Restitutio

This is part 4 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  Last time Dr. Leighton Flowers of the Soteriology101 podcast laid out his commitment to both God’s complete knowledge of all future events as well as humanity’s ability to freely choose.  Rather than explaining philosophically how that is possible, he suggested that we do not need to know “how” God does something in order to believe “that” he does it. In this episode, I ask him about one more Calvinistic text, Romans 9, before delving into a number of Open Theism texts to get his exegesis of these interesting passages, including Genesis 6.5; Isaiah 5.3-7; Jeremiah 7.31; and Psalm 106.23.   —— Books —— Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius on internet archive  and on amazon Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis The Potter’s Promise by Leighton Flowers God’s Provision for All by Leighton Flowers —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Soteriology101 Podcast: YouTube, RSS, Apple, Stitcher YouTube debate: Romans 9, James White vs. Leighton Flowers Purchase Flowers’ class, “Tiptoeing through TULIP,” a six-week study on the doctrines of human responsibility and God’s saving grace ($39) Check out the affirmations and denials about the provisionalist soteriology

We are now in part 3 of our Foreknowledge and Free Will series.  We’ve considered Open Theism–the idea that God’s foreknowledge is limited to what he plans to do as well as what he can ascertain from past and present conditions.  In a couple of weeks we’ll examine Calvinism, which holds that God not only foreknows but also predestines all who will be saved.  But, for today, our focus is on the Arminian position. Today, I’m happy to have Dr. Leighton Flowers the host of the Soteriology101 a podcast that puts forward an Arminian understanding of salvation as well as responds to prominent Calvinist thinkers. Flowers is also the Director of Evangelism and Apologetics for Texas Baptists.  He has authored two books, including The Potter’s Promise, which rebuffed the theology found in James White’s The Potters Freedom.  More recently, he came out with God’s Provision for All, which sets out a positive case for provisionalism, an understanding of salvation that teaches everyone is free to choose to believe the gospel.  Flowers earned his PhD from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary where his dissertation focused on the rise of Calvinism in the Southern Baptist Convention. In this episode, I ask Flowers to share about his background in Calvinism and how he changed his mind about it.  We discuss his middle position that both affirms God’s exhaustive foreknowledge and our free will.  Then we take a look at a couple of texts like Ephesians 1 and Romans 8 to hear his exegesis of them. —— Books —— The Potter’s Promise by Leighton Flowers God’s Provision for All by Leighton Flowers —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Soteriology101 Podcast: YouTube, RSS, Apple, Stitcher YouTube debate: Romans 9, James White vs. Leighton Flowers Purchase Flowers’ class, “Tiptoeing through TULIP,” a six-week study on the doctrines of human responsibility and God’s saving grace ($39) Check out the affirmations and denials about the provisionalist soteriology

Last week we began our Foreknowledge and Freewill series with Dr. Dale Tuggy who gave us an overview of the various positions.  He also commended Open Theism as a view that triumphs where others suffer from logical contradictions.  Now, today in part two, Tuggy will further explore and defend Open Theism against a number of common critiques including: If God doesn’t know the future, how can there be prophecy?  Specifically, how could Jesus predict that Peter would deny him? Why do evangelicals generally look down on Open Theism? Isn’t Open Theism just Process Theology dressed up with some bible references? Doesn’t open theism posit a small God with limited knowledge? Additionally, we delve into how Open Theism deals with prayer, especially in light of Hezekiah’s prayer for healing. Now, I realize some of you listening are ardent Open Theists and some of you are not.  Keep in mind that next week we are going to hear from Dr. Leighton Flowers on the Ariminian view and then Dr. Sean Cole is going to lay out the case for Calvinist compatabilism.  My goal here is to expose you to multiple views so you can see all of the options laid out side by side. —— Books —— The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God by Clark Pinnock, Richard Rice, John Sanders, William Hasker, and David Basinger God of the Possible: A Biblical Introduction to the Open View of God by Gregory Boyd The God Who Risks: A Theology of Divine Providence by John Sanders Most Moved Mover: A Theology of God’s Openness by Clark Pinnock God, Time, and Knowledge by William Hasker —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will More about Dale Tuggy at Trinties.org Get his book, What Is the Trinity?, or read his article in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy about Trinity theories Listen to previous Restitutio podcasts with Tuggy here Check out

Today we are beginning an exciting new series on one of the most interesting ongoing controversies within Christian theology.  Does God have exhaustive foreknowledge of the future?  Does he know everything that is going to happen before it happens?  If so, what does that mean for human free will?  What are the various options within Christian theology and philosophy that well-meaning bible students have taken over the years? Now, I’ve been working hard on getting competent representatives from various backgrounds so that you can hear the major options to chose from.  As such, I’ve got interviews with an Open Theist, an Arminian, and a Calvinist, resulting in a six-part series on foreknowledge and freewill. To begin with Dr. Dale Tuggy will give us a lay of the land, going through seven different ways that Christian philosophers have understood divine foreknowledge and human free will.  He makes the case that the notion of exhaustive foreknowledge makes libertarian free will impossible.  After all, if we are unable to do other than what God knows we are going to do, then we don’t really have the freedom to chose, right?  See what you think. Dr. Dale Tuggy served as Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia for 18 years. He has taught courses in analytic theology, philosophy of religion, religious studies, and the history of philosophy. Tuggy has a PhD from Brown University. He has authored about two dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters relating to the Trinity and other topics in analytic theology and philosophy of religion. —— Notes —— Options for Foreknowledge and Freewill God’s foreknowledge does not cause you to act, rather he foreknows something because you are going to do it (Origen) Divine Timelessness: God is timeless.  He timelessly exists.  Any kind of change is impossible for God.  God is outside of time.  His knowledge is timeless as well (Boethius, Thomas Aquinas) Middle knowledge.  God knows all necessary truths (like 2 + 2 = 4).  He also knows all contingent truths b/c he knows what people will freely choose in any circumstances.   (Luis de Molina, William Lane Craig) Determinism, no libertarian free will (Calvinism) Your free will changes past facts and changes God’s knowledge.  Causation occurs from the future to the past or from the present to eternity It’s a mystery. God knows what I’m going to do and yet in the moment, I could have chosen otherwise and have free will.  (Arminianism) The future does not yet exist. God knows everything that can happen and everything in the past and present, and everyone’s inclinations, and everything that he has planned to do. (Open Theism) —— Links —— See other episodes in this series on Foreknowledge and Free Will Check out the 6 part Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate between Blake Cortright and Jacob Rohrer More about Dale Tuggy at Trinties.org Also check out these six episodes from the Trinities podcast about God and time: podcast 206 – Florian Fischer – A Slightly Opinionated Introduction to Philosophy of Time

