Dr. James Willingham

Dear Cheryl: I have sat all evening reading through every one of the interviews and found them for the most part very informative, based on careful exposition, and, for the most part, satisfying. I am still looking, however, for your comment on the husband of one wife. Did I miss it somewhere. My wife wanted to see that in particular, so I looked diligently, but I could have overlooked it as I read in a hurry. There is also one area which I wish to have you address to me – which you might do in an email for he sake of discussion without distraction, and that is on Roms.5:12. I would want to know your sources, approach, type of hermeneutics, etc. One of he questions during my ordination put to me by Dr. Ernest R. Campbell who was a genius wit a Ph.D. from Bob Jones was :”What do you believe about the fall of man?” I answered: “Which answer d you ant. There are six.” (I was thinking of A. H. Strong’s Systematic Theology among others whch I had outlined along with 4other books of systematic theology. Dr. C’s reply was: “Jim, don’t be a smart-alec.” He knew Iwas trying to evade the issue of the fall of man and the two Adam questions. So I eventually came to the conclusion about man’s fallen nature from Adam and his subsequent spiritual inability from such little words as “can” and “may”, one referring of crse to ability and the other to permission. If man is unable to respond, then it requires God’s choice and irresistible grace to bring him out of his spiritual disability, deadness, darkness, depravity, and dabolic nature (child of satan). I am very interested to see how your careful expositions have influence you in this most important area. Also I should point out that there are some who want these positions to be misrepresented, and what better way to get them misrepresented than by some one who has a strong ego and does believe them but has misunderstandings…which ruin perceptions and performances. Driscoll means well I think, butmostof the believers today in sovereign grace have had few and mostly poor representatives of the position as models and mentors. As a result thy don’t quite no how to go abou presenting their case. The result can be somewhat sad. Good mentors are wanting in this work…of how to model the theology that God saw fit to bless as the truth for a Great Awakening… Even two of them. And the hymn of the ages catches the essence of it, even AMAZIN GRACE…WHICH YOU KNOW. That is a hymn t Sovereign Grace bya wretched reprobate who had been converted by such grace and then became a preacher of it and a worker for the abolition of slavery, John Newton.