tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post2133784748272261535..comments2024-02-29T19:21:32.831-05:00Comments on Possible Worlds: What exactly does it take to be a Molinist?Randy Everisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-89389179781188385712014-09-15T19:27:04.063-04:002014-09-15T19:27:04.063-04:00Hey Evan, thanks for the comment! I hope you'r...Hey Evan, thanks for the comment! I hope you're doing well, and glad you're a Molinist! :)Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-40585604538262042002014-09-15T00:12:11.297-04:002014-09-15T00:12:11.297-04:00When I think about things I've said and writte...When I think about things I've said and written in the past, I can now see there was an underlying assumption of Middle Knowlege. I think I've been a Molinist for a long time even though I clamed the title "Arminian" because I believed in libertarian free will, resistible/prevenient grace, unlimited atonement, God's universal salvic will etc. I still believe in these things of course, I just also have a Molinist understanding of God's knowledge and how He can use that knowledge to achieve His ends. I believe God has 3 logical moments of knowledge, not just two. Evan Mintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04849664329253455702noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-13569929401117619522013-08-19T19:28:06.514-04:002013-08-19T19:28:06.514-04:00Thanks David! I'm so sorry it took me so long ...Thanks David! I'm so sorry it took me so long to reply to you. God bless and thanks for the comment!Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-49469831834051628342013-06-19T15:01:50.264-04:002013-06-19T15:01:50.264-04:00Thanks for the summation of Molinist positions! A...Thanks for the summation of Molinist positions! As a Christian who finds the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum theory fascinating, I really appreciate this particular school of theology. Good stuff. Davidhttp://www.shookfoilbooks.com/page12/index.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-10253964068301097322011-11-14T22:19:07.829-05:002011-11-14T22:19:07.829-05:00I'm sorry, please read "transworld deprav...I'm sorry, please read "transworld depravity" as "transworld damnation." I actually do believe in the former for sure. :)Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-49308808385805156802011-11-14T22:18:32.902-05:002011-11-14T22:18:32.902-05:00Hi Peter, thanks for the comment. I am definitely ...Hi Peter, thanks for the comment. I am definitely a Molinist, and I see the merit of transworld depravity more and more all the time. I honestly just struggle with having to reinterpret Scripture to get there. They could be right, but I don't find TWD as necessary, and hence I'm not sure where to go with it. I am in fact an OSAS Molinist, kind of in the style of Ken Keathley (great writer, btw), but that of course is not essential to Molinism. :)Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-87069229956455594092011-11-14T21:05:45.495-05:002011-11-14T21:05:45.495-05:00Nice post. Like you, I'm not sure whether or n...Nice post. Like you, I'm not sure whether or not I believe in transworld damnation, but I do think Molinism answers a lot of questions.<br /><br />I consider myself a Wesleyan-Molinist or a non-OSAS Molinist : )Peterhttp://www.simmondsfam.com/blog/faith/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-81404234396375806092011-09-12T15:46:11.081-04:002011-09-12T15:46:11.081-04:00I only just now realized how you must've read ...I only just now realized how you must've read #1 above Max! With "will happen" and "would happen" as descriptions of "could happen"! I will write more clearly next time to avoid that problem. I definitely do not want to say everything that could happen would in fact happen :)Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-92021207289757907422011-08-17T17:52:47.319-04:002011-08-17T17:52:47.319-04:00Hi Max. I am just stating the simplistic descripti...Hi Max. I am just stating the simplistic descriptions for God's natural knowledge (what could happen), his free knowledge (what will actually happen), and his middle knowledge (what would happen in any other various counterfactual circumstances). Whether or not this obtains in a multiverse, or something like modal realism (a la David Lewis), is up for debate, but not essential to Molinism as a whole. Does that help?Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-3047358389739669982011-08-17T17:49:53.733-04:002011-08-17T17:49:53.733-04:00Mike, that is because Plantinga taught at Calvin C...Mike, that is because Plantinga taught at Calvin College and is well-known for espousing Reformed epistemology. However, most contemporary Calvinists do not accept him, and I think Plantinga himself does not self-designate as a Calvinist, but as Reformed (and it's arguable he means specifically in epistemology and not with respect to causal determinism).Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-15818801304902766592011-08-17T16:57:11.005-04:002011-08-17T16:57:11.005-04:00I'm not quite sure what you mean by point #1 a...I'm not quite sure what you mean by point #1 and how it's related to Molinism. It sounds more like the third level multiverse...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-40027449270266431432011-08-17T15:47:40.677-04:002011-08-17T15:47:40.677-04:00Yeah, after I read my own comment I thought "...Yeah, after I read my own comment I thought "well Plantinga isn't even a compatibilist" based on this essay and his free will theodicy. I guess I was thinking of the Calvinism comment you made and I seem to recall Plantinga being a Calvinist.Mike Gagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05034037930336299849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-61439035888134689892011-08-17T13:14:05.316-04:002011-08-17T13:14:05.316-04:00Dr. Mike, looks like you nailed it with your last ...Dr. Mike, looks like you nailed it with your last paragraph as far as I can tell. Compatiblism asserts that there is no discrepancy between causal determinism and freedom, whereas Plantinga and other Molinists will claim that such is incompatible. What they defend is that God's foreknowledge is compatible with free actions. So you've completely got what they believe, as far as I can tell.Randy Everisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06870605678781409126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1433428682510068517.post-51075578623690484852011-08-17T09:34:39.765-04:002011-08-17T09:34:39.765-04:00I'm not clear on why this is libertarian. I re...I'm not clear on why this is libertarian. I remember reading two papers a long time ago. The first was by Nelson Pike, I think, called something like God's Foreknowledge and Human Freedom are Incompatible. And the Plantinga wrote the response paper called God' Foreknowledge and Human Freedom are Compatible. <br /><br />If I remember correctly, Plantinga argues that if God knows that Jones is going to cut his grass at time t, that doesn't mean there is not some other possible world where Jones does not cut his grass at time t. This is certainly oversimplified, but you get the idea - a compatibilist defense. But he certainly wasn't invoking any causal role for God. It just so happened that God had foreknowledge, and it would make sense to expand that into the other possible worlds.<br /><br />In other words, the compatibility in Plantinga's solution doesn't seem to be between causal determinism and freedom, but between foreknowledge and freedom. That seems to be the same thing going on with Molinism. But I don't really know that much abotu Calvinism, so there could be more to it than that.Mike Gagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05034037930336299849noreply@blogger.com