Post tagged with providence

  • Does God answer prayers for parking spaces at the Pottery Barn?

    September 16th, 201104:24 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Right now a prayer is being offered up by a desperate mother somewhere at a camp in Somalia. Her severely malnourished child is suffering from severe diarrhea and vomiting. She has been told by one of the men that these are signs of cholera. Her child is dying in her arms and she can do nothing. Her prayer is desperate and anguished. If God hears ...

  • Why “God hated Esau” is of no use to the Calvinist

    September 11th, 201107:42 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Pete asked what a person who believes God is omnibenevolent does with "God hated Esau" (Malachi 1:3; Romans 9:13). There are a number of complexities in these passages. To begin with, there is the fact that the specific individuals Jacob and Esau serve as symbols representing people groups (Israel and Edom, or more broadly, insider and outsider). ...

  • God’s arbitrary choices and election

    August 04th, 201111:05 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    I have argued the the implications of the Calvinist view of election is that God's choice of those who are elect is arbitrary. But what do I mean by "arbitrary"? I mean this: Arbitrary decision: any decision between two or more options where one option is chosen but another option was equally feasible. For example, it is a choice between a and b w...

  • Tigers, Tabbys, and God’s special love for his elect

    August 01st, 201109:34 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Who says God has to love everybody equally? (Sentimental Arminians, that's who.) "Au contraire mon frere" says the Calvinist. There is nothing wrong with God having a general love for all humanity even as he has a special love for his elect. And why shouldn't it be so? After all, as Linda asks, "Is it right for a man to love his wife differently ...

  • The day the Arminian Pride Parade came to Geneva

    July 31st, 201110:33 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    The Genevans were outraged to learn that the mayor had declared April 1 "Arminian Pride Day." "Political correctness run amok!" the Calvinists growled. "And right here in our fair city. Why can't those Arminians just go back in the closet?" Rumor even had it that the Home Depot and Disneyland were both sponsoring the Arminian Pride Parade. And perh...

  • Do Arminians have the same problem as Calvinists?

    July 29th, 201110:49 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Paul Manata offers a response to my article "Calvinism preaches a God of love, and yet..." The response was a tu quoque, an argument form which functions like this: Randal and Paul were walking home from the Barry Manilow concert when Paul was surrounded by a group of growling headbangers who were focused on his powder blue concert T-shirt. Just b...

  • Calvinism preaches a God of love, and yet…

    July 27th, 201101:18 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    The central objection to Calvinism has always been, and will always be, that God's decision to elect some people to salvation whilst leaving (or electing) others to damnation is inconsistent with the notion of divine love. But Calvinists are not without their rebuttals. One common rejoinder is to argue that our understanding of love is imperfect. ...

  • A Reformed voice brings clarity to free will, providence and election

    July 25th, 201102:37 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    There is no shortage of confusion among the recent wave of "new Calvinists" on the Reformed understanding of free will, providence and election. This became very clear to me a couple years ago when my book Finding God in the Shack was critiqued by popular Reformed blogger Tim Challies for providing a correct outline of the historic Reformed vi...

  • Does God ‘rape the will’ to save people from hell?

    June 07th, 201111:27 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    "Irresistible force used by God on his free creatures would be a violation of both the charity of God and the dignity of humans. God is love. True love never forces itself on anyone. Forced love is rape, and God is not a divine rapist!" (Norman Geisler, "God knows all Things," Predestination and Free Will, (ed.) David Basinger and Randall Basinger ...

  • How much evil could God allow for a greater good?

    April 29th, 201109:32 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In "Does God ever visit Ronald McDonald House?" I asked a question that crushes me. But as a Christian theist how can I not ask it? A few responses from the skeptics in our midst were, as I expected, incredulous. For example, Ray replied with the following: "The good of consolation is only a runner-up prize to the good of not needing consolation. ...
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An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).