tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post164894506727370485..comments2024-03-28T19:56:42.305-05:00Comments on Alexander Pruss's Blog: Frank Beckwith's new bookAlexander R Prusshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-7848400906150045412009-01-09T20:27:00.000-06:002009-01-09T20:27:00.000-06:00Speaking autobiographically, while I take open the...Speaking autobiographically, while I take open theism to be heretical, I don't have trouble counting the open theist a Christian. <BR/><BR/>It's particularly easy to accept as a Christian the open theist who thinks that there are no contingent truths about how the future will be. For such an open theist may well believe that God knows all the truths. She just doesn't think there are as many truths as orthodoxy thinks there are.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, the view that God knows all the knowable truths clearly doesn't do justice to omniscience. (And, besides, <A HREF="http://prosblogion.ektopos.com/archives/2008/12/a-sound-argumen.html" REL="nofollow">one can't really make sense</A> of such a restriction.)Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-46848632362262722842009-01-09T16:14:00.000-06:002009-01-09T16:14:00.000-06:00Well I suppose Open Theism (as you find it in evan...Well I suppose Open Theism (as you find it in evangelical circles) would count as a moderately conservative position, but when I think about how an open theist actually views God and his relation to the world, it seems so radically different from my own more traditional conception that I am led to doubt whether we can sensibly be said to worship the same God at all.<BR/><BR/>You mention denying the Trinity or the Incarnation, but it seems far too easy to be able to give lip service to these sorts of doctrines - look what the open theist says: "Of course God knows everything! It just that the future is logically impossible to know!".<BR/><BR/>The sort of criteria I think I would go for in assessing someone's claim to be a Christian would be a combination of<BR/><BR/>1) the religious picture suggested by their conception of God, and<BR/>2) their fruits (Matt 7:16), the degree to which you can see the likeness of Christ in them.<BR/><BR/>If someone falls short of these, then I feel it would be inappropriate for me to welcome them <I>as a Christian</I>. To do so would be to trivialize the differences between me and them, differences which are surely important.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-39188808700368021712009-01-09T12:53:00.000-06:002009-01-09T12:53:00.000-06:00Mattie:As a Catholic, I have yet to find myself in...Mattie:<BR/><BR/>As a Catholic, I have yet to find myself in this position vis-a-vis any moderately conservative Christian. With respect to a liberal Christian, well, still, unless the person openly denies the Trinity and the Incarnation, or something like that, one should try to presume commitment.Alexander R Prusshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05989277655934827117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-19035710801541063232009-01-09T11:03:00.000-06:002009-01-09T11:03:00.000-06:00Division may lead to hatred, but division between ...<I>Division may lead to hatred, but division between people committed to Christ is also an opportunity for great love.</I><BR/><BR/>Of course, but what do you do when you feel that the doctrinal differences are severe enough to call into question their claim to be committed to Christ? This is a problem I often find myself with when I hang out with denominationally different Christians.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3891434218564545511.post-1794568678701347542009-01-09T09:42:00.000-06:002009-01-09T09:42:00.000-06:00Thank you so much for your kind words, Alex. BTW,...Thank you so much for your kind words, Alex. BTW, if you haven't noticed yet, you are mentioned in note 3 for chapter 6 on page 140: <BR/><BR/><B>I owe this illustration to my colleague in the Baylor philosophy department,<BR/>Alexander Pruss.</B>Francis Beckwithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03765632359220115150noreply@blogger.com