Hi, Chris!

Thanks for wanting my input!

I do not agree with the definition of monergism at all. It seems to leave out
human free agency and responsibility!

Monergism is the view that salvation in its initial point is entirely
the work of God. Monergists believe that because they believe that, as result
of the fall, people are spiritually dead. Their
spiritual deadness goes along with a hostility to God, so that they cannot
submit to the law of God, or hear, see, or understand the
spiritual things of God pertaining to the gospel and salvation. Monergists do
believe that it is God who provides regeneration
which is spiritual rebirth and this regeneration is new life in Christ and
provides the abilities of spiritual hearing, seeing, and
understanding needed to understand one's need of Christ and to come to Him. So,
they believe that regeneration comes first and faith
and repentance will flow from the epistemic capacities that the regenerated
sinner has as God reveals Himself, both by the law and by
Christ, in epistemic spiritual dimensions of the new life that the regenerated
person is having. Monergists tend to hold that all
people are responsible, though not able, to receive the Gospel in a saving way
until and unless these things happen to them. It is
also true that monergists believe that for all events, e, e occurs if and only
if God decretively wills e.

When the spiritual abilities are provided through regeneration, there begins an
interactive relationship with God that can very
dynamic. We are responsible to develop what He gives us etc.

Monergists believe all of this because they claim to find it in
Scripture. Monergists also hold that the level of reality that
God is on is so much higher than creature existence, that to
attempt to explain the causal power of God on creatures in their
free and responsible acts cannot be done. However, their
reading of the Bible understands the Bible as teaching compatibilism of divine
sovereignty and human freedom and responsibility. They
cannot explain how this works but they can give demonstrations of the
consistency of compatibilism to those who charge contradictions
etc.

Yes the good works of Christians are foreordained, Ephesians
2:10, however monergists believe that people are responsible
for obeying and doing and yet all the glory for good works
goes to God!

I can simply say that having read for the last 23 years much Christian
literature both monergist and synergist in Systematic theology
but also in regard to every day Christian living, prayer etc, I know of no
monergist work on prayer, or on Sanctification, or on the
Christian walk that regards people as puppets, or that is fatalistic, or that
diminishes human and Christian responsibility. Also, in
my own life, I experience what I have called in many earlier posts on fm, an
“interactive relationship” with God in very personal terms
but also in communal terms with people that I regularly pray with. Many
Synergists, not familiar with Monergist literature have
sterotypes of Calvinists and other Monergists that just are not true. Of
course, I am aware that there are extremists and people who
do not study very well who say all kinds of silly things. Synergists have such
people among them as do Monergists. But responsible
Monergists including people who have actually read, say, Augustine, and Calvin,
and Luther’s debate with Erasmus on the bondage of the
will, are people who tend to have a highly interactive relationships with God
and know very well about freedom and responsibility and
would be just as incensed as any synergist at attempts to claim that humans are
neither free and responsible. They would also tend to
say that the Bible itself has multiple concepts of freedom correlated to the
different states of human beings that the Bible talks
about. They would also say that the real issue is not free will, so much as
what do people desire?

I name three famous people from the 19th century, who demonstrate this claim
by their lives and writings-all Monergists: Hudson
Taylor, George Mueller, Charles Spurgeon! A fourth and fifth from earlier days,
would be Jonathan Edwards and John Bunyan.

Perhaps, if we can maintain good communication we can see that there can be much
profitable discussion that is mutually edifying for
both responsible Synergists and responsible Monergists. I am sure we can
mutually edify each other!

The main thing here is that monergists do not underestimate the
responsibility of people, saved or unsaved, before God. Unsaved
are held responsible to obey the Lord and the fact that they
cannot do it by their own power is because of the fall and their own
sin and desires.

The monergist sees all creaturely entities and events under the
direct causality of God both bringing them into existence and
sustaining them in existence. However, monergists do not think
God's primary causality wipes out creature causality at all but
rather sustains it and protects it! There is this radical level
distinction between God and creatures, such that secondary
causal agents, creatures, have causal powers and causal jobs to
do and are sustained in their doing by God's causality. Two
classic cases of this in the Bible are Joseph and his brothers in
Genesis 45 and 50 where he tells his brothers what they did to
him, they meant it for evil and God meant it for good. What I
call "double intentionality" in an earlier post about 9/11. The
other is Acts 2:23ff and Acts 4:27-28 where Peter says that
God by His predetermined forecounsel gathered together
Pontius Pilate and the Jews together to crucify Jesus Christ.
The verb 'gathered' is in the passive, but we know from the
Gospel narratives that the Jews actively wanted to kill Christ.
Christ, on the cross, prays to the Father, Father forgive them,
they do not know what they are doing.

Now a monergist will understand that these passages referred to
show the following things.

1. God determined to have Christ crucified by Pontius Pilate and
the Jews.

2. Those people included by God in the crucifixion, wanted to kill
Christ and did it freely.

3. Christ in His prayer reveals that in spite of being
predestinated to do this horrible event, they did it freely and
Christ prays for them to be forgiven. Well, then Christ knew
they were responsible for what they did, or He would not have
prayed that they be forgiven. No responsibility without freedom!

So, a monergist looks at texts like these and sees compatibilism
of God's Sovereign decree and human freedom and
responsibility.

Synergists who have a different view of human freedom will see
things differently of course!

The definition you shared with me seems to imply human inability at all points
of a Christian life. This is not so and this is the
defect of the definition.


Well, you hit a button, Chris!!!!!!

Feel free to write back on anything I wrote that you find yourself wanting to
respond to!

Blessings!!!!

Jon





Chris G Criminger wrote:

Hi Jon,
Someone sent me this definition of monergist and synergist (I
am
wondering if you agree with it or there needs to be some
modifying of one
or both of them yet?)

Thanks in advance - Chris C.

***********************************
> Quick definitions: Monergist believes all
> good
> actions, including salvation and faith come from God's direct
action
> and
> election and nothing comes from man. Synergist believes that
man
> cooperates
> with God in the process of salvation, and that it is partly
man's
> choice and
> will that determines the outcome. Synergists are prone to
> Palagianism,
> Monergists are prone to fatalism :-)

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Chris G Criminger wrote:

> Hi Jon,
> Someone sent me this definition of monergist and synergist (I am
> wondering if you agree with it or there needs to be some modifying of one
> or both of them yet?)
>
> Thanks in advance - Chris C.
>
> ***********************************
> > Quick definitions: Monergist believes all
> > good
> > actions, including salvation and faith come from God's direct action
> > and
> > election and nothing comes from man. Synergist believes that man
> > cooperates
> > with God in the process of salvation, and that it is partly man's
> > choice and
> > will that determines the outcome. Synergists are prone to
> > Palagianism,
> > Monergists are prone to fatalism :-)
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
> Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
> Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit:
> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.
>
>
> You can visit the faithmaps Yahoo groups web site to modify your
> delivery settings and review former messages @
>
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>
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