Calvinism and Arminianism:
Myths & Realities
Calvinist, James White: “If you think about it, if God really knows what man’s going to do, is man really free?, and that’s why the Open Theists go the direction that they do.” (Arminianism: It Robs the Gospel of its Personal Nature, emphasis mine)
James White adds: “How God can know future events, for example, and yet not determine them, is an important point….” (Debating Calvinism, p.163, emphasis mine)
So in other words, God can only know what He determines. That doesn’t do much for omniscience, and also leaves no room for Middle Knowledge, which is the knowledge of all possible choices. According to Calvinism, God would have to determine all of the possible choices too, in order to infallibly know them. Since all possible choices are infinite, God would have to determine something that is infinite. It would be interesting to see a Calvinist try to explain that.
Question: Then how can Calvinism account for Middle Knowledge, that is, God’s knowledge of all contingencies, that is, all of the what-ifs, in terms of what could be, and would be, if certain changes occurred, as taught by Jesus at Matthew 11:20-24?
Turn to the discussion on Matthew 11:20-24.
Arminian Charge: Calvinism cannot account for Middle Knowledge.
Myth or Reality: A Calvinist reasons that if the future is perfectly known by God, then it is determined, and hence Free Will cannot exist. But what if God simply knows what man self-determines?
