It is a difficult topic as one cannot deny either human responsibility or divine sovereignty without denying Scripture. This, Metzger claims, is at the heart of the issue in terms of the human will and fervent evangelism. I like the author pointing out that the "five points of Calvinism," being "formulated in reaction to five articles proposed by the Arminians" are far from a balanced statement. It emphasizes sovereignty in reaction to the extreme Arminian position...yet some seem to have taken Calvinism to the extreme of denying human responsibility in salvation. In other words, some become theologically blind through their theology (Spurgeon compares it to Nelson putting his blind eye to the telescope and complaining that he cannot see) and this reactionary statement actually becomes their soteriology. Anyway, the importance to this thread is the vital importance Metzger places on a Scriptural understanding of both towards evangelism.
Do you agree with this statement: "A scriptural emphasis on divine sovereignty and human responsibility should be at the heart of a right view of the human will and a recovery of fervent evangelism today (pg. 109)"?
Why or why not?
I don't know. Listening to RC Sproul and reading Reisinger I would say no, but are they fully Biblical? They are men, but you are correct one cannot get past the notion of a FREE WILL. I was out witnessing yesterday and did some open air preaching (
http://vimeo.com/105449316) I do this because of what I have been taught by some that God will draw the elect to salvation and they will hear the message and all I am doing is planting seeds. Back in the Bible belt I was able to get into some deep discussions with people when I open aired, but that has not been the case in Denver, probably because of the area, the location, and such as there are so many factors. One factor is that Greenville was a college town with lots of thinkers roaming the streets, while Denver is not, and so people are blind to the gospel and will not use their minds. Their god is Hedonism, pleasure, money, materialism, themselves, etc..This is a good reason why we split our efforts to not just open air, but also one on one conversations. We took one person to lunch yesterday so that is the kind of Gospel witness that I believe that both Conway and Metzger encourage, a witness that helps people, and we did it by also giving out tracts. Sure it would be great to have an hour long chat, but so many these days are so busy and running around that few have time for a long conversation, so tracts are great ways to share ones faith.
Back to your question. Again I am not totally sure. This one I will need to pray and study more. It may be possible I have been deceived by certain misled authors whom have put the scriptures into their system of theology, when a reading of the scripture without the filter of the system would break their theology in this one area. This may indeed be possible as anyone whom can think would see Divine Sovereignty and Human responsibly in the Bible.
