Full Text of John Goodwin’s Puritan Defense of Arminianism and Polemic Against Calvinism Available at SEA

Big thanks to SEA member John Wagner!
John Goodwin (Redemption Redeemed)

Another Calvinist Who Isn’t Afraid to Tell it Like it Is

In my previous post I drew attention to a person who called Jesus the Calvinist Messiah.  As it turned out, this person was really just making fun of the way that some Calvinists tend towards elitist attitudes and equate their system of theology with the gospel itself.
But here is a guy who is quite for [...]

William L. Craig on Free Will and Love

Excerpt:
Even omnipotence cannot do the logically impossible. God could produce certain chemical reactions in our brains that would issue in what we’d normally describe as loving behavior toward Him, but it would be a sham, a puppet-like response. To have a genuine love relationship with us, God must put up with the possibility of rebellion.
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/PageServer?pagename=q_and_a
HT: Brennon [...]

Edward’s Doctrine of Necessity by Strongest Motive Force Cannot be Proved (Part 2)

Building on my previous post on the subject,  Albert Taylor Bledsoe well documented the circular reasoning involved in Edwards’ primary assertion that the strongest motive force determines the will.  Below is an excerpt:
The great doctrine of the Inquiry seems to go round in a vicious circle, to run into an insignificant truism…In the first place, [...]

Dreams, Free Will, and Accountability

This is one of those speculative posts that are primarily for generating conversation.  Dreams are very strange.  We still do not know much about them, what causes them, or what they mean.  There are plenty of theories, but we still have nothing concrete.  From a Christian perspective, to what degree, if any, are we culpable [...]

Edwards’ Doctrine of Necessity by Strongest Motive Force Cannot be Proved

Truly, this grand assumption is nothing more than circular reasoning as Ransom Dunn points out:
The affirmation, that the greatest motive invariably governs, is a mere assumption, incapable of proof. We ask, how does any one know that he is governed by the greatest motive? The answer, and the only answer possible, is, that he is [...]

Much of Church History at Odds with Calvinism (Part 2)

Be sure to check out this article at SEA on the comparative lack of historical precedent in Calvinism as well as some insightful discussion on the origins of Calvinistic determinism:
Church History and Calvinism

Much of Christian History at Odds With Calvinism

Great article at SEA documenting this:
Prereformation Church History & The Calvinist/Arminian Debate
Of course, the earliest Christian writers prior to Augustine (the ante-Nicene fathers) rejected all of the basic features of what is now known as Calvinism (e.g. exhaustive determinism, inevitable perseverance, limited atonement, unconditional election and predestination, etc.), while affirming the central features of what would [...]

Does the Gospel According to Calvinism Offer Salvation to Anyone At All?

Dr. Picirilli thinks not.  After making the point that Calvinists believe that those reprobates who hear the gospel cannot truly respond to the offer of salvation, he further observes that,
Furthermore, in the Calvinistic system, the gospel is not really offering salvation to any, since neither the elect nor the non-elect can accept the offer or [...]

Magic Hand-waving in the Calvinist Cause (Comments)

“Arminian” has responded at SEA (Magic Hand-waving in the Calvinist Cause) to James Anderson’s second rebuttal (The Arminian Cause).  Since SEA does not allow comments, this thread will serve as a place where comments and interactions can take place.