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Question: Hey, Tim. I recently read your paper against the hiddenness argument and I had an interpretation question. The first scenario you describe how “After coming to believe in God, a person may rebel against God and, in turn, damage the faith of other believers.” For me it wasn’t clear what you meant by faith. When you say ‘damage the faith’, do you mean damage the theistic belief of others or do you mean damage the relationship that others have with God? Or, possibly

Alistair Begg has been a faithful minister of the gospel and pastor for nearly 50 years, 40 of which he has served at the same church near Cleveland, Ohio. Begg also started a popular radio ministry called Truth for Life . His ministry has been influential for the gospel and discipleship of the church for decades. Begg’s thick Scottish accent and fatherly tone has been a mainstay in evangelical homes and an encouragement to fellow churches throughout his ministry. He connec

Question Dear Dr. Stratton, I was watching a debate review where Taylor Cyr was talking about a revised Epicurean argument against determinism (pretty close to some of your Free-Thinking Arguments). While I don't think he raised any good objections (he didn't spend much time on it), his mention of it made me think of a possible objection to the support you use in your argument. I'm eager to get feedback on this, it probably comes down to a misunderstanding on my behalf. You s

I recently had the honor of debating the well-known philosopher and atheist Dr. Alex Malpass on the Premier Unbelievable? YouTube channel. The catalyst of this event was the debate between Ben Shapiro and Alex O'Connor which took place a few weeks prior on the same platform. The topic of their debate was " Is Religion Good for Society ," but a large portion of their discussion diverged into a debate about free will. Since that topic is the primary focus of my studies, the fo

The Free-Thinking Argument has been receiving much attention as of late. J.P. Moreland recently partnered with me to explain and defend the Free-Thinking Argument (FTA) in the academic literature (2022), I had the honor of presenting the argument at the Evangelical Philosophical Society (2023), the Unbelievable? show out of the UK, invited me to debate the well-known atheist philosopher, Alex Malpass, about the topic (2024), and fifteen philosophers are contributing to a

Whenever a well known atheist departs from his or her disciplined stance against the existence of God to an openness to Him cultural waves are made. Larger waves are made if said person claims to have converted to Christianity. In fact, the waves are so large that very few prominent atheists have ever made the leap as public and definitive as Aayan Hirsi Ali recently did. A little over a month ago the famed former Muslim turned atheist turned to Christianity and the waves ha

Recently, on an episode of The Big Conversation from Premier Unbelievable? , the well-known Daily Wire host and political thinker extraordinaire Ben Shapiro debated against Oxford graduate of philosophy and theology, Alex O’Connor. The resolution of the debate was the question: "Is religion good or bad for society?" Ben Shapiro is a monotheist who believes that the Judeo-Christian worldview, in particular, is good for society, while a theist Alex O’Connor, the YouTuber form

I recently read Galileo's Error: Foundation for a New Science of Consciousness by Philip Goff. I actually listened to it on Audible over the course of four days (mostly while walking my dog or working out). After listening to the first few chapters I decided to purchase the hard copy in order to read it more carefully.  I had no idea what to expect when I started listening to Goff's book narrated by Maxwell Caulfield. I did not know what worldview Goff held or what position

Clarifying Terms  If you’ve paid attention to the religious discussions about politics, then you have seen two developments. One of the developments is a grassroots solidifying of good ole’ conservatism—what some will call patriotism or nationalism. Recent history shows a close relationship between the emboldening of good ole’ conservatism and Trump’s administration—something that depending on your political worldview is either a helpful reinforcement of healthy politics or a

"Why are we obligated to follow God's commands?" To respond by saying, "we are obligated to follow God's commands because God has commanded that we ought to follow His commands" is circular and does not work. It seems to me that the best way to answer this question is by noting that God's commands correspond perfectly with ultimate reality. Adam Lloyd Johnson, in his book Divine Love Theory , has noted that ultimate reality is the triune nature of God which *IS* love (1 John

"I’ve decided that Sapolsky embodies a paradox: when you decide free will does not exist because you have weighed arguments for and against it, you prove free will exists." - John Horgan (the science writer) Horgan is exactly right. These words are in response to neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky, who argues against free will in his new book, Determined .  But, Sapolsky's book does not demonstrate that humans never possess the libertarian freedom to think. As Horgan notes in F

The year was 2006 and I was in my first preaching class in college. I attended Grace University, a small undergraduate Christian school on Omaha, Nebraska. My first class on preaching was taught using a book titled Communicating for a Change: 7 Keys to Irresistible Communication by Andy Stanley. In the book Andy makes a compelling case for the single point message. A method of preaching that takes the congregant from engagement to tension, to encouragement, and then to convic

Evil was on full display on your screens, X feed, Facebook and Instagram.  We could either look away and pretend it does not exist or we could stare it in the face and grieve. In the past week we have been inundated with harrowing news and details concerning the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 th of 2023. The worst attack against the Jewish people since the holocaust and the worst terror attack in the world since 9/11 and perhaps, even worse than 9/11 when we c

I wrote a poem about free will. Now, the odd thing about it, is that if you read it, you were determined to read it; and if you don’t, you were determined not to. Of course, free will exists, and those who claim otherwise are simply pulling our legs for the fun of it; but this poem is magic because it’s the one thing you lack free will in reading. - Jacobus Erasmus Originally posted at JacobusErasmus.com Free Will Why do some turn away from God, While others live very close t

Challenge For those who like the moral argument, here are my five challenges (framed as questions) for you. 1. Why think that moral realism is true? 2. Why think that moral facts/obligations need an explanation? 3. Why think that God would be able to explain the existence of moral facts/obligations? 4. What about non-theistic accounts of morality? 5. Can you show that theism surpasses all non-theistic accounts of morality as an explanation for morality? I expect that yo

There has been a new term floating around the Evangelisphere (if that’s a word, if it’s not, let's coin it) in the last few years: “post-Christian.” FreeThinking Ministries recently changed some verbiage on the website to indicate that the mission of the ministry is to equip the church to engage with the post-Christian culture . Some might say, "you (FTM) minister to all sorts of people all over the globe. You ought to relate to culture in general." Yes, this covers both p

Challenge Here's a challenge for those who think that libertarian free will is necessary for rationality and/or knowledge (I am defining rationality as believing some proposition justifiably and I am defining knowledge as justified true belief). Imagine two worlds: world A and world B. In both worlds, John believes the same proposition on the basis of the same evidence. Moreover, in both worlds, that proposition is true. In world A, John used his libertarian free will to bel

The following is a recent conversation I had with a Calvinist. I enjoyed it because it was not emotionally charged even though he was asking questions in an effort to refute my arguments against Calvinistic determinism. His questions were thoughtful and allowed for clarification from which all can benefit. Please enjoy the following exchange (for clarity, the Calvinist's words are in blue. My words are in black): Calvinist : Dr. Stratton, you have said this many times, but h

Objection Dear Dr. Stratton, I saw the video An Epistemological Case Against Calvinism right when it came out. And I was surprised that the whole video you assumed that a determinist has to argue for general reliability. I can simply reject this premise and argue that God is absolutely reliable. Seems to me that you have to argue for a specific sense of deception. But in the coloquial sense, deception often refers to some form of coercive act. And calvinists deny coercion, s

This article has been updated with notes on recent events that lend further credence its thesis. Edits are marked within the article. Recently, I wrote a movie review about Sound of Freedom (See Here: Sound of Freedom ). The review received praise and push back. Which I welcomed. The problem, as far as I can tell, is partly because both sides fell into the partisan trap. This happens when we politicize something that ought not be politicized or assume something is being po