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: : A VERY excellent response!!! : : For those of LIKEmindedness on this Post.... check out the link BELOW!! : : : : Dean, Founder and Moderator of "Calvinist Singles" on Yahoo! Groups : : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/calvinistsingles/ : : : : : Charles Finney , although admired by many today, : : : was in fact a Pelagian heretic, who preached a false : : : gospel of human sovereignty. Although professing to be : : : a Presbyterian at his ordination, he was as his former : : : profession would suggest, a liar. He claimed to : : : adhere to the Westminster Confession, when in fact he : : : hated every doctrine in it, especially, God's : : : sovereignty, election, justification by imputed : : : righteous (which he decried as legal nonsense). : : : In addition he believed that regeneration was : : : a work of man, not God, and used every means to get : : : a decision for Christ, ie. his christ, his false : : : christ. He has caused untold numbers of people to be : : : deceived into thinking they were saved, when in fact : : : they were lost. His 'jesus' did not die for men's sins, : : : but was simply an example of suffering to cause us to : : : bemoan our sins, his 'jesus' could not save, since he : : : needed man's co-operation to help him. In short, he was : : : one of the worst heretics I have ever encountered, and : : : is as the Synod of Dordt called Arminius 'that Pelagian : : : lie come up again out of hell'. : : : Do not read his works if you wish to know about the : : : gospel. Read the Bible. : : : 'But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other : : : gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto : : : you, let him be accursed' (Galatians 1:8) : Dear fellow Christians : Be careful how you read criticisms of Finney. Much of the criticisms that have been level at his theology and ministry have already long been play out during his life time. He was called to account by his denomination, and answered the objectors, as did Nathan Taylor who also held 'similar' views. Drummund, who was also a biographer for Billy Graham, wrote an excellent biography on Finney which deals with this. I must confess until some 13 years ago I held Finney's theological views. I studied his theology deeply, and admired his accounts of minsitry. I found nothing worrying in the man's life, nor his sincere and pionate approach. The reason I gave up endorsing his theology lay in Finney'doctrine of perfection, it totally lacked the possibility of any arrurance of perserverance in entire sanctification. He taught the possibility, but had no way for someone to be certain they could remain in it. Since I became disillusioned with Finney's theology as a system, I returned to reading Reformed theology, finding Herman Ridderbos helpful as a corrective to Finney's errors (not that Ridderbos even knew of Finney). A lot of criticism of Finney says he has a Catholic theology of salvation, in Ridderbos' 'Paul'Finney's view more closely fit that of the common Juadism of Paul's time, and also expressed in the teaching of the Quram sect at the Dead Sea. : The troubling thing concerning criticisms today about Finney is that they appear to misrepresent his views by truncating his views. Phillip Johnson is a good example of that, probably the result of an attorneys argumentive method. But to some one who has read most every thing in print written by Finney, it is not hard to see the biased presentation of his views. Finney himself, during his life, complained that his critics never took the time to understand what he said, in order to make a levelled critique. It is the same today. : My own opinion concerning Finney, having been a 'follower' in the past,but certainly no longer, is that he is a man of his time, who had more pion and heart than his opponents, but his theology is more a product of the philosophies of Jeremy Bentham and Adam Smith than of the Church teaching. His theology is by no means 'heretical', in the 'Heart of Truth' he teaches from scripture, verse by verse, the deity of Christ, the Trinity and the Character of God in very orthodox beliefs. He was not a Pelegian, since he never believe anyone could be saved without the moral influence of the Holy Spirit; he believe all sinners were always unwilling to submit to God unless the Holy Spirit moves them to surrender. The rest of his doctrine are really a tactical calvinistically worded Arminism. He had a mission to get the stayed Calvinists of his time moving to obey God, so he used the calvinist language with Arminian theolgy. If he is a heretic for being an Arminian then so are the Wesleys, the Quakers, the Salvation Army (which even directly used Finney's theology in the begginning)etc etc. Only a person who looks on 'calvinist' alone as 'evangelical' would brand him a heretic. I believe Finney represents a period in American history that is now past, his theology belong there, but we could learnt from someone with his pion. Keith Green was a man heavily influence by Finney, who has been responsible for challenging many to a pion for the LORD. The New Zealand Evangelist Winkey Pratney is an blessed minister who uses Finney's teachings, not in full I believe, but I would not doubt his orthodoxy. : Care needs to be taken to distinguish between teachers that are misguided and those that are rank heretics who have rejected the faith. If we see only Reformed teaching as 'orthodox' then we as Protestants falls into the same type of error that the Mormons and JWs do, believing that the true church disappeared and re-emerged with the beggining of their 'church'. 'The gates of Hell will not prevail against' her, there has always been an orthodox church, even if it has had unbelievers and deceived beleivers in it. : In hope for caution and more pion in Christ : Paul Robinson

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