Last week, I presented a simple argument against God as defined in Calvinism and Islam. The core shared theological content of both Calvinism and Islam that was under consideration concerned perfection and the denial of omnibenevolence. Thus, the objection was not, in fact, an objection to Calvinism and Islam simpliciter but rather an argument against any […]
omnibenevolence
Calvinism and God’s Love: A conversation with Guillaume Bignon
In this article I have a conversation with Guillaume Bignon about Calvinism and the concept of God’s love. Bignon is a French analytical philosopher (yes, there are such things!) and an executive committee member of Association Axiome, a society of French-speaking Christian scholars. He also works in New York in the financial industry. Perhaps most importantly for this […]
Love, omnibenevolence, and Francis Chan
In his recent book Erasing Hell Reformed pastor Francis Chan addresses the question “How can God be loving and still send people to hell?” This is his first point in response: “First, God is love, but He also defines what love is. We don’t have the license to define love according to our own standards and […]
Calvinism at Madame Tussauds
In my article “Compassion Reformed” I claim that a Calvinist theology which accepts that God loves some creatures but not others ought to qualify the compassion we feel for others. In this article I’m going to unpack that reasoning a bit further. It is important to keep in mind at the outset that we are […]
Who is on a tirade against Calvinism?
I have noticed in the past that often when I write an article critiquing Calvinism Steve Hays of Triablogue writes a response soon after in which he describes my critical analysis as a “tirade”. For example, in the past he has said “Randal Rauser is currently on a tirade”. Other times he has referred to “Randal Rauser’s […]
Does love of one’s spouse require hatred of all others?
When I was out walking the dog this afternoon I realized I left off one of the most glaring problems with David Houston’s marriage analogy. Remember, this analogy is intended to explain why it is sweeter to discover that God hates some and loves others rather than the Arminian milquetoast view of God loving all. […]
Why the Calvinist’s need to exclude some people from God’s love does not bode well
David Houston argues that the Calvinist has a richer view of God’s love than the Arminian. This is initially a surprising claim. We knew that Calvinists had cornered the sovereignty market. But love? Wasn’t that the Arminian’s specialty? Not according to Houston. His argument proceeds as follows: Arminians are able to claim that God loves everyone […]
God loves you … but he hates that guy over there
God’s love shines through a prism I’m so confused by Calvinism Bill Mallonee, “It’s not bothering me” Many people have found themselves confused by Calvinism. This article is concerned with exploring some of the confusion, more correctly the cognitive dissonance, introduced by this theology. Let’s begin with the first of Bill Bright’s four spiritual laws: […]
Does God hate those he does not save?
This article was originally published at The Christian Post in January, 2010. *** Many Christians assume that God loves all people. This is hardly surprising since scripture declares that God loves all creation (John 3:16-17) and desires to see all people saved (1 Tim.2:4; 2 Pe.3:9). Indeed, the notion that God is loving to all, […]
Calvinism and the Arbitrary Camp Director Revisited: A Response to Andrew
Recently (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 […]
Was Stephen Law guilty of a bait and switch?
In my summary of the debate I argued that Law was guilty of a bait and switch. I wrote: “In his closing Law made a striking admission. His argument from the evidential problem of evil is not actually aiming to show that God does not exist. In other words, his argument is consistent with many […]
Why “God hated Esau” is of no use to the Calvinist
Pete asked what a person who believes God is omnibenevolent does with “God hated Esau” (Malachi 1:3; Romans 9:13). There are a number of complexities in these passages. To begin with, there is the fact that the specific individuals Jacob and Esau serve as symbols representing people groups (Israel and Edom, or more broadly, insider and outsider). Second, there is […]
God’s arbitrary choices and election
I have argued the the implications of the Calvinist view of election is that God’s choice of those who are elect is arbitrary. But what do I mean by “arbitrary”? I mean this: Arbitrary decision: any decision between two or more options where one option is chosen but another option was equally feasible. For example, it is […]
Tigers, Tabbys, and God’s special love for his elect
Who says God has to love everybody equally? (Sentimental Arminians, that’s who.) “Au contraire mon frere” says the Calvinist. There is nothing wrong with God having a general love for all humanity even as he has a special love for his elect. And why shouldn’t it be so? After all, as Linda asks, “Is it […]
