Free Will
Is God All-Powerful?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Free Will, Letters from a Skeptic, Love, Omnipotence, Open Theism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will
I want to answer yes and no. God is all-powerful in the sense that God originally possessed all power. Before Creation, God was the only being who existed, and thus had all the power there…
When God’s “Plan A” Falls Through, What’s Next?
Category: General
Tags: Free Will, God of the Possible, God's Will, Open Theism
Topics: Open Theism
Image by Katie Tegtmeyer via Flickr Suzanne was angry, to say the least. Since her early teens, her only aspirations in life were to be a missionary to Taiwan and to marry a godly man with…
What Unfulfilled Prophesies Say About the Open View
Category: General
Tags: Free Will, Future, Goldingay, Open Theism, Prophesy
Topics: Open Theism
Image by Lori Greig via Flickr Yesterday, we posted about how Messianic prophesies are understood in the open view of the future. Today, this post will look at prophesies that are not fulfilled in the way predicted…
The Open View of Messianic Prophesies
Category: General
Tags: Determinism, Divine Foreknowledge, Free Will, Open Theism, Prophesy
Topics: Open Theism
Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr A number of passages speak of particular events being foreknown by God, even events resulting from individuals’ free will. For example, dozens of prophesies in the OT accurately predict details about…
Why Did God Allow Evil?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Evil, Free Will, Love, Problem of Evil, Satan and the Problem of Evil
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, The Problem of Evil
Is it possible to force people to love? Powerful people may be able to force others to do just about anything. Through psychological or physical torture, they may succeed in forcing them to curse their…
Does the Open View Undermine God’s Sovereignty?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Determinism, Divine Foreknowledge, Free Will, God's Sovereignty, Open Theism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
A common objection to the concept of a risk-taking God is that it seems to undermine God’s sovereignty. If any particular individual can opt out of God’s plan, then every individual could conceivably opt out…
Isn’t the World Unsafe If God Doesn’t Control Everything?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Determinism, Fear, Free Will, freedom, God of the Possible, God's Character, Open Theism, safety
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
If God isn’t in control of everything, the world feels unsafe. If the future is open and if things can happen outside of God’s will, what guarantee is there that there is a point to…
To What Extent is the Future Open to Real Possibilities?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Choice, Free Will, Future, Judgment, Open Theism
Topics: Free Will and the Future
We frequently get questions about the extent to which the future is composed of actual possibilities rather than settled or determined. Here’s what Greg has to say in response to these questions: 1. We can…
Lighten Up: Open Theism T-Shirt
Category: General, Lighten Up
Tags: Choice, Free Will, freedom, Lighten Up, Open Theism
T-shirt on Zazzle designed by Jin_roh.
The Future is Not Like the Past For God (or Us)
Category: General
Tags: Free Will, freedom, Future, God of the Possible, Open Theism, Possibility
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will
Image by seier+seier via Flickr Everyone agrees that we are not free to change the past. No sane person would claim, for example, that I can now make any free choices about whether John F. Kennedy will…
Evil, St. Augustine, & the “Secret” Higher Harmony
Category: General
Tags: Augustine, Blueprint Worldview, Free Will, God at War, Problem of Evil, Spiritual Warfare
Topics: The Problem of Evil
The problem of evil constitutes the single most difficult challenge to Christian theism. Volumes upon volumes have been written with the express purpose of rationally reconciling the belief in an all-good and all-powerful God with…
Living Into the Future
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Free Will, Future, Love, Open Theism, Video, Warfare Worldview, Work of the People
Topics: Open Theism, Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Why didn’t God create a “perfect world”? Here’s Greg’s response to that question. See more at The Work of the People.
Confronting Divine Determinism
Category: General
Tags: Calvinism, Determinism, Free Will, Love, Open Theism, Predestination, Responding to Calvinism, Woodland Hills Church
Part of the fallen human condition inclines us to shirk our moral responsibility and accept that everything is predetermined, whether by God, the gods, fate, or blind chance. Various forms of determinism have been prevalent…
God Does Not Always Get What He Wants
Category: General
Tags: Choice, Free Will, God's Will, Love, Problem of Evil, Salvation
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will
One of the ways the Bible makes it clear that humans have free will and that God doesn’t predetermine human decisions is found in the responses God has toward human choices. Scripture consistently depicts God…
The Risk of Love & the Source of Evil
Category: General
Tags: Free Will, Love, Problem of Evil
On Sunday Greg tweeted the following: Love IS a tremendous risk. But if humans ever concluded the risk was not worth it, we likely become extinct rather quickly. … Yes, love is risky. It costs…
How Can Salvation by Grace Involve Free Will?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Calvinism, Free Will, Grace, Salvation, TULIP
Topics: Death and Salvation, Responding to Objections
How does salvation by grace work if people have free will? If salvation hinges on whether individuals choose to be saved or not, is salvation based on grace or works? If we have to choose…
What Hinders Answers to Prayer
Category: General
Tags: Angels, Free Will, Prayer, Warfare Worldview
Prayer is powerful and effective, but it’s not magic. There is no automatic guarantee that what we’re praying for is going to come to pass, even when we’re praying with faith and in accordance with…
Predestination Part 2: Seeing Destiny Rightly
Category: General
Tags: Calvinism, Destiny, Free Will, Jesus, Open Theism, Predestination
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will
For Part 1, click here. In Ephesians Paul teaches that God “chose us in [Christ] before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph 1:4). In Christ, Paul continues,…
Predestination: What Does It Mean?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Calvinism, Destiny, Determinism, Free Will, Is God to Blame?, Open Theism, Predestination
Topics: Free Will and the Future, Providence, Predestination and Free Will
When some people hear the biblical teaching that God “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world” (Eph 1:4) and that “he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Christ,” (Eph 1:5) they…
Sermon Clip: Does Romans 9 predestine you to Hell?
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Cruciform Theology, Determinism, Free Will, Greg Boyd, Open Theism, Predestination, Responding to Calvinism
Did God predestine you to Hell? Can he even do that? In this short sermon clip, Greg Boyd talks about his own struggles when trying to understand Romans 9 which on the surface seems to…