Calvinist (compatibilist version) or an open theist?” I quickly responded with the following: "The ironic thing is that if Calvinism is equal to divine determinism (which is supported via the consequence argument ), and it happens to be true, then n

https://youtu.be/ZE0xCwXzrpE

Nothing fascinates me more than investigating evidence for the existence of God. I have spent the past seven years of my life devoting multiple hours every day examining this data and related issues . One of these related issues is that of free will. Though this has been the subject of debate for centuries -- among Christians and non-Christians -- it is my conviction that not only do  humans possess free will , but that this freedom is actually further evidence of the existen

https://youtu.be/ujyOzQjjcTA