Philosophy

The Plea for an Apology "That particular argument I find deeply offensive. It is grossly unbiblical! It is not derived from any kind of biblical thought whatsoever. It is a philosophical trap that should not suggest itself to any biblically literate Christian. So yes, Dr. Stratton, I call upon you to recognize the foolishness of that argument… to lay it aside, and… publicly say, 'I am sorry, I never should have developed an argument like that!'" - Dr. James White Dr. Stratton

Question Hey Tim, I hope you are doing well. At the church I pastor, we are going through Ken Keathley’s " Salvation and Sovereignty" book with our leaders. Some lean toward the Reformed view of providence. A question was raised last night that I’m needing help with. I thought you may be able to lend a hand. Here it is: If God is certain about what will happen then how are there other possibilities? (In the sense that only that will happen) So, take the incident with Mose

*This article was originally published at Bare Bones Blog of Philosophy : https://barebonesblogofphilosophy.wordpress.com/2021/12/06/defining-philosophy-a-conceptual-analysis-in-progress/ For the first post on this blog, I will reflect on the nature of philosophy by providing a working definition of ‘philosophy.’ This is a difficult job. It is easier to evaluate other definitions than to construct one. Yet, I will start with some brief assessments as an underpinning for my o

Question Hey Dr. Tim, I've been thinking about Molinism for several years (coming from a Calvinist perspective). If I understand it correctly God exercises providential control through middle knowledge of what free creatures would do in any set of circumstances. My question is that given that a huge number of circumstances depend on other choices of free creatures, isn't God severely restricted in what circumstances he can arrange? Given the massive providential control the

It seems some of my comments have been the source of much confusion. Sometimes, something can be so clear in one's head, yet one fails to communicate exactly what is in one's head. I seem to be guilty of this regarding some of my claims about compatibilism. Although many have let me know that they grasp what I have attempted to communicate and argue regarding compatibilism, there are still far too many people -- especially advocates of exhaustive divine determinism (EDD) --

I recently responded to James White's video discussing William Lane Craig. Not only did White summarize his discussion with Craig, he also brought up me, myself, and I. So, I decided to "go live" on YouTube and discuss White's comments -- specifically his claim that he had a "fatal objection" to Molinism. To watch my video response to Dr. White CLICK HERE . To read a shorter response CLICK HERE . After watching my response video, Dr. White asked me the following question on

Question Hey Dr. Stratton, As you know, James White and William Lane Craig had a discussion on Justin Brierly's Unbelievable show on Monday (11-29-21). Although this conversation has not yet been made public (it's being released on 12-3-21), Dr. White made a video summarizing the debate. White made many claims in this video. The one that really got my attention is when he stated that he has a "fatal blow" against Molinism that no Molinist has ever thought about. Here is the

The majority of my time seems to be spent arguing against deterministic world views and for the proposition that humans possess libertarian freedom. I then seek to demonstrate how human freedom in a libertarian sense is evidence pointing to the existence of God. In fact, I contend that the biblical view of God is the best explanation of this seemingly supernatural phenomena! Often, however, after I have made a case concluding, "Therefore, humans possess libertarian freedom,"

Objection: Here's an objection to Molinism that was shared on the Mere Molinism Facebook group : "By the way, Molinism is probably self-contradictory if we define a "possible world" as a "maximally consistent set of propositions," so we need to be clear what we mean by "possible worlds" when discussing Molinism. Here's why: 1. Let's call the set of possible worlds P. A subset of those is the set of feasible worlds. It's a tenet of Molinism that the set of feasible worlds coul

It is far too common to see many former church-goers today identify as an "ex-vangelical" or proclaim that they have "deconstructed" from the Christian faith. These are folks who were raised in the Church, but are now leaving the Church. This is a concern. There are several factors contributing to this movement. <1 > > I believe, however, that one of the primary reasons as to why so many have come to reject Christianity today is because many theologians, pastors, Sunday scho

Introduction Philip Swenson has recently offered an argument against Molinism. Although he opposes determinism and is a fellow libertarian freedom-fighter, he does not believe that God possesses middle knowledge. Thus, he believes that Molinism is false. I have argued, however, that Swenson's view is extremely similar to "Mere Molinism." The Mere Molinist merely affirms both (i) humans possess libertarian freedom, and (ii) God possesses “what would happen if knowledge (with

Philip Swenson was recently interviewed by Jordan Hampton on the Analytic Christian YouTube channel. Although Swenson's goal was to argue against Molinism, I must admit that the two of us have much in common. Swenson, for example, is a fellow libertarian freedom fighter. On this vital issue we both agree and stand side by side in our fight against the tyranny of EDD (exhaustive divine determinism). Swenson (a professor of philosophy at the College of William & Mary) wrote hi

Question Dear Dr. Stratton, JD Martin has said that saying “exhaustive Divine determinism” (EDD) is redundant (“they don’t know what they’re talking about” he says) because on determinism everything is causally determined (I tend to agree it is redundant). I know that you have sought to make a distinction as you explain “Mere Molinism”, etc. How would you respond? Why do you think including the word "exhaustive" is important? - Drew Dr. Tim's Response Hi Drew! Thank you for

Sermon Outline Riddle me this: What’s black and white and RED all over? I remember the first time my dad posed that question to me when I was a young child. Even as a little boy – untrained in philosophy – I knew something was amiss. I intuitively understood that if something was literally black and white . . . like a news paper . . . then it could not be the COLOR RED all over. After all, something cannot be the colors RED and Black and White simultaneously and in the same s

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

Michael Huemer has established himself as one of today's leading philosophers on a variety of topics ranging from ethics, to political philosophy, to logical paradoxes, to epistemology. Skepticism and the Veil of Perception (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001) is concerned with this last topic. Huemer is concerned with rebutting skepticism in general and skepticism about the external world in particular. His solution is a version of direct realist foundationalism. The bo

(This fictional post was first published by Jacobus Erasmus at http://jacobuserasmus.com/blog/bl0-cultural-insanity.html ) I got chased out of Nature Park Zoo, . Why is the zoo so cruel? All I want is the flamingos' food. They feed the flamingos the most scrumptious brine shrimp, which cannot be found elsewhere and which is like chocolate to me. Does that make me a weirdo? Perhaps slightly. But there is nothing wrong with being a weirdo. Now, I'm not trying to the flamingo

One does not have to look far to see a lot of confusion in how the issues of Critical Race Theory (CRT), sexual identity, and Comprehensive Sex Ed (CSE) intersect, so I want to give you a few thoughts and explanations. Currently, there is a lot of discussion about school boards forcing CRT into our schools, and some states such as Florida and Texas recently passed bans on CRT. There is also a lot of discussion about how this is intertwined with CSE, which is being pushed in