Pulished on October 8, 2007 • Written by neiswonger
“You have given us a good explanation, one that many opponents of Calvinism don’t understand. It still doesn’t explain why God chooses some and not others, or rather why he would choose some for destruction. That is left to the inscrutable, hidden, mysterious will of God. Barth pointed out the problem with that, is that […]
Pulished on September 20, 2007 • Written by neiswonger
The Five points of Calvinism.
You know the whole ‘5 points’ thing is kind of funny. John Calvin never had five points. While I really think he would have agreed with them, his was mainly an exegetical way of looking at what he thought Scripture was saying about some very important things. I think that if […]
Pulished on July 19, 2007 • Written by neiswonger
First causes and second thoughts. (an answer to a friend)
Plato and Aristotle were the big “First Cause” guys. They wrote quite a bit about it in their books on everything from politics to metaphysics. It’s must reading for those interested. Aquinas was the main technical formulator of the Five Ways, or what we call the […]
Pulished on July 2, 2007 • Written by neiswonger
A Recent Spate of Calvinism. Part Four.
When you hear somebody that says they are a Calvinist say that man has no freewill, it’s hard to take that seriously. We all know that man has a will. The question is generally as to what man desires, not whether or not he does so. There has been […]
Pulished on June 26, 2007 • Written by neiswonger
A recent spate of Calvinism. Part Three.
“Only lest any one should presume so to deny freedom of will, from a desire to excuse sin.” Augustine.
“Of our own we have nothing but sin.” Augustine.
Calvinism can make your head hurt. You get into all of the confusing little nooks and crannies of the Christian faith just to […]
Pulished on June 14, 2007 • Written by neiswonger
A Presuppa-what? (Comments on an ageing Presuppositionalism.)
If I had a’ dollar for every time somebody asked me why I’m a presuppositionalist, I’d have a lot of dollars. But why is it all so confusing? I think that the most basic task of an apologist is the examination, analysis, and promotion or refutation of a person’s […]
Pulished on June 12, 2007 • Written by neiswonger
A recent spate of Calvinism. Part Two.
Sometimes when people read Aquinas they can get an inflated sense of his theological skill from the fact that they focus on ten percent of his work, being, his formulation of the Classical arguments for the existence of God, and tend to ignore the massive infusion of pagan philosophy […]