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Jesus’s argument in John 10
You think that Jesus was good. But do you also think that Jesus was smart? So smart, that you have to carefully weigh his statements and carefully parse his arguments? I do. In this post, I submit his...
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Dr. James N. Anderson on Paradoxes in Theology
Theologian-apologist-philosopher Dr. James N. Anderson of Reformed Theological Seminary has posted his new entry for IVP’s New Dictionary of Theology on “Paradox” – that is, on apparent...
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podcast episode 65 – Dr. Joshua Blander on John Duns Scotus on Identity and...
John Duns Scotus (d. 1308), nicknamed by tradition “the Subtle Doctor,” was one of the most important medieval Christian philosophers, and was notorious for the difficulty of his thought. In this...
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Did Jesus have faith in God? – Part 3
In part 1 and part 2 of this series, I’ve deliberately argued from present-day evangelical assumptions, and not from the classical catholic theorizing about Jesus. Let me explain. Evangelicals nowadays...
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Did Jesus have faith in God? – part 4
In part 3 we looked at a number of arguments relating to Jesus, God, and faith. Perhaps the most important was this: 1. God doesn’t have faith. 2. Jesus is God. 3. Therefore, Jesus doesn’t have faith....
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podcast episode 68 – Dr. Harriet Baber on Relative Identity and the Trinity
“I’ve heard of John and Peter, and James – but who is this Cephas?” A more informed Bible reader will tell him that Cephas is Peter. The point is not that Cephas is like Peter, or similar to Peter, but...
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Did Jesus have faith in God? – Part 5
Continuing the conversation, apologist Tom Gilson stands by his claim that the NT doesn’t teach that Jesus had faith during his earthly life, and indeed, tellingly declines to say that. He says, in...
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podcast episode 69 – James Lee on the Trinity and Ontological Pluralism
In this episode we hear Mr. James Lee (PhD student in Philosophy at Syracuse University) present his paper “His Ways (of Being) Are Not Our Ways” at the Society of Christian Philosophers meeting on...
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podcast episode 70 – The one God and his Son according to John
When it comes to God and Jesus, does the fourth gospel contradict the first three? Some scholars have thought so. Everyone agrees that John was written last, and many have seen an evolution from lower...
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Want to sue yourself? Theology can help!
This unfortunate woman crashed her vehicle, injuring herself and fatally injuring her husband. But what’s interesting is what’s happening now: she’s going to sue herself, to get money from her own...
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reader question on the Trinity and numerical sameness
A podcast listener recently emailed me to ask (emphases added): I won’t hide that I’m a happy Trinitarian and yet that I’m thoroughly enjoying your podcast since it provokes my theology and forces me...
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podcast 79 – Dr. John Piper on why not everyone is elect
If all and only people whom God eternally and unconditionally chooses are saved, then why aren’t all people saved? In a recent episode of Dr. John Piper’s Ask Pastor John podcast, (#547 – If God Is So...
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podcast 80 – Foreknowledge, Freedom, and Randomness
If God foreknows all that you’ll do, doesn’t that imply that you have no control over how your life turns out? It just is going to happen as it’s already been known, right? And conversely, if you have...
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dialogue on God, Jesus, and identity with Alvin Kimel
Thanks to our friend Alvin Kimel for linking my post Jesus, God, and an inconsistent triad. Check out his post and the ensuing discussion here. Unfortunately, the fact that I’m a unitarian seems to...
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On a Rebuttal to my “How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament”–...
The rebuttal is to this blog post of mine, and it is by a Blogger user named “Annoyed Pinoy,” with whom I briefly discussed these things in the comments here. I take it that he is an evangelical...
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In the New Testament, Jesus has a god (who is also ours)
Where does the New Testament say this? In these places. (The video is by unitarian Christian blogger Sandra Hooper.)I suggest that all Christians should carefully weigh this argument. (If you don’t...
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a present you should return: Christmas confusion
The scene, an American evangelical church, around Christmas time. The pastor prays, Heavenly Father, than you so much for sending us your Son! We’re so grateful for your perfect of gift of...
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God and Deus
Bill Vallicella, the famous Maverick Philosopher, just dropped me a line asking whether, when Thomas Aquinas and Baruch Spinoza use the term ‘Deus’, they are referring to the same being. This is a...
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So the Bible says
Them that’s got shall get Them that’s not shall lose So the Bible said and it still is news So Billie Holiday sang, probably alluding to Matthew 25:29 (‘For whoever has will be given more, and they...
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Necessarily so?
It ain’t necessarily so It ain’t necessarily so The t’ings dat yo’ li’ble To read in de Bible, It ain’t necessarily so In God as Biblical Character and as Divine Reality, the Maverick makes the...
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the apologetics blind-spot on numerical identity
Here’s part of a conversation I had recently with a guy in a Facebook group who when it comes to theology consumes almost only evangelical apologetics sources. I’m going to call him “T” here. I think...
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Can Kant refer to God?
I am plodding on with Plantinga’s Warranted Christian Belief, which I strongly recommend. He is committed to the Christian (and Jewish and Muslim) belief that not only that there is such a being as...
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Identity and necessity
This week I have been pondering the question of whether the God of the Philosophers (a being who is omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnipotent etc.) is the same being as the God of the scriptures (Eleanor...
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Venus was her name
The Maverick philosopher has a comment on my earlier question about the necessity of identity. Can we get from ‘a=b’ to ‘necessarily a=b’ in a simple step? He thinks we can. Now if ‘H’ and ‘P’...
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Do we need identity?
A propos of a discussion going on at the Maverick Philosopher’s place, I revisited ‘Do we need Identity’, chapter 6 of The Logic of Natural Language, a work by the late Fred Sommers that should be on...
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Is every Orwell an Orwell?