Gratitude is a key to spiritually healthy living.  We have so many reasons to be thankful, but in this message, I’d like to focus on just five: Thankful because God Commanded It Thankful for the Basics Thankful for the Family of God Thankful for God’s Attention Thankful for the Cross As God’s people, our lives should not look just the same as the world.  Rather, they should be marked by an enduring sense of gratitude. —— Links —— For more sermons from the team at Living Hope International Ministries, visit this YouTube channel Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

We’ve had quite a number of folks commenting in on episode 299, my interview with Dr. Jerry Wierwille, called “Does the Bible Support Abortion“.  That episode was very limited to focusing on a couple of texts relevant to building a Christian perspective on abortion.  Essentially, we concluded, as on several previous episodes, that abortion-on-demand doesn’t fit with the biblical worldview.  However, this is just one aspect of what the bible teaches about bodies.  In fact there is much more to say on the subject.  So I thought it would be good this week to play out my presentation from a theological conference last year called, “Biblical Somatology.” My aim for this research project was to mine the scriptures for information on the body, both how we should think about our bodies as well as the boundaries God has placed on what we should and shouldn’t do with our bodies.  Then by contrasting the biblical approach with our own social issues related to bodies and sexuality, we can glimpse just a small bit of how genius God’s boundaries are as well as how they unleash human flourishing. Now there is also a video version of this talk you can access as well as a much more comprehensive paper with all the references and footnotes in it.  So I encourage you to check those out if you are interested. —— Links —— See my Biblical Somatology paper and the YouTube video More podcasts and posts related to God’s boundaries to enable human flourishing For the comments at the end of this episode see episode 299 Does the Bible Support Abortion with Jerry Wierwille For information about attending the 2020 Theological Conference, visit theologicalconference.org Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Are you sold out for God?  Would you move to a foreign land if he called to the mission field?  Well, Stan and Pam Chee of Australia have done just that.  In this interview, they share about their lives of service to God and Christ.  They grew up in Australia but have been serving in Toronto, Canada for the last decade.  Of particular note is how they started and continue to do college outreach at the University of Toronto. —— Links —— Visit the Christian Disciples Church website For more on the Christian Disciples Church listen to Interview 47 Christian Disciples Church and the Only True God with Calvin Chan More episodes and posts on evangelism here. Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Abortion has been and remains a hot-button issue in our culture at large and even within some corners of Christianity.  In this episode Jerry Wierwille will explain the issues with the only biblical text that directly addresses this subject (Exodus 21.22-5).  In addition to exegeting this confusing passage, Wierwille also draws on evidence from Psalm 51 before discussing some of the big picture ethical issues related to modern abortions. —— Related Podcasts —— Interview 38: Advocating for the Unborn with Kirk Walden Off Script 34: Killing the Unborn (A Christian View of Abortion) with Rose Rider and Daniel Fitzsimmons Off Script 46: Should Christians Outlaw Abortion? with Rose Rider and Daniel Fitzsimmons —— Links —— For a biblical theology of the body, see the paper, “Biblical Somatology,” presented at Restoration Fellowship’s 27th Theological Conference Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Scott Shay is an interesting man.  He’s a succesful business man and banker who co-founded a bank in 2001.  He even has a TEDx talk where he spoke on Wall Street on the theme, “More Banks, Fewer Problems.”  However, he’s also an orthodox Jew who is passionate about his faith.  In this interview we talk about his book, In Good Faith, including why he wrote it, why monotheism matters today, how he can believe in God despite the holocaust, and why he believes the bible is trustworthy in the face of higher biblical criticism. —— Links —— Get his books In Good Faith: Questioning Religion and Atheism and Getting Our Groove Back: How to Energize American Jewry Find out more about Scott Shay at scottshay.com Also check out K. A. Kitchen’s book On the Reliability of the Old Testament More podcasts defending the bible here Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library

Jesus once said, “The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Luke 11.31).  In our wisdom series so far, we’ve looked at the wisdom of Solomon from Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.  We’ve also delved into the wisdom of Job.  But there is one greater than Solomon and Job.  In our last episode in this series, Daniel Calcagno of Ontario, Canada is going to share with us a little bit of the wisdom of Jesus, mainly based on his Sermon on the Mount. Tune in to our Saturday seminar (October 26, 2019) via webcast.  Here’s Joshua Anderson giving a short preview: https://restitutio.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Announcing-the-Gospel-Seminar.mp4 For more information about this seminar, click here.   —— Links —— Check out the other podcasts in this wisdom series Check out these other podcasts with Daniel Calcagno Get info about coming to Revive 2020 (Jan 3-5, 2020) This message was from Revive 2019, click here to see other teachings and music from that year Watch the Announcing the Gospel seminar Saturday (October 26, 2019) via this YouTube link Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library