Monergism & Synergism
A Response to an A/C "Primer" from A&O ministries
Submitted by Martin Glynn on Wed, 04/25/2012 - 7:45amI was going to write a second post on corporate election, but I am postponing it to look at something which Alan Kurschner has recently put out on Dr. James White's blog. He calls it a primer though it is more like propaganda. A primer for a debate should lay out both positions simply in the way in which the respective parties would approve. SEA has attempted to do just that with our own primer. However, Kurschner has absolutely failed in this regard. Indeed, I would suspect that this is simply supposed to poison the well for anyone new to the debate. So I am going to examine this primer to see how it really holds up to scrutiny:
Response to Piper's "What Made It OK for God to Kill Women, Children in Old Testament?"
Submitted by SEA on Tue, 02/14/2012 - 8:38amThis was written by SEA member Bob Anderson in response to John Piper's recent post "What Made It OK for God to Kill Women, Children in Old Testament?" He gave us permission to post it here:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/what-made-it-ok-for-god-to-kill-wom...
I read Piper’s post and want to comment. I will begin by saying that I consider John Piper a brother in Christ, one who follows a different tradition than I do, but a brother none the less. He confesses the same God and same King as I. We differ in an internal understanding of how God works, but this difference does not exclude us from fellowship with each others as members of God’s family.
The above link is to a post that seeks to answer a difficult question, one which has been wrestled with for centuries – how are we to understand the goodness and righteousness of God in the light of human sinfulness.
So let’s examine the argument presented in the post.
Acts 13:48 and Calvinism - Dr. Cottrell explains
Submitted by drwayman on Tue, 01/10/2012 - 7:58amQUESTION: Dr. Cottrell, can you explain the meaning of Acts 13:48? It sounds very much like Calvinism to me.
ANSWER: This text summarizes the response of the Gentiles to the powerful preaching of the Apostle Paul at Antioch of Pisidia: “And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (ESV).
The Fallenness of Man, the Will and the Workings of Grace: An Exposition on Historical Arminian Theological Thought
This exposition discusses the earliest, historical beliefs of the Arminian theological tradition regarding the effects of the fall upon man, the nature of the will of man and the mode of grace in salvation. The primary source writings of the earliest and most influential Arminian writers such as Jacobus Arminius, Simon Episcopius and John Wesley were examined in light of both Arminian and non-Arminian secondary source material and thus exposited according that general understanding.
Several points of interest were found, including:
Scot McKnight, "For and Against Calvinism 9"
Submitted by SEA on Wed, 12/07/2011 - 8:34amFollow the link to view part 9 of distinguished NT scholar Scot McKnight's review of the books For Calvinism (by Michael Horton) and Against Calvinism (by Roger Olson): "For and Against Calvinism 9".
Ben Witherington, "The Reformed View of Regeneration vs. the Wesleyan Theology of Prevenient Grace"
Submitted by SEA on Mon, 11/21/2011 - 7:32amFollow the link to view distinguished NT scholar Ben Witherington, "The Reformed View of Regeneration vs. the Wesleyan Theology of Prevenient Grace" (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/bibleandculture/2011/11/18/the-reformed-vie...).
James White, Roger Olson & 1 Timothy 2:4
Submitted by postpre on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 2:19pmIn a recent blog post (10/13/2011), James White took issue with Roger Olson's references to 1 Timothy 2:4 in his new book, Against Calvinism. How does White's view stand up when further scrutinized?
Resistible Grace or Sinless Perfection? A Call For Theological Precision in The Calvinist Accounting of Monergistic Conversion
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Tue, 06/14/2011 - 10:49amA recent question in the ??Questions?? thread reminded me of an issue I raised long ago [1]. I thought it would be beneficial to raise this question again in more detail and maybe get some feedback from any Calvinists out there that may be able to come up with a satisfying answer.
Paul Washer’s – “Doctrine” of Election: An Arminian Critique
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Fri, 06/10/2011 - 12:51pmI have been frequently referred to Paul Washer’s video discussion, “Doctrine” of Election. I found the video transcript and decided it would be beneficial to interact with this apparently influential accounting of Calvinist election. The sections of the transcript are marked by indentation with my comments in between. A copy of the transcript can be found at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/21411721/Paul-Washer-Video-Transcript
Michael Bird on Calvinistic Synergism
Submitted by SEA on Fri, 03/25/2011 - 11:46amSome good comments from Calvinist Michael Bird, admitting that Calvinism (not just Arminianism) involves synergism (in the context of talking about Universalism):
Calvinists like to tout themselves as holding to a form of monergism whereby God alone works salvation in the individual, while those horrid Arminians and Catholics purportedly teach a synergism of divine and human wills. The problem is that any system of theology, including Calvinism, that recognizes a tension between divine sovereignty and human responsibility is going to entertain some form of synergism. Unless humans are nothing more than puppets there is always going to be the objective work of God countenanced with the subjective response of humanity to the divine work.
