Open Theism
...better than classical theism
Discussion Topic
4 comments
T. C., Nov 14, 2007:
Hi b R A D,
You have leveled several serious accusations against Openness. I wonder if you could back them up for us.
1) Can you cite the Openness authors and books where scripture is "distorted" and the correct interpretation?
2) Can you explain what are the "errors" of Open theism? (And please do cite Openness authors and make sure to use scripture to support your claims.)
3) Can you explain what are the "central" issues which Open theism addresses? (And please dont say the nature of God or soteriology which would betray your utter ignorance of the Openness position.)
I hope you have better answers than the typical pop Calvinist Piperite.
Josh Crain, Nov 18, 2007:
Just so that we're clear, Brad just posted a direct quote from John Piper. It was even used on the back of the book "God's Lesser Glory," a hack job written by Bruce Ware back in 2000. All that Ware proves throughout his 230 pages of "exegesis," is that he neither fully understands the positions of today's foremost Openness thinkers, nor is he willing to interact with their arguments directly.
I find that in most books refuting Openness, the tendency is to continue to bring up the same tired arguments despite the fact that Openness authors have addressed them. Someone who only reads a book against Open Theism, however, will not realize that the issue has already been resolved by Openness proponents and thus the misperceptions continue.
It's quite frustrating for me, and I can't imagine how irksome it must be for Boyd, Sanders, Pinnock, Hasker, etc.
T. C., Nov 18, 2007:
Last Summer i had the extreme pleasure of meeting Pinnock, Boyd, Sanders, Hasker (and even Polkinghorne) at a conference here in Boston. There were a couple debates at the conference: one between Hasker and Thomas Flint (a Molinist from Notre Dame) and one between Sanders and a Gordon-Conwell prof named Jack Davis. Despite the obviously annoying comment by Davis that Openness is "adolescent philosophy," the Openness proponents were remarkably calm about the opposition and i genuinely believe they dont let it bother them. None of them are worried about their eternal souls ;)
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