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{"id":13118,"date":"2025-10-16T14:41:57","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T19:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/?p=13118"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:41:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T19:41:57","slug":"why-i-am-an-evangelical-arminian-continued","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rogereolson\/2025\/10\/why-i-am-an-evangelical-arminian-continued\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Am an Evangelical Arminian continued"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

As I move on in this series of \u201cmy principles,\u201d what I say will increasingly assume readers\u2019 knowledge of the previous essays. Unlike many television shows, I will not \u201csummarize\u201d the main points after each \u201ccommercial break.\u201d I will simply depend on readers, and especially commenters, to have read through the series so far.<\/p>\n

Lots of truths matter; the search for truth is multi-directional. But the most important truths lie beyond the mundane, beyond the utilitarian, beyond the immediate and pressing needs of daily problem-solving. All that is to say that \u201ccash value\u201d is not the most important question; the most important questions of life have to do with ultimate, not penultimate matters.<\/p>\n

Some will say, and at least pretend to believe, there are no answers to life\u2019s ultimate questions, but wise men and women have always pressed toward them. Inquiring minds want to know. And all minds become inquiring minds\u2014about life\u2019s ultimate questions\u2014in certain circumstances.<\/p>\n

What are life\u2019s ultimate questions? For me, and for many others throughout history, they are (among others): What is the meaning of life? Why are we here? Why is there something rather than nothing? What is the \u201cgood life?\u201d Is there a God or something\/someone(s) beyond us (transcendence and not just transcending)? Is there life after death? Where and how can I find hope in the midst of suffering? What is true? What is good? What is beautiful?<\/p>\n

I believe treating these questions dismissively as having no real or definite answers is lazy and ultimately impossible; they intrude and impinge. They can be repressed, but not dismissed.<\/p>\n

Philosophers, whether professional or amateur, have attempted to discover answers to life\u2019s ultimate questions for millennia. Some, especially in the twentieth century and since, have given up and focused solely on analysis of language. To me that is sheer escapism and an abdication of philosophical duty.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, having said that, my opinion is that philosophy alone cannot discover any definite answers to life\u2019s ultimate questions<\/em>. Philosophy can and does (sometimes) helpfully bring the questions to expression, but philosophy alone cannot answer them.<\/p>\n

But we need answers; we live from answers. Every mature person has some apprehension of answers even if only dimly conceived. We cannot live by bread alone; we need some vision of ultimacy to ground ethics. Right and wrong depend on a vision of ultimate reality, meaning and purpose.<\/p>\n

My considered opinion, working principle, assumption verified by life experience and thought, is that if there are answers to life\u2019s ultimate questions they must be revealed by ultimate reality itself<\/em>. We cannot free ourselves from Plato\u2019s cave by ourselves; unless we are liberated from it to the light of truth we will forever stay chained in the shadow play of guessing at truth.<\/p>\n

In this principle I presuppose no particular set of answers or method of their revelation. I only presuppose, reasonably, I believe, that if<\/em> the meaning of life<\/u> is to be discovered at all it must be by receiving its revelation from beyond ourselves<\/em>. Here I do not presuppose that \u201cfrom beyond ourselves\u201d necessarily means something supernatural; perhaps, although I doubt it, such revelation could come through what Plato called \u201canamnesis\u201d\u2014remembrance of a latent and suppressed truth within ourselves. That would still be a form of revelation. My point is simply that answers to life\u2019s ultimate questions cannot be created or discovered by sensory observation and discursive thought alone<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Also, the sheer fact that a bewildering variety of claimed revelations of such (viz., answers to life\u2019s ultimate questions) exists says nothing to me about the issue of truth. For me, the issue of truth can only be settled, however tentatively and with humility, by means of the criteria I stated before\u2014coherence<\/em> and experience<\/em>.<\/p>\n

It is, of course, impossible to examine all the claims of revealed answers to life\u2019s ultimate questions; there are simply too many \u201cout there\u201d\u2014in the world now and historically in the past. My tendency, like most people\u2019s, is to accept the one in which I was nurtured but (!) with the proviso: insofar as it continues to pass the tests of coherence and experience<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Now, some will object that any revelation from beyond must not be subjected to finite testing; if it is truly \u201cfrom beyond\u201d it provides its own proof of truth independent of creaturely testing. I ask what \u201cproof\u201d that would be? The answer is usually something like \u201cKierkegaardian defiance\u201d\u2014fideism. Even Kierkegaard, however, was not open to every claimed revelation\u2014however powerful and transformative it might be. I believe every mature, reflective person<\/u> does<\/em> and must<\/em> apply logical <\/em>and experiential tests<\/em> when confronted with any claimed revelation of ultimate truth\u2014his or her own or another\u2019s\u2014insofar as making a decision about it is important.<\/p>\n

*Note to commenters:<\/em> This blog is not a discussion board; please respond with a question or comment solely to me (or the guest writer). If you do not share my evangelical Christian perspective, feel free to ask a question for clarification, but know that this is not a space for debating incommensurate perspectives\/worldviews. In any case, know that there is no guarantee that your question or comment will be posted by the moderator or answered by the writer. If you hope for your question or comment to appear here and be answered or responded to, make sure it is civil, respectful, and \u201con topic.\u201d Do not comment if you have not read the entire post and do not misrepresent what it says. Keep any comment (including questions) to 100 words or less; do not post essays, sermons or testimonies here. Do not post links to internet sites here. This is a space for expressions of the blogger\u2019s (or guest writers\u2019) opinions and constructive dialogue among especially evangelical Christians.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"