Philosophy

Critical theory is an ideology that is rapidly growing in influence: in the social justice movement, in academia, and in the culture at large. If you’ve ever been told that men cannot make statements about the morality of abortion, or that you should never challenge someone’s ‘lived experience,’ or that you are suffering from ‘internalized oppression,’ then you’ve encountered ideas that are rooted in critical theory. In this brief essay, I’ll outline the basic tenets of crit

James White responded to my article Molinism and Creaturely Essences: A Response to James White (Part 1) over Twitter. Here is the link where you can read White's response to my essay: https://twitter.com/freethinkmin/status/960528913524019201 . Just in case White's Twitter comment is compromised, I shall reproduce White's statement below. He states: "Classic example of missing the point due to being too smart for your own britches. Regular folks fully understand that the

Summary: In The Dividing Line episode Behold the Secular Woman & WLC on Molinism (Once Again) James White argues that Molinism lacks the explanatory resources to sufficiently answer what determines the truth value of counterfactuals of creaturely freedom (hereafter, CCFs). In this essay I highlight an ambiguity in White's use of the word 'determine'. I then address his objection, refuting it under a variety of interpretations. I also address potential counterresponses Whi

“deus absconditus” (the hidden God) – Thomas Aquinas Having stumbled across the doctrine of Hell, Atheist Smith frets over the seemingly harsh punishments promised to the unbelievers within Christianity. Deep within, he wants to submit to the “fairy-tale” that billions of people believe in the world. Yet, he just can’t wrap his head around one issue: “Why doesn’t God just appear before me now and make me believe?” He had attempted to pray before—begging for Jesus to appear b

Recall the most beautiful landscape you have ever witnessed. Think about how you felt a need to take an extra moment (or several) to stare at the scene as to sear it into your memory -- almost as if it were the right thing to do. Does it not seem wrong to ignore such magnificence? In a recent Reasonable Faith podcast , William Lane Craig was asked if it is possible to argue for the existence of God based on objective beauty in such a way that would be similar to one of my f

Summary: In The Dividing Line episode Behold the Secular Woman & WLC on Molinism (Once Again) James White argues that if Molinists are anti-realists about abstract objects, then they cannot consistently affirm that middle knowledge demarcates the range of feasible worlds available for God to create. This is because, according to White, counterfactuals of creaturely freedom (hereafter, CCFs) must first exist in order for them to be able to demarcate the range of those feas

Abstract: The grounding objection (GO) looms large as the principal objection against Molinism. Among the two main types of GOs lie the truthmaker-style GO that seeks to repudiate the Molinist claim of the truths of counterfactuals of creaturely freedom (CCF) by virtue of the lack of metaphysical groundings of those CCFs. As will be demonstrated in this paper, the grounding principles brought up can be answered satisfactorily by the Molinists. Introduction Suppose someone wer

One of the beautiful aspects of Molinism is its commitment to maintaining the sovereignty of God in the actions of free agents. But this idea, like many ideas worth having, is not without its fair share of criticism. Since Molinism is an attempt to explain the coexistence of the sovereignty of God and the freedom of the will, these objections will often focus on why Molinism does not accomplish preserving one or the other. Some say that by having free creatures at all, the so

In house "fights" behind the doors of the church are nothing new. Since Paul and Barnabas split over differences some two thousand years ago, Christians have disagreed on many theological issues. These passionate disagreements continue today. Although these heated disputes are not usually physically violent, these debates often occur with the same ferocity of a mixed martial arts<1> title fight. Despite these "in house debates," something typically keeps Christians who disa

Galen Strawson, a philosopher at the University of Texas at Austin, believes that free will is not only false -- but impossible! In a recent interview on Closer to Truth , Strawson provides an argument which he believes demonstrates the truth of determinism. That is to say, this particular philosopher contends that libertarian freedom (namely, the "ability to do otherwise") is only an illusion. He goes on to say that even if he were to grant an immaterial soul -- which would

