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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

In this episode of the FreeThinking Podcast Tim and I venture further into the world of metaphysics. We discuss the many nuanced views of cause and effect, dispositional facts, and many other important topics. Check out this episode!

As we enter into the final section of critiquing the objections to the orthodox view of homosexual activity as a sin, it is important to note, again, why I am spending such a significant amount of time on these particular points.  The rallying cry for the liberal theologian has been grace, mercy and love, but as I established in part one ( HERE ), I believe that true grace, mercy and love must be based on the Truth established in God’s word. In order to have proper compassion

I saw Free Guy , starring Ryan Reynolds, on opening weekend -- TWICE! I went to it on opening night with my lovely bride and then on Sunday afternoon I took my 19-year-old son to see the matinee. I absolutely loved this flick for several reasons: 1- it made me laugh, 2- it was well-written, 3- the acting was superb, and 4- once again we have a movie highlighting the importance of libertarian freedom.   SPOILER ALERT!  Oh yeah, and 5- a couple scenes at the end will bring tear

When it comes to leaving religion, there are two ways in which these exits have been cataloged. The first involves moving from a weak religious position to an irreligious position. In this context, “weak” means that the person was either only nominally religious or came from a church tradition which was only superficially religious and fundamentally secular. This is broadly categorized as apostacy. The second type of religious exit would involve a person from a strong religio

Previously, we looked at the dichotomy between what it means to declare homosexual activity a sin and how those who believe in Christian orthodoxy deal with it.  We addressed the current cultural movement’s roots and introduced the idea of identity into the argument. It was necessary to do this so that we can have a strong foundation from which to build the following arguments.  We must first know why the liberal theologians seek to glorify homosexuality as an identity to

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

Lil Nas X Do you know the name?  I do not know why you would, but Lil Nas X has become a bit of a cultural icon in recent years.  He wrote a hit country/hip-hop song in 2019 called “Old Town Road” with country star Billy Ray Cyrus.  The success of the hit propelled Lil Nas X into the modern spotlight.  The song, and its remix, won him fourteen awards spanning from the Grammys to Kids’ Choice Awards . As a result, Lil Nas X toured the country singing for elementary age kids

A few months ago I reviewed Alisa Childers’s , which is a fantastic response to the ever-growing problem of progressive Christianity. At the end of the article, I promised a review of Thaddeus Williams’s , but I got sidetracked with some other projects, including the study guide for Tim Stratton’s . Now, at last, I offer my review of Williams’s book. Our country has been in racial turmoil for over a year and a half, which has greatly impacted the Church. Plenty of well-meanin

In this episode of the FreeThinking Podcast the roles are reversed! Tim interviews me about metaphysics and we break down some of the most basic principles of metaphysics. Check out this episode!

"My conclusions were both more sanguine and restricted than I had anticipated. I was surprised by the actual strength of the resurrection hypothesis." Over my short years of reading large texts on different subjects and in different genres, I’ve started to notice somewhat of a pattern or correlation: authors and scholars with humility tend to produce not only good books, but long books as well. The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach (RoJ) by Dr. Michael

As Christians we are called to share the Gospel with all people ( Matthew 28:16-20 ). Indeed, the Gospel is literally the "good news" -- the best news -- a person could ever hear. With this in mind, it is vital for all Christians to grasp exactly what the Gospel message is and also know how to articulate why this is good news. Sadly, I have found that a large percentage of self-professed Christians cannot clearly articulate this good news. Indeed, often times when I ask a ch

"Perhaps we need to be more open to the fact that some of our moral intuitions aren't as finely tuned as they ought to be." Paul Copan's Is God a Moral Monster?: Making Sense of the Old Testament God (IGaMM) states its question and objective right in its title, as every good book should. While it could more accurately be regarded as an open letter/response to the so-called New Atheist movement of the past couple of decades (which has more or less petered out in recent year