A SUMMARY OF THE DAVE HUNT - JAMES WHITE
DEBATE
In my first article on this debate, which was what I actually
thought would be a one-time item, I said that this debate was MUCH ADO ABOUT
NOTHING OF ANY GREAT CONSEQUENCE. I am still of the same opinion, as I do not
think either debater was very effective on behalf of his particular
cause.
Actually, both debaters seem to be in general "bottom line"
agreement on the whole, despite their antagonisms. I cited some of these points
of major agreement in my first article.
I think White's quotation of
Spurgeon at the conclusion of his last article (page 420) is certainly the case
as to this debate. Among other things Spurgeon is quoted saying, "There is
nothing upon which men need to be more instructed than upon the question of what
Calvinism really is," and I think that applies to both White and Hunt, as
neither properly represented the views of orthodox, confessional
Calvinism.
I think Hunt's final words also appropriately describe the
case with both Hunt and White, words with which both sides can agree, "We
know that all who believe His promise to 'whosoever will' are saved eternally"
(page 427).
Hunt has at least highlighted one important fact,
although already well-known -- by giving several quotations from C. H. Spurgeon
-- that Calvinists of Spurgeon's stripe do not hold to "pre-faith
regeneration."
That view may be held by R. C. Sproul, James
White, and some others, but Hunt has admirably -- and inadvertently, it
seems -- corrected himself on the view of Spurgeon, whom he had previously
falsely charged as being an advocate of the "pre-faith regeneration" theory (The
Berean Call, page 2). Hunt has obviously seen the error of his way as to
Spurgeon's position, and he quotes frequently from Spurgeon in the debate
against that view. While he does not admit, confess or apologize for his past
misrepresentation of Spurgeon, we are nonetheless happy for Hunt's about-face on
Spurgeon.
White, in failing to advocate the confessional view of
Calvinism on the New Birth -- as held by Spurgeon -- has, in a somewhat puzzling
manner, demonstrated the significance of our standard confessions of
faith in the delineation of orthodox Calvinism. The metaphysical conclusions
he has presented in the effort to sustain the idea of "pre-faith regeneration"
reveal how vulnerable one can become when he ventures outside the perameter of
tried- and-tested confessional summaries. White performs in this debate like an
airplane pilot who strays from the information on the plane's instrument
panel.
If you want to read a substantial treatment of Calvinism, either
pro or con, you can forget this debate as a reliable source of information.
Neither Hunt's nor White's representation will be of any significant
enlightenment. -- Bob L. Ross
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