Blinded by the Light

“And He said, To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables, that seeing they might not see, and hearing, they might not understand” (Luke 8:10). “But though He had done so many miraculous signs before them, they did not believe into Him, [...]

Tumultuous Teapots

“For when to harden, the Lord calleth man and he resisteth, making himself unworthy of the kingdom of heaven, he doth then permit him unto himself: that is, he leaveth man unto his own corrupt nature, according unto which the heart of man is made stony, which is mollified and made tractable by the only [...]

Seven Things the Bible Says About Evil (By Johnathon Bowers)

My comments on excerpts from the following “Desiring God” blog post: Seven Things the Bible Says About Evil By Johnathon Bowers | Oct 18, 2011 05:00 pm How can we reconcile God’s sweeping control over creation with the existence of such horrors as cancer, famine, genocide, sexual abuse, tsunamis, and terrorism? Voltaire sums up the [...]

“Human Freedom”

My comments interspersed below. JOHN S. FEINBERG, academician, theologian, and author (Contemporary): “…Scripture surely teaches human freedom, [but] it does not state what kind of freedom is in view. Thus, one must turn to the philosophical discussion for an explanation of the ways in which human freedom can be understood” (Feinberg). Scripture certainly DOES state [...]

Diablos of the fall

There are many exceedingly wicked preachers and theologians who charge God with sin or wrongdoing: “I do not have an answer to why God would permit Lucifer, an angel, to fall. In other words, how can a perfectly pure being with no evil inclinations, suddenly have an evil inclination? And the answer is: I don’t [...]

Piper on Romans 9:20

This is not a blanket-endorsement of Piper by any stretch of the imagination. But Piper is correct in his assessment of the utter foolishness of Forster and Marston. John Piper, from his book The Justification of God: “Forster and Marston are pressed by the weight of this argument to give a unique and wholly improbable [...]

Does God’s Sovereignty Mean He Makes People Evil? (Part 5)

Once again, my comments are interspersed between Phil Johnson’s comments. Does God’s Sovereignty Mean He Makes People Evil? by Phil Johnson A fellow who espouses hyper-Calvinism wrote me to argue that there is no such thing as “common grace.” He insisted that God’s “apparent goodness” to the reprobate has no other purpose than to increase [...]

Does God’s Sovereignty Mean He Makes People Evil? (Part 4)

In the “com box” there was a discussion between one commenter and Phil Johnson. I will intersperse my comments between them below: The commenter wrote to Phil: Hmm, thank you for the thought-provoking post. I do see how our basic sinful nature provides the assymetry in God’s election and reprobation. It makes sense to see [...]

Does God’s Sovereignty Mean He Makes People Evil? (Part 3)

Phil Johnson responded as follows: Ack! Hyper-Calvinists to the right of me; Arminians to the left. For those who did not pick up on it, “Iconoclast” is Marc D. Carpenter, one of the most extreme and vitriolic hyper-Calvinists in the history of theology. Normal rank-and-file hyper-Calvinists aren’t nearly extreme enough for Marc. He believes even [...]

Does God’s Sovereignty Mean He Makes People Evil? (Part 2)

The following is a “guest post” by Marc in response to Phil Johnson’s article, “Does God’s Sovereignty Mean He Makes People Evil?”: Phil Johnson likens the evil heart to his Bel Aire and likens himself to God. When Johnson wanted his Bel Aire to go straight, he had to exert force to pull it straight, [...]