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The doctrine of freedom of the will is a very important theme in Christian thought. For many, it is the primary method of explaining how there is evil and suffering in the world. However, many have pointed out that there are other core doctrines of the Christian faith that seem to compromise freedom of the will. How could God truly be sovereign over all of our actions if in fact we are free? How could predestination be true if man is free? Can man truly be free if divine determinism is…

Ancient diversions from orthodoxy seem to sprout up throughout the generations of church history. Christians have classically maintained strict trinitarianism. Any departure from this has been looked upon by the historic church as a heresy. A non-trinitarian model of God would hence be seen as idolatry. Nonetheless, there are some Christian groups who maintain a form of unitarianism. While a trinitarian is a person who believes that there is one God, eternally presented in three persons, a unitarian is one who believes that there is one God, who is one…

In a labored attempt to appeal to Christians, Muslims will often tell us that they believe in Jesus just as we do. They will tell us that they revere and adore Jesus as a prophet of God. They will tell us that there are two faiths that historically believe in Jesus and believe in what he says, and they are Islam and Christianity. The difference, so they will tell us, is that Christians have distorted the teachings of Jesus through the centuries so that now we worship him as God,…

Dan Barker issued the Easter Challenge a few years ago as an indicator of the demerits of the Christians’ Easter tradition. While we use it to commemorate that Christ had risen from the dead, there are serious flaws in the Easter story that many Christians do not realize. This aligns with what is known as the Synoptic Problem. The Synoptic Problem points out the contradictions between Matthew, Mark and Luke. Since they overlap in the events that they record, a good Christian will assume also that they overlap precisely in…

The traditional conception of God among monotheistic faiths is that God is utterly perfect in every way. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving, all-present, all-good, and so on. But some Christians (hereafter referred to as open-theists) wrestle with these attributes and wonder how it is that they fit into their systematic theology. So when they come across God’s absolute knowledge, contrasted against human freedom, they tend to recoil, and take the position that because human beings have libertarian freedom, that therefore, God must not be able to know their future decisions.…

People with views that oppose Christian doctrine often mount the accusation that Christians are mean-spirited and obnoxious. It is not necessarily so much that these groups are merely disagreeing with each other, but Christians are utterly disagreeable, unable to have a friendly conversation and listen to the beliefs of those with whom they disagree. I have seen Christians who are mean-spirited toward homosexuals, Muslims, liberals, and even other Christians. Pretty much anybody who calls into question one of their beliefs and practices. Rather than intellectually criticizing the doctrine of Islam,…

I am not the judge. But I can ask what the Bible says. Evangelicals often take the stance that for a person to be saved, they must believe in the doctrine of the trinity. I can certainly sympathize with this, because the doctrine of the trinity is usually tied in so closely with the deity of Christ. If we hear somebody denying the doctrine of the trinity, we assume that they are also denying the deity of Christ. Of course, one needs to believe that Jesus is God to be…

Often referred to as the 5th Gospel, the writings of the Prophet Isaiah are very theologically loaded. I suspect that if it were part of the New Testament canon, liberal scholars would strive to post-date it as late as they could. There are affirmations of Christian theology that Isaiah just would not know, absent divine inspiration. There are long-range prophecies that are so absurdly clear that any reader would see in the text. Thus I suggest that there are at least 3 reasons atheists are afraid to read Isaiah. I…

What is the difference between Judas and Peter? When the time came, both of them failed Jesus. Judas sold him to his enemies, which led to his being nailed a cross. Peter denied even knowing him and fled when he was most needed. He fled when he promised that he would stay with him even if everybody else fell away. Yet Peter went on to write several books of the Bible and become a great evangelist and apostle. To him, Jesus said, (Matthew 16:19), “I will give you the keys…

Suppose one of your friends tells you that they think that there is a ghost in their house. But it is a friendly ghost, who helps them find things and has an interesting sense of humor. Suppose another friend tells you that they lost their keys, but used an ouija board to locate them. Yet another friend tells you that they went to a psychic and they exposed secrets and mysteries about them that they could not possibly know. You would be inclined to think that these things are weird,…

In my view, the crowd of 5 point Arminians seems to be quickly dissipating. Most people who I am aware of do not think that it is possible for a true believer to lose their salvation. In fact, even Jacob Arminius thought that it was an open question and too difficult to answer. But those who want to hold fast to this view will usually use Hebrews 6:4-6 as a proof text, arguing that it teaches that these people are born again, experiencing the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, and…

Is atheist activism a religion? Sometimes believers like to suggest that atheism is a religion, and as such, atheists are religious believers. However I do not think that is true. Atheism, defined as just the position or view that there is no such being as God, is not a religion. In fact, even theism is not necessarily a religion. Some people can believe that God exists, and still not be religious. Holding the belief that God exists or God does not exist, does not make one religious. In fact, even…

One of the most accomplished NCAA running backs of the day, Adam Muema, recently summoned the national spotlight when he left the NFL Scouting Combine just months before the draft. He did this because, he said, God told him to. Now one could expect that after such an endeavor, Muema’s intentions would be to leave his football career behind. But nonetheless, he intends to be an NFL prospect, and even has written in his twitter bio, “Seahawks #8.” Of course he has neither been drafted nor promised a position on…