Bill Pratt | March 30, 2009
Let’s define free will first. I define free will as the human ability to make contrary choices or decide between multiple options. Free will is the power of self-determination. It gives human beings the power to make real moral decisions. Some Christians deny that humans have free will because they say it diminishes God’s sovereignty. If humans [...]
Bill Pratt | March 9, 2009
In a previous post, we showed that God is not the direct cause of moral evil. But if God is not the cause, then who is? Christians answer that free creatures are the direct cause of moral evil. How does this work? God gave human beings the power of free will. Free will is defined [...]
Bill Pratt | February 12, 2009
We continue with our analysis of optimistic humanism. In the previous post, we found that optimistic humanism is incapable of condemning obviously immoral acts as objectively or absolutely wrong. In addition, this ethical system cannot explain the “oughtness” inherent in moral norms. But there are additional problems for optimistic humanism. Morality seems to require humans to [...]
Bill Pratt | December 26, 2008
I think many people toy with some form of atheism at some point in their lives. They wonder if all they were taught growing up is really true. They don’t see God, they don’t hear from him, and they don’t touch him or smell him, so maybe he doesn’t really exist. Wondering whether God exists, [...]
Bill Pratt | December 4, 2008
My young friend, Tyler, asked me recently about Molinism. Molinism is a doctrine developed by a 16th century theologian, Luis de Molina, that attempted to reconcile the sovereignty of God with man’s free will. Molina posited the idea that God possesses a special kind of knowledge, known as middle knowledge (scientia media), that effectively lets him [...]
