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Today we are lucky to be joined by Mikel del Rosario, "the apologetics guy." I use quotes not in jest but because that's literally how he is known in the apologetics community. So you know he's got some great things to say! In this episode, we talk about how he first became interested in apologetics, his work with Darrell Bock at the Hendricks Center, and the divine claims of Jesus. Not only that, but you'll hear how Tim and Mikel met through their mutual love of the band St

One of the most popular and intriguing arguments in favour of God's existence is the Kalām Cosmological Argument (KCA). For the past several years, the KCA has fascinated me, so much so that I wrote my doctoral dissertation on it, spent my post-doctoral research on it, and wrote an academic book on it. The book is titled The Kalām Cosmological Argument: A Reassessment , and in it I do two things. First, I offer a fresh look at the historical background of the KCA by explori

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

I remember talking with a guy at my church a while back who expressed a similar question. Paraphrasing him, he said, “How can we act a certain way if God already knew and that’s how He created us?” What was interesting about this exchange is that even though he wasn’t articulating his question the way I have above, I could tell that’s ultimately what he was getting at. It’s a question that a lot of people have thought about even if they can’t really articulate it. Does divine

Finally, we're at the last episode on Molinism (although we certainly will be dealing with it in many future episodes). In this episode, Tim and I interact with one of the most common objections to Molinism: the grounding objection. Many opponents of Molinism feel as though this quite a strong argument against Molinism, but Tim and I don't really feel its force. In fact, as Tim shows in this episode, if the grounding objection were to be a good objection, then it follows log

One of my favorite things to do is engage in respectful dialogue with those who disagree. Whether it is a debate with atheists over the existence of God or a debate with a fellow Christian regarding theological issues, I love being challenged to think and to constantly reexamine my views. These conversations have forged my thoughts and provided strong justification for my beliefs. Indeed, this process has transformed me by the renewing of my mind (Romans 12:2) and I have cha

Now that you know what Molinism is, we need to make sure that it is true! After all, a doctrine isn't true simply because it is useful in explaining many things. In this episode, we begin to tackle some of the more common objections to Molinism. Tim gives several helpful analogies that are useful to assuage any concerns that on this view, God still causally determines what we free creatures do. The analogies he gives have really helped me to articulate this doctrine in a muc

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

Question Dear Dr. Craig, Greetings! I am an avid fan of yours. Your brilliant and faith-saving/empowering writings have been very impactful in my Christian life. I praise the Lord Jesus Christ for your life and your ministry as well. I have a growing interest in Molinism because it seems to me that its tenets are biblical and pretty much logical. However, my Christian worldviews are largely anchored on the doctrines on Moderate Calvinism. Dr. Craig, I would like to be enlig

There’s a critical gender gap problem in America: Christianity’s gender gap . Men attend church far less than women. Why? There are many reasons, from weak, whiny worship to emotions-based sermons. Church isn’t masculine, so men don’t go. So what’s the solution? Churches create “manly” ministries and boot camps, involving sports and YELLING and other macho stuff. Now, as great as these can be to help form relationships with other Christian men, many men’s ministries are onl

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

We thought we'd take some time to talk about the big issues dealing with religious liberty in today's tense climate. Specifically, we'll be talking about the issue of the man fired from Crossfit for his tweet about Pride, and the baker from Colorado who was sued for not baking a cake for a gay couple's wedding. Both of these issues illustrate some points about religious liberty that Tim and I wanted to highlight. I think you'll find our perspectives fairly unique and interes

Actor Harry Lennix might not be a household name, although he is easily recognizable. Lennix played Commander Lock in  The Matrix  trilogy and General Calvin Swanwick in  The Man of Steel  and  Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice . He also co-stars as Harold Cooper, the FBI director of a secret task force in my favorite TV series of all time —  The Blacklist ! I have enjoyed characters played by Lennix but knew nothing else about him. This has recently changed, however, and

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

In this writing we will be quoting from the Qur’an and Sahih-Bukhari, the most trusted collection of Muhammad’s (pbuh) doings and sayings (known as hadith ) in existence today. These are primary source materials from the very earliest moments in Islamic history. However, we recognize that the original, and authoritative, Qur’an and hadith , were written in Arabic. Thus, we have taken the liberty to call this work an interpretation of the earliest (Arabic) sources, just as M

We're back with another episode on Molinism! In this episode, Tim and I explain why the term "middle knowledge" is named as it is, as well as providing some more clarification on topics discussed in the previous episode. It's another action-packed and interesting episode of the Freethinking Podcast! One of my favorite things when talking about Molinism is to see the other person's face light up once they finally understand this deep and sophisticated doctrine. Unfortunately,

You've heard us talk about it quite a bit in previous episodes, so we thought it might be a good idea to explain just what Molinism actually is. Tim is one of the leading experts on Molinism, so you'll be getting a "Molinism education" from one of the best. But don't worry, if you don't understand it right away, we've got a few more episodes coming out dealing with Molinism. The doctrine of middle knowledge is an incredibly fruitful doctrine that lends itself and can help ex

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wt5Ug1zCL0

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,