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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,"

Each year my hometown does a big fundraiser for the non-profits based in the area. This year the Give Where You Live fundraising event will be held on Thursday, December 2, 2021, from midnight to midnight. We have a $10,000+ matching opportunity, so, for every dollar a person uses to support FTM, it magically becomes two dollars. If one person gives $10,000, it magically becomes $20,000! FreeThinking Ministries is devoted to equipping the Church to engage the culture. We als

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

Everyone wants to be special, set apart and significant.  One of the ways this manifests itself in our culture is through the concept of gender identity.  This is a real issue that many people struggle with in our society and should be taken seriously. However, it has also become a social trend. For instance, a recent research study found that nearly 40% of Generation Z identify as members of the LGBT+ community, which is about four times the norm: The pollster who worked on

Have you ever had an interaction with someone that left you speechless?  It goes something like this: “I just don’t think that’s right.” “Are you serious?  Wow… Aren’t you supposed to be Christian?  Show some empathy or compassion, isn't that what Jesus would do!?” Pick the topic – abortion, eternal life, race, identity and a myriad of others.  This is often how some of those conversations end.  The highest moral ground goes to the one that is most empathetic to the plight

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

**Warning: This analysis contains major spoilers** (This review is for people who watched Squid Game and are needing to process what they watched and for people who do not intend to watch it but want to know how to have conversations about it.) “Squid Game,” the Korean show that has serious Hunger Games energy, is now the number one most watched series of all time on Netflix. This peaked my interest. Similar to the show “13 Reasons Why,” this show taps into essentially huma

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

Question Hey Dr. Stratton, I love your site and content. I am planning on reading your book soon. In the meantime I need your perspective on something. I love the MMA syllogism and the articles you’ve written on the subject of Molinism making the most sense of all the biblical data . But as someone who doesn’t hold to "once saved always saved" (due to my study of scripture), how can I reconcile the notion of "mere Molinism" with the warnings scripture gives of believers fall

In this episode of the FreeThinking Podcast Tim and I venture further into the world of metaphysics. We discuss the free will debate from a metaphysical perspective, including discussions on compatibilism, agent vs. event causation, and moral and rational responsibility. There's some new stuff in here we haven't necessarily covered before, so we'll be going back over some of it in the future. Check out this episode!

In this episode of the FreeThinking Podcast Tim and I venture further into the world of metaphysics. We discuss two competing views regarding the nature of time: A-Theory vs. B-Theory. We also briefly talk about the debate between perdurantists and endurantists regarding persistence. Check out this episode!

Dear KPS School Board, In a sense, it is your job to “legislate” morality. The question is: whose morality are you going to force upon the people – and the children – of Kearney, NE? Where do you get your morality? From where do you decide how to legislate how the citizens of Kearney ought to live? Is it based upon the philosophical foundations of America – The Declaration of Independence – or is it based upon something antithetical to American values? While many consider

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

In this episode of the FreeThinking Podcast Tim and I venture further into the world of metaphysics. We discuss two competing views for regarding the nature of possible worlds: Concretism vs. Abstractionism. **NOTE** Apologies for the audio quality of my voice, I think I might have had the wrong mic recording. It's not unbearable, but it's not the quality you're used to. This should be fixed in future series. Check out this episode!

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

Lil Nas X Back to where we started. What if I told you that the issue with Lil Nas X was not his being gay, but with how he perceived the Church’s response to his being gay? He has somehow come away with the understanding that he should hate himself because he has a natural proclivity to same-sex attraction.  For some reason, pointing out a lifestyle of sin has been equated to pointing out the evil of the person. I think this reason is tied to the idea of identity.  In this

In this episode of the FreeThinking Podcast Tim and I venture further into the world of metaphysics. We discuss two competing views for Realists regarding the nature of exemplifying properties: Relational Ontology vs. Constituent Ontology. **NOTE** Apologies for the audio quality of my voice, I think I might have had the wrong mic recording. It's not unbearable, but it's not the quality you're used to. This should be fixed in future series. Check out this episode!

In 2012 I was sitting next to Timothy Fox listening to Dr. R. Scott Smith teach about the philosophy of intentionality at Biola University. Smith was explaining that intentional states of consciousness entailed an awareness OF and ABOUT things. With "of-ness: and "about-ness" in mind, I started thinking of the laws of logic and about competing hypotheses. It soon occurred to me that if one cannot think of and about competing hypotheses, then it would be impossible for one