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http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/wesley.htm

In his letter to Wesley, Whitfield associates Unlimited Atonment with Universal Redemption and rejection of reprobation.

Also, Whitfield believes in unconditional election and that the Gospel is only the means with which election is realized.

However, If the Holy Spirit has to regenerate someone before hearing the Gospel, the Gospel cannot be the means of election, but only incidental to it.

What this would mean is that the person is no longer spiritually dead but yet not in Christ.

He is in some sort of spiritual limbo, neither in the first nor second Adam

, If the Holy Spirit has to regenerate someone before hearing the Gospel, the Gospel cannot be the means of election, but only incidental to it.

Regeneration is not salvation... it is the quickening spoken of in Eph 2...

One is quickened so one can hear the gospel and repent and believe.

Regeneration___> Hearing_______>Repentance and Faith _______>salvation

Personally I don't believe the disagreement hinges on Unlimited vs Limited Atonement. I know many of my Calvinists friends would disagree with me but I think it's a non-issue. In the end EVERYONE (Arminians included) believe in Limited Atonement in the sense that Christ died ONLY for His flock. I just happen to think Limited Atonement is "neater" in its approach to the issue.

The real issue, one that few Arminians are willing to face, is the Total Depravity of Man. Man is WICKED from day one. He/she is spiritually DEAD as a doornail and needs to be "raised from the dead". This of course flies in the face that man is basically good and needs to make a "decision".

Scripture says time and again you must be born again. Time and again God comes to people, not the other way around. Time and again the Bible says faith is a gift from God, not self manufactured. Time and again the Bible says we are "dead", yet we believe we are capable of "doing something". Time and again the Bible says our hearts are wicked and there is no one that does what is right, yet we think things to the contrary.

God has to regenerate the dead heart. God has to come to us and make Himself known like He did with Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Saul, David, Jeremiah, John, Peter, Paul, Cornelius, and on and on and on. And when God has regenerated the heart people dropped what they're doing and followed. This isn't only Biblical examples but I've heard countless testimonies saying the same thing that, "I was at a Billy Graham meeting and something moved me to know that I was a sinner and needed a savior....". DUH!

What is really appalling to Arminians is to think that God regenerates the heart to follow Him. Yet this is what our Lord Jesus told Nicodemus needed to be done; "You must be BORN again." and Nicodemus wasn't in a position to rebirth himself. To believe one makes some sort of "intellectual" decision is to essentially deny the workings of the Holy Spirit.

As far as Perseverance of the Saints goes, I've always felt that if God would take the trouble to save a wretched sinner like me, when I was in the depths of depravity, why would He not help me in my walk now that He's begun a "good work" in me?