Simply Comparing Calvinism, Arminianism, and Molinism

In this video, Tim simply breaks down the differences between calvinism, arminianism, and molinism and gives a brief explanation of God's middle knowledge.

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#FreethinkingMinistries #FreeWill #God'sSovereignty

[steakslapn]

How come 90% of Christian YouTube channels have comment section disabled? It's sad when you can't interact with others on the topics, or express appreciation to the content producers.

[atlasdm]

This is my first time hearing of Molinism, but ironically enough I've been kicking around the idea of using Dr. Strange to understand the omnipotence and omniscience of God. I'm glad I'm not the only one to have this thought! Subbed!

[ijclnl]

When the Bible seems to contradict itself, it's imperative that we turn to philosophy to reconcile both points made. That's precisely what Molinism does.

[marcraymond]

Great interview with great information. My opinion is these three categories is our finite minds attempting to understand or box in our infinite God, which is impossible. We will spend all eternity trying to figure out our infinite God. In the end we can come up with different hypothesis but we should not divide, but give grace to each other. Thank you for the informative video.

[ThetaMinistries]

While I am a Calvinist, I do have respect for how you articulate your position brother.

[CristianoCritico]

So glad I’m not the only one that thought about that Dr Strange analogy

[kyleholcomb]

The tv series Supernatural also touches a bit on Molinism.

[NirimbaNet]

There were books called "Choose your own adventure" when I was a kid. If you wanted to read about X option you would skip to page 12, if wanted Y option you would skip to page 17, if you wanted Z option you would skip to page 24, etc. Then after that section you would be presented with more options to continue the story and so on. So God wrote the whole book with all the different options, but it is still up to us which option to read. - Am I on the right track?

[Romansdiscipleship]

Well originally there was Thomism which came from Thomas Aquinas and then came Molinism as a response to that view. It was a whole debate(and still is) within the Catholic tradition. During the reformation almost all the reformers were Thomists, this was later expanded upon by Beza and his students and is now called "Calvinism" but one of his students ended up disagreeing with this form of Calvinism, he was called Jacobus Arminius. Most of the time people miss that this debate didn't start during the reformation, Luis de Molina was a faithful Catholic and his view is still common in the Catholic Church along with Thomism. Arminians also do not believe in simple foreknowledge, generally they are Molinists as well. Arminius himself was a molinist and so was John Wesley.

[mystwolfe]

Can a Calvinist be saved? “Yes”
So you think they are right? “No”
Can an Armenian be saved? “Yes”
So you think they are right “no”
Can a Molonist be saved? “Yes”
So you believe they are right? “No”

God knows what we will choose before we are born because He is outside of time. That doesn’t stop our freewill.

You can not come unless you are called. We are all called. Few answer.

Once truly saved you can not lose your salvation. So don’t worry. He has you and now freely love and serve Him.

[RoyceVanBlaricome]

Just found out about this channel from your comment in another. I think it was Mike's "Risen Jesus"
if I remember right. This is the first video I've pulled up and I see a lot of others that look like they may be interesting. Love this topic.

Thus far I am a Christian with no labels. Definitely am NOT a Calvinist though I hold to many of their teachings. Definitely NOT an Arminian though I hold to some of there's. I've watched a few shows on Moliniism on other channels and find it comes up short too. One reason is because of what your guest, Tim, says regarding God's Sovereignty. I've seen him before on other podcasts at least 2-3x. The mistake he makes is in confusing and conflating Sovereignty with Control and in what "control" means.

Quick example: The USA is a "Sovereign Nation" and as such it "controls" its borders. How well does that work even with the best "controls" put in place? What Tim and other Molinists fail to see or acknowledge is that God doesn't have to "control" ever single aspect of ever single thing to still bring about the results He wants. God is so far above our ways and understanding, in some respects, that we simply can't fathom how he can take all our mistakes, sins, and everything else and yet still work them to accomplish what He wants while remaining perfect and holy and the Righteous Judge who holds man accountable for what he does.

Wrt to "predestined", that again is another false perception and misunderstanding. We are "predestined" unto Salvation "in Christ". It is Christ who is the Elect and we become the elected ones as being in Christ.

Lastly, the biggest problem Molinism has is the same that Calvinism and Arminianism has. None of them deal with the passages where God says He did not know something and where some things never even crossed His mind.

[davidpallmann]

I've yet to see a Scripture that Arminianism doesn't make sense of. But I think Molinism definitely helps us build a stronger philosophical theology.

[atajoseph]

Currently in still studying while I do lean on the reformed biblical notion of God’s sovereignty and decree, I have a say the Calvinism position was misrepresented God causes no one to sin but man acts upon their sinful inclination they freely choose to.

[biblicalworldview]

Molinism makes it possible to say Amen and agree with every single scripture that Calvinists or Aminians present. It also has the highest view of God's omniscience.

[Mike-qtjp]

Here is absolute BIBLICAL proof that God does NOT cause or determine everything; In Jeremiah 19:5 God says, “They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did NOT COMMAND or mention, nor did it enter my mind.” 2nd Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is…not willing that ANY should perish but that ALL should come to repentance.” and yet, it also has Jesus saying, "Broad is the road that leads to destruction (hell) and many are on it, but straight and narrow is the road that leads to life (Heaven) and few ever find it."

[FALLNWRLD]

My Question would be: With Total depravity, does God choose us to be saved or does God set up circumstances so we can choose him to be saved? I have a hard time grasping this

[MontoyaBrandy]

Love is truth. God gives us tribulations to strengthen our faith! God knows the end from the beginning! Me finding Jesus was not my own doing! He found me! I wasn’t raised in a church!

[annakimborahpa]

Excerpt from John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter 21, Paragraph 7:
"We say, then, that Scripture clearly proves this much, that God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his PLEASURE one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his PLEASURE to doom to destruction."

Ezekiel, Chapter 18, Verses 23, 32 (ESV):
"Have I any PLEASURE in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? ... For I have NO PLEASURE in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live."

[penglim]

The asian churches do not delve into such deep theological understanding of GOD. At least I had not heard sermons based on theology. Most believers are just happy that GOD loves them. I thought maybe because we lack this teaching we are weak in faith. However, after finding out that quite a number of pastors and priests and those born in christian families had chose to leave the church (US and the West), just thinking, perhaps Christians need, not only, the full understanding of what GOD does to redeem sinners, but also, the building of relationship with GOD. The stress here is Christians need to build an intimate relationship with GOD. This is with the hope that we may remain a believer in spite of our up and down, difficulty and problem we face in this life.

[danielcartwright]

I think Leighton Flowers and others have demonstrated that there is always a better way to interpret Calvinist prooftexts that accounts for freewill and is more hermneutically sound than what the Calvinist has on offer, and I don't think it takes Molinism to do it.