As regards my earlier post, Maverick asks Can we justify a distinction between the ‘is’ of identity and the ‘is’ of predication even if we do not make an absolute distinction between names (object...
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why I think you’re identifying Jesus with God
Sometimes, trinitarians think that the Son just is God, and that the Father just is God, and yet the Son is different from the Father. But these can’t all be true. In modern logic, we represent the...
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Hays’s self-inflicted dental injury
Apologist Steve Hays tries to go Tasmanian Devil on my backside, in defense of apologist Jonathan McLatchie. His little teeth can’t seem to find it, though. It’s so off-the-cuff that much of it is...
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podcast 222 – Self-evident truths relevant to Trinity or Incarnation theories...
Not everything should be up for debate. Debates must start somewhere. As Christian philosopher Thomas Reid pointed out, humans are made such that, when we’re fully mature, and when we have certain...
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apologist commits to actual Trinity theory, faceplants – Part 2
Last time, we saw tritheist Steve Hays lay out his own Trinity theory, which of course includes an assertion of monotheism. It was an incoherent mess, and so is something which anyone has a strong...
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Do you think Jesus is the Trinity?
This post is occasioned by the following exchange between a couple of Facebook friends: Unitarian: “You said that Jesus existed ‘as God’. Did you mean ‘as God the Son’? I presume that by ‘God’ you...
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Debating Dale Starter Pack
Please don’t take this personally, but in all likelihood, I’m not willing to debate you. I can only do so much with my time, and I am always over-committed. Also, I have to think you’re a worthy...
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podcast 260 – How to Argue that the Bible is Trinitarian
Many apologists offer simple deductive arguments purporting to show that the Bible rather obviously implies a creedal Trinity doctrine.Are those arguments sound? This episode is my presentation on...
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podcast 261 – How to Argue that the Bible is Trinitarian – Response to Bowman
In this episode I reply to Dr. Bowman’s critique of my presentation from podcast 160, in this blog post and this one. I concede a few points to him, but press him on some others. In particular, I...
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podcast 271 – Does your Trinity theory require relative identity?
Apologists, this episode is for you. Some of you hold a Trinity theory which will clearly be incoherent unless relative identity theory is true. In this episode, I explain the concept of (numerical)...
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How Trinity theories conflict with the New Testament
Most Christians are (at least in theory, according to creeds and statements of faith promulgated by denominations) trinitarians, believers in a triune or tri-personal God, which they call the Trinity....
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Zarley asks: Can Genuine Christians Be Trinitarian or Non-Trinitarian?
An important post by the Golf Pro from the Moon. He answers the above question, in part: Yes. I was a Trinitarian for twenty-two years until God enlightened me through scripture that being a Christian...
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A clear portrait of the Trinity in action?
As I mentioned before, the ESV Study Bible has a really bad entry on the Trinity, part of its appendix called “Biblical Doctrine: An Overview.” Today, I note that it repeats something I’ve often seen...
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“Well OF COURSE they distinguish the Son from the Father!”
Most understand that whatever “the Trinity” doctrine amounts to, it includes the claims that no Person of the Trinity is identical to any other. In symbolic logic, we represent the three claims like...
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the Son ain’t the Father, so the Son ain’t God
Yesterday’s post was true and important, but too technical for many. In this post, I make many of the same points while avoiding technicalities. Trinitarian traditions correctly teach people to...
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podcast 321 – Evaluating Minton’s Three Arguments that Jesus is Yahweh
In this episode I interact with some arguments from the interesting blog post “3 Syllogistic Arguments For Jesus’ Deity” by apologist Evan Minton (also posted here). I evaluate the arguments according...
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podcast 325 – Dr. Jc Beall – The Contradictory Christ – Part 2
Consider the sentence “This sentence is false.” If it is true, then (as it says) it is false. And if it is false, then what it says (i.e. that it’s false) must be true. Why not, then, say that the...
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podcast 348 – Novatian’s On the Trinity – Part 2 – Two Thieves and Three...
In this second episode (part 1 here) you’ll learn about the very interesting last two chapters of Novatian’s book On the Trinity, chapters which tell us so much about the range of theological opinions...
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podcast 350 – Thoughts on my Dialogue with Craig on the Trinity and the Bible...
My recent one-hour dialogue with Dr. William Lane Craig featured a number of interesting exchanges, as well as what I believe is Dr. Craig’s first publicly distinguishing between a creedal Trinity...
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Answer to Angeliqua’s “The 1-2 Punch Against the Charge that Trinity is...
The following piece was posted in the trinities podcast Facebook group, and I thought it was worthy of some replies, which are interspersed in italics below. Introduction: It is common knowledge that...
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Help for James White on Identity
James White knows more New Testament Greek than I do. The reason for that is that he’s put a lot more work into it. (I’ve chosen to invest in other things.) The reason for that is that he seems to...
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Jude 4, John 17:1-3, and “only” arguments
On Facebook recently I received a worthy question: So John 17:3 is one of Unitarian dominant texts. I’ve heard many of Dale Tuggy’s podcasts expounding on this specific phrase to emphasize that the...
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How much did Aristotle understand about numerical sameness (identity)?
According to this lucid and entertaining recent article by Dr. F.A. Muller “Aristotle on Identity: Close Enough!” the answer is: a lot more than he’s usually given credit for. This is relevant to...
View ArticleIs New Testament Theology Trinitarian?
Today I had an extended dialogue with apologist Dane Van Eys on the above question. It was livestreamed for the Real Seekers and Faith Unaltered podcasts. I think it was a productive and friendly...
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podcast 379 – AI and I evaluate my debate with James White
The way to evaluate a debate is to actively chart and compare the arguments made by each side. Debaters call this “flowing” a debate. I sat down and did this, working carefully all the way through my...
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