Philosophy

What is "compatibilistic free will"? Years ago when I first heard of this doctrine it shocked me. Intuitively I thought it did not make sense. How can God determine (force) someone to freely do something? Little did I know that it is one of the most discussed doctrines in modern philosophy and theology. Roughly, compatibilism is the view that there is no real conflict between determinism and free will. Tim Stratton and I have had numerous exchanges with compatibilists of all

Matt Slick recently debated Jerry Walls regarding the omnibenevolence of God. That is to say, the following question was addressed: Is God really all-loving? I have argued that not only is God all-loving, but that it is actually a sin to doubt God's love for all people -- let alone teach that God does not perfectly love and desire the ultimate best for everyone! In this debate , Slick accused Walls of misrepresenting his Calvinistic views, which I found quite odd because S

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. . ." 1 Pet. 1:3 (ESV) For the determinist, this verse would seem to pose a problem for libertarian and thus Molinists. This is because, according to our hypothetical determinist, Molinists do not want to maintain that God causally determines individuals to be born again. But does 1 Pe

Summary: CARM, a Reformed ministry, has given a negative appraisal of Molinism. I lay out 9 issues with their explanation and critique of the doctrine, undercutting/rebutting their claims by showing that they either rely on comprehensional errors, dictional ambiguity, or question begging (or some medley of these). Source: http://carm.org/what-molinism Issue 1: CARM Misrepresents Libertarian Free Will CARM's article starts out well enough by noting the fact that Molinism att

Question: Hey Tim, you talk about libertarian free will all the time. Can you please explain and define exactly what you mean by this term? Thanks. Matt Tim's Response: Thanks for your question, Matt! The first thing I need to discuss is the use of the word "libertarian." According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary , "Libertarian" is defined as: an advocate of the doctrine of free will a) a person who upholds the principles of individual liberty especially of thought and ac

The nature of truth was my topic at a recently held apologetics conference in Phoenix, Arizona. A friend of mine presented how Christians could have loving and respectful conversations with those in the LGBT community, while exemplifying grace without compromising truth . Each night ended with all the speakers (four of us total) sharing the stage for open Q&A. The following two-part question was posed on the second night of the conference: 1) Do you believe in demonic posse

https://youtu.be/WBmgcczg-fk

The Freethinking Argument was first crafted at Biola University in Scott Smith's philosophy classroom. I had been playing around with the idea for some time, but it was Dr. Smith's teachings that provided the catalyst to complete the argument. < 1> 1>  The Freethinking Argument (FTA) has received much attention ever since -- especially since freethinkingministries.com was launched not long ago. Since that time I have spent countless hours defending the FTA both online and

Question I really enjoyed the guest article on the Kalam  by Ronald Cram. I thought Dr. Craig's debate with Carroll was a little troubling as some technical literature on cosmology was offered that I didn't think Craig responded to as well as he could have. Cram's article really helped to clarify some difficulties. I have one more question about the application of the BGV theorem, as it only applies to classical space-time. Is it a potential problem for the argument ? -- Raj

The Worst Objections are The Best If you’ve spent a decent amount of time looking at the whole Atheism/Theism debate, you may have noticed something odd. The most influential teachers for the majority of online Christian apologists, often hold PhD’s in philosophy of religion, theology, or something else directly related to religion and/or critical thinking about God and religion. On the other hand, the most influential teachers for majority of the online Atheists, are often b

As an aspiring theologian I desire knowledge of God's nature. I also aspire to gain a proper understanding of foundational Christian teachings on the nature of God. Given this goal, a great deal of my apologetics and philosophical journey has been researching the attributes of God. Not only do I strive to attain justified true beliefs regarding God's character, but I want to grasp His relationship with His creation and His actions in creation. A couple of years ago, I was re

William Lane Craig is famous for resurrecting and defending the Kalam Cosmological Argument (KCA). The argument appeals to both philosophical and scientific evidence for the beginning of the universe. If the Kalam is sound, it seems to prove the existence of God. The question is raised: Is the argument sound given our modern, scientific understanding of cosmology? In this essay I will review and examine the premises of the Kalam to see if we have good reason to affirm them a

Tim Stratton's two recent articles entitled, Confusing Bible Verses, Free Will, & Determinism ( Part 1 , and Part 2 ) have sparked much discussion among the theologically inclined on social media over the past couple of weeks. Here is a conversation I had providing further illumination: Calvinist : What about John 6:44 that specifically says that no one can come unless God the father draws him. That word in draw in Greek being helkysō meaning to drag, the original text isn

Question: Tim, I can't say I admire your exegesis in your article Confusing Bible Verses, Free Will, & Determinism (Part 1) , explaining the biblical texts. Within the context of John 6:44 it's clear the key is not the word "can" but the statement as a whole that those who come to Jesus (believe in him) are able only to do so because the father draws them. That is that the Father has freed them to do so. Freed them from what? the bondage of their will in sin and unbelief. Al

Over the past few years my life has been completely transformed by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2)! There have been many academics who have sharpened me along the way, but if push comes to shove and I were asked to provide the "Mount Rushmore" list of people who have influenced me the most when it comes to the branch of theology known as apologetics, I would offer these four names: William Lane Craig, Alvin Plantinga, JP Moreland, and Mike Licona. William Lane Craig Dr.

Question: Hey Tim, after reading pretty much everything on your website, it has reaffirmed my belief in free will. Although there are a few Bible verses that are troubling me... this may just be bad interpretation, but if you could explain how these play into the free will mindset, that would be great: John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day” and Ephesians 1:4-5: “Just as He chose us in Him before the

Like clockwork, whenever I offer logic-based arguments or syllogisms that deductively conclude a certain worldview is false ( like this one ), those who presuppose otherwise come out of the woodwork to express their disdain. It never ceases to amaze me how some are so blindly committed to a certain view that they reject opposing conclusions based on the bedrock of all reason -- LOGIC -- demonstrating their view is false. They inadvertently affirm that they are holding illogic

Welcome to the fourth - and LONG overdue - edition of my series . This is where I deconstruct some of the sillier slogans that some atheists use as conversation-stoppers with theists. (And if you haven’t checked out the first three yet, you can catch up here: part 1 , part 2 , part 3 .) This article will focus on statements atheists make about atheism. Bad “argument” #6: Atheism is a lack of belief in God. Nowadays it’s cool to redefine words that have had longtime, common

God is Omnibenevolent! Simply put, God is perfectly good and all-loving. Not only does the Bible make this clear (Psalm 100:5; Psalm 145:17; John 3:16), but logicians have also deductively concluded this apart from the Bible through the Moral Argument and the Ontological Argument . Now, if God were simply omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing), but not perfectly good and all-loving, then we would have reason to be frightened. In fact, this is how Muslims vie

"Why is it incorrect to think that morality evolved out of the necessity to survive?" - Graden Hi Graden, It is logically possible that our sense of morality evolved to allow humanity to survive. If this is true, and God does not exist, then it is to affirm that there is nothing objectively wrong with rape, holocausts, or terrorism. It is simply saying that since God does not exist, our feelings of objective morality are false and simply due to survival and not truth. Th