Presenting Open Theism to a Typical Calvinist

About this sermon

(Used by Permission of Marlon Wilson of The Gospel Truth.) Will Duffy talks with newcomer CJ Borns, Nov. 11, 2019. Hear excerpts and discussion at http://kgov.com/borns. Will's previously scheduled qualified opponent backed out. Then his replacement backed out. We're thankful that CJ was able to sit it so Marlon's session could take place. This event, which was planned as a debate yet it provides an insight that many other open theism debates cannot. Have you ever wondered about the average Calvinist, that is, the non-theologian, who believes what he's been told about God, the Bible, and the future? Will Duffy's debate here provides insight into thousands or perhaps millions of Calvinist believers who themselves have minimal familiarity even with their own belief system and only have a distorted caricature of open theism based on misinformation from their teachers. Of course, Duffy was respectful and gracious toward Borns. (See also the https://opentheism.org/verses Duffy list.) As in our other https://opentheism.org/debates you can hear the non-open theist argue that if God were free, that He could not be trustworthy, basically, that "He might turn on us, and not keep His promise." We've noticed that belief in a settled future tends to undermine a believer's trust in God Himself, and instead they trust only His unalterable "decrees" or simply the unalterable future. It's as though God traded away HIS OWN FREEDOM to constrain Himself within unalterable decrees because (trying to make sense out of senselss Calvinism) He couldn't even trust Himself. Absolute immutability (with impassibility and impeccability) figures big, such that millions learn to trust not the Lord's affirmative faithfulness but God's supposed inabilities. They ask, incredulously, "How can you possibly trust God if God were free?" Will Duffy answers with Scripture. "God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." That is how we know that we can trust Him and His promises to us. Not because of any inability, that He cannot do otherwise. The supposed attributes of impassibility, immutability, impecability are inabilities and the attributes of a stone idol. But we can trust Him because God has demonstrated His trustworthiness and faithfulness, not inabilities but the activce affirmation of His fierce commitment to righteousness. Thanks again to Marlon Wilson! You can find his work at https://www.facebook.com/The-Gospel-Truth-233158060898720.