R*o
发帖数: 3781 | 1 by Dave Hunt
When You're Dead, Are You Dead?
Another major argument the Calvinist uses for Total Depravity is that by nat
ure we are all "dead in trespasses and in sins" (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2
:13). Sproul calls this statement "A predestination passage par excellence."
33 Continuing the fallacious equating of spiritual death to physical death,
Gordon H. Clark writes, "A dead man cannot exercise faith in Jesus Christ."
34 Of course, neither can a dead man reject Christ, or even sin. The analog
y simply doesn't fit. Nevertheless, James R. White, quoted above, whose book
is endorsed by a host of evangelical leaders, continuing this analogy, writ
es:
... the fallen sons of Adam are dead in sin, incapable of even the first mov
e toward God ... filled with the effect of depravity and alienation from God
. . ..35
Here the Bible is being made to say what it does not in fact state. We are j
ust as clearly told that Christians are "dead to sin" (Romans 6:2,7,11, etc.
). Does that mean that they are therefore "incapable of the first move towar
d" sin? Certainly not. Take a human understanding of "dead," mix it together
with the young John Calvin's immature understanding of God's Word, tainted
by Augustinian philosophy, stir it up and out comes the theory of Total Depr
avity. White carries this humanistic reasoning to its logical conclusion, as
do other Calvinists, and that leads to absurdities such as the following fr
om Palmer:
The biblical picture, however, is of a man at the bottom of the ocean .... H
e has been there for a thousand years and the sharks have eaten his heart ..
. the man is dead and is totally unable to ask any lifeguard to save him. If
he is to be saved, then a miracle must occur. He must be brought back to li
fe and to the surface, and then ask the guard to rescue him ....
When Christ called to Lazarus to come out of the grave, Lazarus had no life
in him so that he could hear, sit up, and emerge .... If he was to be able t
o hear Jesus calling him and to go to Him, then Jesus would have to make him
alive. Jesus did resurrect him and then Lazarus could respond.
These illustrations reveal the most central issue between the Arminian and t
he Calvinist .... The Arminian has the cart before the horse. Man is dead in
sins ... unable to ask for help unless God ... makes him alive spiritually
(Eph. 2:5). Then, once he is born again, he can for the first time turn to J
esus, expressing sorrow for his sins and asking Jesus to save him. 36
The Bible, of course, uses "dead" as an analogy in many ways, and none of th
em warrants such Calvinistic correlations between spiritual and physical dea
th. Sproul himself admits that "Spiritually dead people are still biological
ly alive." 37 Even though Pink's brand of Calvinism is too extreme for many
Calvinists, he correctly points out the fallacy of using physical death to e
xplain what it means to be dead in trespasses and sins:
There are some who say, the unregenerated are dead, and that ends the matter
- they cannot have any responsibility .... A corpse in the cemetery is no s
uitable analogy of the natural man. A corpse in the cemetery is incapable of
performing evil! A corpse cannot "despise and reject" Christ (Isaiah 53:3),
cannot "resist the Holy Spirit" (Acts 7:51), cannot disobey the gospel (2 T
hessalonians 1:8); but the natural man can and does do these things! 38
When we come to the Calvinist's interpretation of what it means for man to b
e dead in sin and dead to God, the "T" of TULIP begins to overlap with the t
eaching on Irresistible Grace. Therefore, the remainder of the discussion wi
ll be deferred concerning man's spiritual death and alleged inability to res
pond to the gospel. | R*o
发帖数: 3781 | 2 Dave Hunt made a very good point here. Dead people cannot do good things in
cluding choosing to accept Jesus Christ. by the same token, neither can the
Dead do any bad things including rejecting Jesus Christ, because the
y are dead!
right?
nat
2
death,
."
analog
book
writ
【在 R*o 的大作中提到】
: by Dave Hunt
: When You're Dead, Are You Dead?
: Another major argument the Calvinist uses for Total Depravity is that by nat
: ure we are all "dead in trespasses and in sins" (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2
: :13). Sproul calls this statement "A predestination passage par excellence."
: 33 Continuing the fallacious equating of spiritual death to physical death,
: Gordon H. Clark writes, "A dead man cannot exercise faith in Jesus Christ."
: 34 Of course, neither can a dead man reject Christ, or even sin. The analog
: y simply doesn't fit. Nevertheless, James R. White, quoted above, whose book
: is endorsed by a host of evangelical leaders, continuing this analogy, writ
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