I am going to assume that if you are reading this article you have already seen Avengers: Infinity War. If not, I urge you to stop reading, as there will be numerous spoilers along the way. I am also going to assume that after seeing the movie, you left the theater and either felt that you needed a strong drink, or to take a long, meditative, walk on the beach while asking yourself repeatedly, “ what in the world just happened? ”. I know that’s how I felt. Having a basic,

Dr. Kirk MacGregor (McPherson College) is one of the leading voices regarding Molinism in the world today and was recently invited into the “lion’s den” to take on three Calvinists during a live radio program called Iron Sharpens Iron . The Calvinists included the host of the show, Chris Arnzen, along with the cohost (my personal friend), Anthony Uvenio from New York Apologetics , and their special guest and expert all things Calvinism, Dr. Tony Costa from Toronto Baptist S

Some of my colleagues have jokingly referred to me as the epitome of a "libertarian freedom fighter!" Not only do I take freedom from "big government" seriously, I also take metaphysical and theological libertarian freedom even more seriously. That is to say, I am convinced that humans possess libertarian free will and I argue that we can use this freedom incorrectly, but that we have an ability to do otherwise and we ought to use our libertarian freedom wisely. The Apostle

Summary: In The Dividing Line episode Behold the Secular Woman & WLC on Molinism (Once Again) James White argues that Molinism is false because it prohibits God from creating creaturely essences. Here, I offer several interpretations of White's argument and demonstrate that regardless of which interpretation White prefers his argument can be shown to have an unargued premise. Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4cSeSzi0jE Addressing White's Preliminary Remark

El actor británico, Stephen Fry, ha narrado recientemente un breve video animado en el que defiende la visión atea del humanismo. En mi experiencia, el humanismo parece significar cosas diferentes para diferentes personas. Según una búsqueda rápida en Google, el humanismo se define típicamente como: "Una perspectiva o sistema de pensamiento que otorga una importancia primordial a los asuntos humanos en lugar de los asuntos divinos o sobrenaturales. Las creencias humanistas e

There is an untenable grammatical argument contending that John 3:16 supports limited atonement that has recently received some attention. James White has made the argument for some time. But his use of it in response to Arminian philosopher Rich Davis’ argument against limited atonement from John 3:16 1 has now surprisingly received some approval from two respectable Calvinist philosophers (Guillaume Bignon and James A. Gibson), who approvingly reference White and his argu

Nada me fascina más que investigar evidencia de la existencia de Dios. He pasado los últimos ocho años de mi vida dedicando varias horas todos los días a examinar estos datos y temas relacionados . Uno de estos temas relacionados es el del libre albedrío. Aunque esto ha sido tema de debate durante siglos, entre cristianos y no cristianos, tengo la convicción de que no solo los humanos poseen libre albedrío, sino que esta libertad es en realidad una prueba más de la existencia

What might come as a surprise to many today is that Christ followers have a rich history of grappling with big questions. One question in particular has consumed the minds of Christians for centuries: "If God is in control over all things, how are humans really free and responsible for anything, and if humans are really free and responsible for some things, then how is God in control of all things?" Over the past 500 years it seems that those within the walls of the church h

Summary: In the March 11, 2014 episode of The Dividing Line , James White offers an analysis of the discussion between Dr. William Lane Craig and Professor Paul Helm on the topic “Molinism vs. Calvinism,” which originally aired January 4, 2014. I conclude that White doesn’t actually offer an analysis so much as uses an incredulous tone and makes largely irrelevant comments from a position of ignorance. Source: http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/2014/03/11/caners-apology-the-pope-an

Pregunta Estimado Tim, Realmente he disfrutado leyendo tus artículos sobre el Molinismo. Creo que el Molinismo es una gran filosofía teológica, pero parece no ser más que una filosofía. No veo cómo el Molinismo podría llamarse una visión bíblica en absoluto; ¿dónde están las Escrituras que apoyan el Molinismo? Simplemente no veo ninguna. Porque el Calvinismo parece poseer la esquina en el mercado con respecto a los datos bíblicos, simplemente no puedo abandonar mi tradición