Let’s begin by identifying two different senses of “glory”. Objective glory: the degree of greatness that an individual exemplifies. Subjective glory: the perception others have of the degree of greatness that an individual exemplifies coupled with an appropriate response to that objective greatness. Our concern here is with Calvinism and its explanation for God’s subjective glory [...]
Read moreTomorrow morning (November 19) I’ll be speaking from 9 AM – 12 PM at McKernan Baptist Church in Edmonton on the question “What on Earth Happened to Colton Burpo?” If you are asking yourself “Who is Colton Burpo?” I have to wonder where you’ve been. The book Heaven is For Real (Thomas Nelson, 2010) was [...]
Read moreIn a recent blog post I discussed the question of theistic evolution and the beliefs of first century Jews about the creation narrative. There I argued that the inconsistency between the beliefs of those individuals, even of Jesus himself, and evolution is not an insuperable problem to an evolutionary account of human origins. As I [...]
Read moreBack in the summer of 2008 I first read William Paul Young’s The Shack (a publishing phenomenon that has gone on to sell more than ten million copies). Shortly thereafter I presented a couple seminars on the book which were so warmly received that I decided to write a companion to the book. I got [...]
Read moreOver the years as I have engaged in extended discussions with Calvinists over election and the divine nature I have often found the same two red herrings being pulled out just as things start to heat up. And so it is in my recent discussion with a Calvinist named Kerry over my critique of another Calvinist (Andrew). Given that I think [...]
Read moreRecently (as in within the last couple days) a student of philosophy named Andrew from the University of Auckland posted an article on Matt and Madeleine Flannagan’s website provocatively titled “Randal Rauser’s Mistake: A Defense of Calvin’s Doctrine of Election“. Okay, I consider that provocative anyway. The article focuses on identifying an alleged error in [...]
Read moreI just returned from a brief two day trip with my family. While I will be getting caught up with the discussions in the next couple days I thought I would offer a little reflection based on my experience at the hotel’s waterpark. Over our two day stay my daughter and I visited the waterpark [...]
Read moreThe Atheist Missionary replied to my post on Mike Licona and academic freedom as follows: “Licona’s experience is precisely why I am so dubious of relying on the opinion of Biblical scholars whose tenure is tied to adhering to the tenets of any particular religion.” Walter then chimed in: “Ditto. This is why I am [...]
Read moreA few months back I blogged in defense of one of evangelical Christianity’s leading apologists and academics, Michael Licona. Why? The poor chap actually had the temerity to raise probing, intellectually honest questions about the historicity of Matthew 27:51-54. Once the hounds of inerrancy caught poor Mike’s scent they started braying and the chase was on. For weeks [...]
Read moreIn my article “The Problem of Meticulously Cruel Evil” I discussed a particular problem of evil. If the synchronicity of good events can seem to signal a benevolent deity, what is signaled by the synchronicity of evil events? The real life example I noted was a young woman who fell ill with a previously undiagnosed [...]
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