Post by messengermicah on Feb 16, 2008 13:50:09 GMT -5
Many people who hear about Finney's theology seem to get the idea he did not put much emphasis on the work of the Holy Ghost. I have heard this from others.
If you read Finney's Memoirs, Sermons, and his Systematic Theology (not what others say about it) you will find nothing is further from the truth.
Finney put a lot of emphasis on man's responsibility, his ability (free will), because he was dealing with Calvinists everywhere giving people the impression they had to wait for the Holy Ghost to regenerate them before they could repent, and if they were not "the elect" then it was no use repenting anyway.
He is very specific about what he is talking about and defines his terms. What he often means by one term is not what other authors are meaning.
I have been a Finney reader since 1996. I began by reading his sermons and memoirs and later his theology.
Anyone who knows anything about Finney would realize he was very dependent on the power of God.
He was a man of deep, fervent, agonizing, groaning prayer. He writes about prayer much in his Lectures on Revival.
Any person of deep prayer is a person who is dependent on the work of the Holy Ghost.
Anyone who is not a person of deep prayer does not put much emphasis on the work of the Holy Ghost.
One problem I have seen is many of today's MGT guys (I consider myself MGT also) read Finney's theology but are not people of deep, fervent prayer.
Too much religion in the head and not enough in the heart.
This is one reason we do not see more results. We have Finney's theology but not his results. We have his knowledge but not his burden. Not his agonizing prayer life for souls.
I think we would all do well to spend less time reading theology and debating it on the computer and more time praying and reading our Bibles.
If you read Finney's Memoirs, Sermons, and his Systematic Theology (not what others say about it) you will find nothing is further from the truth.
Finney put a lot of emphasis on man's responsibility, his ability (free will), because he was dealing with Calvinists everywhere giving people the impression they had to wait for the Holy Ghost to regenerate them before they could repent, and if they were not "the elect" then it was no use repenting anyway.
He is very specific about what he is talking about and defines his terms. What he often means by one term is not what other authors are meaning.
I have been a Finney reader since 1996. I began by reading his sermons and memoirs and later his theology.
Anyone who knows anything about Finney would realize he was very dependent on the power of God.
He was a man of deep, fervent, agonizing, groaning prayer. He writes about prayer much in his Lectures on Revival.
Any person of deep prayer is a person who is dependent on the work of the Holy Ghost.
Anyone who is not a person of deep prayer does not put much emphasis on the work of the Holy Ghost.
One problem I have seen is many of today's MGT guys (I consider myself MGT also) read Finney's theology but are not people of deep, fervent prayer.
Too much religion in the head and not enough in the heart.
This is one reason we do not see more results. We have Finney's theology but not his results. We have his knowledge but not his burden. Not his agonizing prayer life for souls.
I think we would all do well to spend less time reading theology and debating it on the computer and more time praying and reading our Bibles.