Updates

I will be away from the computer until Monday.  I hope to get a few posts up then.  Have a great weekend!

Defining Terms

It is pointless to debate an issue if your terms are not properly defined.  Pizzaman has done us all a great service by providing us with the Calvinist Dictionary.  Be sure to check it out.

What Can The Dead In Sin Do?

Calvinists love to point out that we are dead in sin.  That we are dead in sin prior to conversion cannot be denied (Eph. 2:1, 5; Col. 2:13); the question has to do with what it means to be dead in sin.
Calvinist are fond of comparing spiritual death to physical death.  This gives them the [...]

Thomas Ralston on Freedom of the Will Part 3

We continue with Ralston’s second argument for self-determinism from his Elements of Divinity:
2. Our next argument for the self-determining power of the mind over the
will is founded upon the history of the world in general.
Turn your attention to any portion or to any period of the world’s history and you find among all nations, in [...]

Perseverance of the Saints Part 9: Hebrews 10:32-39

We finish our exegetical examination of the warning passage in Hebrews 10 with verses 32-39:
[32] “But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, [33] partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. [34] [...]

Thomas Ralston on Freedom of the Will Part 2

We now continue with Ralston’s defense of free will from his Elements of Divinity
II. We proceed now to consider some of the leading arguments by which the free moral agency of man, as briefly defined above, is established.
1. We rely upon our own consciousness.
By consciousness, we mean the knowledge we have of what passes within [...]

Weekend of Work

I will be away on a work related trip and away from the computer until Monday.  I won’t be able to interact with any comments until then.  If you leave a first time comment it will not appear until I return on Monday to approve it.  If you have left approved comments before then they will appear [...]

Helpful Definition of LFW

Dan at Arminian Chronicles has written a timely post addressing proper Arminian definitions of LFW.

Thomas Ralston on Freedom of the Will

Thomas Ralston was an early Methodist theologian.  The following is taken from his Elements of Divinity (Wesleyan Heritage Collection CD):
“The great question in this controversy is not whether a man can will “as he pleases,” for that is the same as to ask whether he can will as he does will. But the question is, [...]