Q&A
Should churches have armed security guards?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Christian Life, Church, Peacemaking, Q&A, Social Issues, Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence, Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: Recently (December, 2007) a security guard at New Life Church in Colorado Springs shot and apparently killed a man who was shooting people in the church parking lot. The pastor (Brady Boyd) hailed her…
What makes the claim that Jesus rose from the dead unique?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Jesus, Q&A
Topics: Jesus: Lord or Legend
Question: What makes the story of Jesus’ resurrection different from other pagan resurrection stories, such as those surrounding the Egyptian god Osiris? Answer: In Lord or Legend? (and more academically, The Jesus Legend), Paul Eddy…
How can you believe Matthew’s report about the Jewish cover up of the resurrection?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Jesus, Q&A
Topics: Biblical Reliability
Question: In Matthew it’s reported that Jewish authorities tried to cover up the resurrection of Jesus by saying the disciples stole the body while the guards were sleeping. I don’t buy it. How would Matthew…
Why do you have such a pessimistic view of government?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Politics, Q&A, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues
Question: I’m a Christian and serve as a servant in government and I find your book The Myth of a Christian Nation, as well as some of your sermons on Christians and politics, highly offensive….
Does your “dispositional” ontology avoid substantival categories?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Metaphysics, Q&A
Topics: Theological Method, Trinity
Question: In Trinity and Process you argue against a “substantival” ontology and instead advocate a “relational,” “process” and/or “dispositional” ontology in which being, being-in-relation and being-in-process are one and the same. In your view, entity…
Does the Bible teach total non-violence?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Christian Life, Peacemaking, Q&A, Social Issues, Violence
Topics: Enemy-Loving Non-Violence
I wouldn’t say the whole Bible teaches non-violence, for you find Yahweh engaging in quite a bit of violence in the Old Testament. But I would say that the whole Bible clearly presents non-violence as…
Isn’t God “changing his mind” an anthropomorphism?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Defending the Open View, Providence, Predestination and Free Will
Question: Traditionalists argue that passages that refer to God “changing his mind” are anthropomorphic, depicting God in human terms. Open Theists take these passages literally, however. But if you’re going to take these passages literally,…
Are you an annihilationist, and if so, why?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Afterlife, Heaven and Hell, Q&A
Topics: End Times
Annihilationism is the view that whoever and whatever cannot be redeemed by God is ultimately put out of existence. Sentient beings do not suffer eternally, as the traditional view of hell teaches.I’m strongly inclined toward…
How does an Open Theist explain all the prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Responding to Objections
Question: Throughout the Gospels it says that Jesus “fulfilled that which was written.” Some of these prophecies are very specific and involve free decisions of people. For example, a guard freely chose to give Jesus…
How can people who believe the open view trust a God who doesn’t control the future and doesn’t know for sure what will happen?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism, Providence, Predestination and Free Will
It’s true that according to the open view of the future things can happen in our lives which God didn’t plan or even foreknow with certainty (though he always foreknew they were possible). In this…
Doesn’t the open view demean God’s sovereignty?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
The Open view demeans God’s sovereignty only if one assumes that “sovereignty” means “meticulous control.” By why think this is the way God wants to rule the world? The biblical narrative presents a God who…
In light of Einstein’s conclusion that time is relative, how can you believe that God is not above time?
Category: Q&A
Tags: God, Open Theism, Q&A, Science
Topics: Attributes and Character, Defending the Open View
Relatively Theory basically stipulates that whether an event is viewed as being in the past, present or future depends on where one is in relation to the event in question as well as how fast…
How can you put your trust in a God who’s not in control of everything?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A, Responding to Calvinism
Topics: Open Theism, Providence, Predestination and Free Will
Question: I read your book Is God to Blame? and found it to be very compelling. It’s rocking my world. But I’m also finding I’m now having trouble trusting God like I used to. I…
How do you respond to Genesis 45:5; 50:20?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Responding to Calvinism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
Verse: Genesis 45
Joseph said to his brothers, “…now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life,” (cf. v. 7). Joseph later says, “Even…
How do you respond to Exodus 4:11?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Responding to Calvinism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
Verse: Exodus 4
“The Lord says to Moses, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” According to some compatibilists, this passage teaches that all infirmities…
How do you respond to Exodus 21:12–13?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Responding to Calvinism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
Verse: Exodus 21
“Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death. If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer…
How do you respond to Joshua 11:19–20?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Responding to Calvinism
Topics: Defending the Open View, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
Verse: Joshua 11
“There was not a town that made peace with the Israelites, except the Hivites…all were taken to battle. For it was the Lord’s doing to harden their hearts so that they would come against Israel…
How do you respond to Judges 9:23?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Responding to Calvinism
Topics: Defending the Open View, Interpreting Violent Pictures and Troubling Behaviors
Verse: Judges 9
“…God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the lords of Schechem; and the lords of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech.” (cf. 1 Sam. 16:14; 1 Kings 22:19–23). Some compatibilists cite this passage to support…
How do you respond to Ruth 1:13?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Responding to Calvinism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
Verse: Ruth 1
Because her husband and two sons had died, Naomi says to her two daughter-in-laws (Ruth and Orpah), “[I]t has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has…
How do you respond to 1 Samuel 2:25?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Responding to Calvinism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
Verse: 1 Samuel 2
Eli’s sons “would not listen to the voice of their father, for it was the will of the Lord to kill them.” Compatibilists sometimes cite this text as an example of how God determines events…