My Correspondence With a Monergist Theologian
The following is correspondence between myself and a theologian who runs a rather popular internet site that endorses the five points of Calvinism, as well as authors various articles on the subject for his site and others. I originally sent emails to several Calvinists concerning the warning given in Revelation 22:19, curious to know how they reconciled such scripture with their beliefs. We continued to email back and forth for a few days until he asked that we discontinue. I sent him no further replies, but imagine my surprise when I saw my question (along with a rather lengthy rebuttal by him) posted on another site (where he is a contributing author) a few days later! But hey, I'm not ashamed of what I say, so I have no problem with them posting it; in fact, I'd like to show the entirety of the correspondence between us, with the occasional bit of witty (of half-witty, according to some sources) commentary by yours truly interspersed throughout, which will be denoted by this rather unhealthy green pallor.
The original question from me:
subj: Question about perseverance of the saints
Dear Mr. __________,
I have read over some of the articles on your site would like to pose a question to you from the scriptures concerning the monergism/synergism debate. I have studied the cases of Calvinism, Arminianism, etc. for some time now, and soteriologically lean heavily towards Synergism. The question I ask is how do you reconcile your belief of perseverance of the saints with the warning given in Revelation 22:19? I have posed this question to quite a few Calvinist friends and authors, and the most intellectually sound answer I have gotten thus far is that God simply gives such warnings to keep His elect from falling away. The irony of that argument is that if God's purpose in issuing such a warning is that we 'take heed lest we fall,' then why am I in theological error for taking heed and believing that such a possibility could occur?
In Christ,
J.C. Thibodaux
See his response and my rebuttal, a gripping five-part miniseries!
Chapter 2: Judgement Day
Episode 3: Revenge of the Synergist
Canto 4: The Fellowship of the Webring
Part 5: Beyond Thunder-Dordt!*
or
See what he posted on the other website along with my rebuttal
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