The Castle Church Door

I was recently asked why I thought God created so many hellbound beings. Any answer is speculative, but here’s my conjecture:1.Of course, the reason why God created so many hellbound beings isn’t a question distinctive to Calvinism. It isn’t generated by Calvinism.To the contrary, supralapsarian Calvinism at least offers a partial theodicy. Even if it fails to furnish a specific answer to the question of why so many ...

Since Jason Pratt is being incorrigible, I’ll take a little time to reply:Jason Pratt said...“What's funnier is that they regularly complain when opponents hold back on doing exegesis due to time constraints. So, one wonders, why not deal with your exegesis?!”http://evangelicaluniversalist.blogspot.com/2008/06/gregory-macdonald-worships-false-god.htmlSince Jason is far too clever not to know the answer to this question, I must assume that he’s dissembling. So I’ll have to repeat myself, as well ...

An author writing under the pseudonym of Gregory MacDonald has penned a book entitled The Evangelical Universalist (SPCK 2008).The first question I’d ask myself is, why the pseudonym? It’s not as if he’s in imminent danger of being burnt alive at the stake.Is he afraid of losing his job if he goes public? But he’d only lose his job if he holds a job in which he’s expected ...

dmitry chernikov said...“James, sometimes we can glean the greater good that comes out of the evil permitted by God. In this case, it's Steve's pleasure in condemning you for being ‘evil’ and having the truth of Calvinism promoted in this manner. (You see, God loves us so much, that He can't hurt us. He has demons, those He already hates, to do the dirty work for Him, that ...

This is Edwards' argument.

Douglas Moo on Paul on hell (PDF).

Why do many people feel that everlasting punishment is unjust?1.One factor may be social conditioning. In modern penology, there’s a correlation between crime and time. The convict is sentenced to serve a certain amount of time behind bars. He receives a shorter sentence for a lesser offense, or a longer sentence for a graver offense.But this is a modern development. And it has nothing to do with the ...

victor reppert said...“Second, you mentioned a murderous child molester and you ask if I think it deserves an infinite punishment. The answer is no, it deserves great punishment surely (assuming he's responsible for his actions) but a punishment of infinite duration? That makes no sense. A repentant child molester deserves punishment but not one of infinite duration. An unrepentant molester is compounding his offenses.”i) I see that Reppert ...

Victor Reppert: “I must say I don't understand the fuss about Frankfurt's counterexamples…Look, don't these examples all founder on a failure to distinguish between choosing freely and carrying out the choice effectively.”Far from failing to draw that distinction, it seems to me that these examples are designed to reinforce that distinction.“In the cases given, isn't it the case that you could have chosen otherwise. You have what is ...

“I will call no being good who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow creatures; and if such a creature can sentence me to hell for not so calling him, to hell I will go.”—John Stuart Mill“Is it necessary that Heaven should borrow its light from the glare of Hell? Infinite punishment is infinite cruelty, endless injustice, immortal meanness. To worship an ...