Guillaume Bignon EPS 2014 Does Compatibilism Entail Determinism?

Guillaume Bignon delivers a paper at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, in San Diego, California.

Does Compatibilism Entail Determinism? A Pragmatic Argument From Purpose in Evil

[Zaloomination]

Boy, the sparks really started flying around the 30:00 mark. You were very well composed, Gui.

"God can take the free choices that we make and turn them out for good, somehow..."

I think it's time we turned the tables on the Libertarian and demand they provide an answer for explaining how exactly this works. How does God "turn" our bad choices into good effects without some kind of minimal determinism, or intervention, or working on our hearts, taking place? Is God only allowed to control natural things, like weather and wind, but he must lay off people's hearts and minds? How does God "turn" something good from something evil without affecting us deep in our being in a unique and unmistakable way? I'm not a philosopher but I don't think Libertarians have given this much thought. I don't see how the Libertarian's God is not powerless to affect much change and guide the course of history to fulfill the plan he decrees to occur.

"Did God really determine that ISIS behead all those Christians?" 

Did God really determine that Joseph be betrayed by his own flesh and blood, thrown in a pit, sold as a slave, all those years thought dead by his father, lied about and slandered? Is it hard to believe that just because it's atrocious and horrible that God couldn't be using it for good in his plan? Is God not allowed to use evil human means to accomplish his good divine purposes? Are the Bible's lessons about God only valid when they remain safely on the pages, disconnected from the nightly news and world events?

[OkieAllDay]

Unfortunately most Calvinists - like John Macarthur, David Platt, John Piper, Matt Chandler, etc. etc. will not agree with divine determinism, although that is the natural consequence of the system. Thanks for pointing that out Mr. Bignon

[kkallebb]

I have never understood the view that God would never decree acts of moral evil, if that is what the "reprehensible"-calling guy was saying. It certainly seems a biblical idea, and it would also seem (at least to me) a comforting idea to the victim of a moral outrage.

[kkallebb]

I am sorry that God ordained the guy with the cough. There were some arguments that I missed.