free will

Augustine vs. Pelagius

The Debate In the 5th century — the early 400s — there was a controversy in the church between two men, Augustine and Pelagius, over God’s grace in salvation. Pelagius essentially argued in such a way that would minimize the necessity of regeneration. He taught...

The Omniscience of God and Determinism

The future is determined. Even the thought you just had about that sentence was determined from long ago. And what I’d like to do in this post is to demonstrate that this is an orthodoxy issue, not merely a “Calvinist” issue. That is, too many label Calvinists as...

Free Will, God’s Grace, and a Carrot on a Stick

For a long time, Christians have been debating the nature of man’s will (is it free?), the totality of depravity, whether or not man is “able” to come to Christ on his own, and the extent and function of God's grace. For many, God’s grace is like a carrot on a stick...