As theologians we can often get wrapped up in thinking about God and the Scriptures. We want to understand our Creator and the truths that He has revealed. In order to do that we must use logic and reaso
n. John Wesley cautioned those who would minimize the need for reason in theology and in living a virtuous life.
Wesley was a strong proponent of the use of reason. But was wise in reminding us of its limitations. Continue reading
Over the last week I have been in a discussion over soteriology, which started with the request to define free will. Free will can be a hard concept to define because there are very different ideas of what it means and how it works.
This discussion was not with Michael Patton. However, he has written an excellent post entitled “A Calvinist’s Understanding of Free Will”, explaining free will from the Determinist/Reformed point of view. The points raised in this post are representative of the problems often cited against libertarian free will .
In this post libertarian freedom is defined as the ability to choose against who you are.
If you ask whether a person can choose against their nature (i.e. libertarian freedom) the answer, I believe, must be “no.” A person’s nature makes up who they are. Who they are determines their choice.
This definition may be how Reformers define and understand libertarian freedom, but this is not how proponents of libertarian free will (Arminians) would define it (noted later in the post). That aside, most proponents would agree with the idea that who a person is determines the choices that they make. Most would also accept the notion that a person can not choose against who they are. Continue reading
“The main argument against the existence of God has always been the ‘argument from evil'”, argues Richard Swinburne, a philosopher who has written numerous works defending the existence of God .
For atheists like Sam Harris:
The problem of vindicating an omnipotent and omniscient God in the face of evil … is insurmountable. [1]
Based on this premise Norman Geisler and Daniel McCoy tackle this problem head on in The Atheist’s Fatal Flaw, published by Baker Books (available at Amazon).
For those familiar with Norman Geisler’s 
work, you may be wondering how this book differs from his previous book – Not Enough Faith to be an Atheist? Continue reading
Dead Heroes Don't Save 