Half Dead?

"In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead." (Luke 10: 30 NIV)

Spurgeon said:

"Oh, these (seekers) are the best kind of hearers, these in whom right desires have begun to be awakened. Men who are dissatisfied with the darkness are evidently not altogether dead, for the dead shall slumber in the catacombs, heedless as to whether it is noon or night. Such men evidently have not fallen completely asleep, for they who slumber sleep better because of the darkness; they ask for no sunbeams to molest their dreams. Such people are evidently not completely blind, because it makes no difference to the blind whether the sun floods the landscape with glory, or night conceals it with her black veil. Those to whom our thoughts are directly turned are somewhat awakened, aroused and bestirred, and this is no small blessing for, alas, most people are a stolid (having or showing little or no emotion) mass regarding spiritual things, and the preacher might almost as hopefully strive to create a soul within the ribs of death, or exhort warm tears of pity from Sicilian marble, as evoke spiritual emotions from the people of this generation. So these people are hopeful in their condition who, just as the trees twist their branches towards the sunlight, they long after Jesus, the light and life of men."

"So far things are hopeful for you; but when I say hopeful, I wish I could say much more, for mere hopefulness is not enough. It is not enough to desire, it is not enough to seek, it is not enough to pray; you must actually obtain, you must actually lay hold on eternal life. You will never enjoy comfort and peace till you have passed out of the merely hopeful stage into a better and a brighter one, by making sure of your interest in the Lord Jesus by a living, appropriating faith." ("ADVICE FOR SEEKERS")

http://www.fbinstitute.com/spurgeon/advice.html

There are some Calvinists who have ridiculed the idea that a man can be "half dead." Yet, in some sense, it is true, per the words of Christ (in describing the one near death). Certainly Spurgeon did not find the term wholly unacceptable, but true within a certain context. So do I. So must we all. Those Calvinists who have a problem with the idea are generally they who have gone overboard in their understanding of "total depravity."