In Defense of Libertarian Free Will

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[jacobnewton]

I’m 16 and my twin brother Danny seemed to be seeking God at one point but has recently stopped. Please pray for his salvation.

[SpielbergMichael]

This is brilliant teaching! Such clear teaching really cuts through the smoke and mirrors of Calvinistic teachings.

[bobbyadkins]

One of the craziest things I've heard anyone ever say is that Calvinism makes sense.

[bigdogboos]

Calvinism: "Those in hell were literally created by God in an evil state, ordained by God to do such evil, blinded them so as not to be able to obey the Gospel, eternally ordained to be damned to hell and burn forever for the evil God decreed you do."

Also Calvinism: "You are to blame for it all, and are responsible/culpable for doing all the things God eternally decreed that you do, and you are responsible for rejecting Christ when you literally couldn't have accepted Him, and were denied the ability by God."

Normal person: "That's an insane contradiction. A circle is not a square just because you say it is. Saying both of those are true when there are literally as opposed as you can possibly be, does not make it so."

Calvinist: "Who are you o man ... to think God has to be rational, reasonable, consistent, true, just, and coherent".

[LizCanKnit]

You quoted from Jeremiah so I popped over and started reading it. The whole book is God imploring Israel to come back to Him. Why even waste the energy or breath if He determined them to disobey anyway?

[darrellweaver]

1 Kings 20:42 (KJV)
And he said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of [thy] hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people.

[JStevensdk]

Calvinistic Compatibilism "The freedom to choose what you want to do, while IGNORING the reason why you want to do it" LOL love this!

[Mindtrap]

Says libertarian free will is "fragile", goes on to misrepresent and fail to understand libertarian free will.
good job sir.. Good job indeed.

[loganelswick]

Great video Leighton 😌

Keep up the good work brother!

[davidpufahl]

Alvin Plantinga, Richard Swinburne, Peter Van Inwagen, Alexander Pruss, William Lane Craig, Joshua Rasmussen (just too name a few) are the most formidable Christian philosophers of the last 100 years and they all hold to libertarian free will. So yes, Tyler's appeal to authority here ends up shooting himself in the foot because if he wants to go that route, Christian philosophers (especially the greats) overwhelmingly favor libertarian free will.

[tacticalfilmfightingacadem]

Being a retired swat cop, Dr Flowers is right. One thing that needs to be shown is intent (for 1st degree murder) If God has determined that the criminal would do it (murder) how can the criminal be held responsible for that sin? God gave him the intent. Which flies in the face of James 1:13.

[ruthvansandt]

So, this is new to me. God CAN and often does determine events, but not causally, but by foreknowledge of the known hearts of men.

[mattflynn]

Makes sense to me! Strong work Brother!

[T.Ravikumar]

What is still holding you back from calling as heresy, a system that teaches that God hates a group of people, contrary to what Scripture teaches in Ps145:9, Jn3:16?

[HosannaInExcelsis]

oh, how much I wish that you could invite a scholar like Dr. Eleanore Stump to present her outstanding paper: "Augustine and Free Will". Leveraging on some major developments in the field of the concept of free will, she shows that when you consider the critical distinction between first order and second order volitions, there is an abysm of difference between the teachings of Augustine and those of Calvinism. Not that Augustine wasn't ultimately a determinist, but his views where very nuanced, and very far from that hard determinism of Calvinism.
The point is: not only the very vast majority of Christian philosophers since the time of the Church Fathers until today reject their views, but even Augustine's view is incompatible with their tenets (Augustine hold to the creature power to choose her second order volitions, while Calvinism rejects that).
The funny thing is that in their own pride, they seem to be emboldened rather than humbled by this fact (I guess if that's because they think they are the elect).

[KISStheSON...]

I can't believe we actually have to defend our ability to freely think and make decisions according to our circumstances.
I would like to take this time to reveal something to the Calvinist.
John Piper and many other Calvinists have discussed crying for days when they accepted Calvinism as the gospel.
I don't see that anywhere in the scriptures, I only see sinners gladly accepting the gospel and rejoicing in the Lord Christ Jesus after hearing and learning the gospel.
The gospel is:
Christ died for our sins, was buried, and raised from the dead for our justification to give us the assurance that he is the Christ which justifies our faith in him.
The gospel is preached to teach FAITH in God without the deeds of LAW.
Preaching brings the knowledge of truth to our ears so we can freely eat of it and live by it.
If we refuse to eat we will die.
It's simple.
It's truly that simple so all men have no excuse when they stand before God WITH or WITHOUT the truth inside them.
The truth is delivered so that we may freely accept it unto salvation.
We are saved to then go out and deliver that which we received freely...that is how the body grows!

After many have freely swallowed Calvinism and then later become convinced that Calvinism is a very deceptive lie, they may freely purge the lie which I am sure must be very humiliating...but the truth makes us strong enough to be willing to take the pain of humility.

I am convinced that the only reason Calvinists remain in the lie is that they can't handle the pain of humility, but I am here to assure you that if you do choose to let your ears hear the truth and purge the lie that we will not mock you, no we will not, will rejoice with you with tears of joy...we love you, we are fighting for you, not against you! 💌

Proverbs 19:20
“Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.”

2 Timothy 2:21
“If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.”

Purge the error that you freely accepted...that is my counsel and instruction for you so that you may be wise. If I didn't love you I would leave you in the error, but I will not leave you!
Wise:
responding sensibly or shrewdly to a particular situation.

[justasandpaper]

19:37 agreed that God brings into the reality one event does not prove that he considered in the other, but at the same time it does not disprove that either.

[tacticalfilmfightingacadem]

60% or not popularity doesn't make something True. Especially in Biblical terms. If it doesn't match up scripture it isn't true. If Determinism is true Sin could not exist. Because Sin is rebellion. Under Determinism rebellion can't happen.

[justasandpaper]

If God knows the hearts and desires of these people to an extent to where he can use those desires for his plans, it means these people couldn't have acted/willed otherwise.
This leads to determatism.
Unless we can somehow prove that they could have choose what to desire.

[dw]

If Libertarian choice does not exist - then it does not exist for Calvin's god.
And what Calvin's god's is left with is determinism
And on determinism
1) His will and choices are determined by factors outside of his control.
2) In his choice-making he doesn't have multiple options from which to choose - because every choice was pre-determined before he made it.