Guest Post: What’s it all about, Alfie?

Note: This is a guest post.  This is by Dan Carwright.  He’s been a brother who has been iron sharpening iron with us on here and social media for years.  His blog can be found here.  He also tweets.

The title of this post is the first line of a popular late 60’s tune called Alfie that was the title song of a 1966 British film movie by the same name. The film tells the story of a young man who leads a self-centered life, purely for his own enjoyment, until events force him to question his uncaring behavior, his loneliness and his priorities. It was also the first film to receive the “suggested for mature audiences” classification by the Motion Picture Association of America in the US. The song asks Alfie about the real meaning of life.

All that being beside the point of this post, the question “What’s it all about, Alfie?” came to mind while I was trying to figure out what the Calvinist/Non-Calvinist, or Calvinism v. Arminianism debate is really all about. The long-standing debate has surfaced recently within the ranks of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), as evidenced by the consternation of certain SBC self-titled ‘non-Calvinists’ at the rising numbers of Calvinists within the SBC,

I always come away from much of the debate wondering what it’s really all about. Some say it’s about God’s complete sovereignty in the salvation of men v. human autonomy. That does seem to be the case, but is there an even deeper issue that we can address? Is there a real and identifiable ‘root cause’? I think there is and have reached the point of not debating the issue, but rather asking a single question – “What is the nature of the fallen human will. What follows is the reasoning behind my questions.

We all agree we have ‘free choice’. God does not force our choices. Put another way, we choose what we want to choose in any given situation, even if reluctantly (like buying a new car from a pushy salesperson). We also tend to equate free ‘choice’ with free ‘will’, but this isn’t that debate either. The bottom line question, in my opinion, is “What is the state of the fallen human will?”

And guess what? Although I have an opinion about that too, I’m not going to try and persuade you to accept it. What I would like to do is refer you to what are perhaps the two best works ever written about the human will after the fall:. The first is “The Bondage of the Will”, by Matrtin Luther, which can be found here. The second is “The Freedom of the Will”, by Jonathan Edwards, which can be found here.

Although the titles of these works seem to be opposites, they really aren’t. They represent different approaches to the question while essentially presenting the same conclusion. My encouragement to you, the reader, is to add both to your collection of important texts, if you haven’t already. They might enhance what you already believe, or they might prompt a change of direction in your thinking.

Either way, what scripture tells us about the fallen human will serve to Biblically inform our thoughts and opinions, not to mention our evangelistic efforts, which is another subject unto itself!

Be blessed!

P.S. Here are the links to the documents I mentioned above again:

The Bondage of the Will – Martin Luther

The Freedom of the Will – Jonathan Edwards

 

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