So I'm left to conclude that Jesus took the penalty for sin, but people can still be penalized for that sin because their sin of rejection can overpower Christ's blood. So Christ's blood is only good if combined with man's free will.
No wonder people reject synergism.
Rephrasing what people say and extrapolating from that, rather than responding to what they post, doesn't strengthen your argument. You present yet another strawman argument.
Scripture never considers faith to be a dead work - so it isn't treated as a 'problem' in scripture for man to be able to respond to the gospel in faith. It's not a dead work, but rather the work God requires (Jn 6:28-29.)
As for the buzzwords of 'monergism' vs. 'synergism:'
Neither view is correct, as defined by man. They are not strict premises of themselves [such as God alone saves vs. Man saves himself], but are rather theological buzzwords.
'Monergism' is a theory describing factors surrounding salvation, 'Synergism' is a strawman theory created to show what anyone not believing the monergist theory 'must' believe in.
As such, the terms themselves must be analyzed and the false dichotomy of the two theories presented before the real topic; salvation; can be studied.
Monergism, in theology, is the theory that *because* God alone saves, then God 'must' subsequently bring salvation about by the spiritual regeneration of certain individuals, without their consent or control, so that they may have faith.
Note that this is not a premise of itself, but rather a conclusion a couple steps away:
Premise: God alone saves (All Christians would agree with this)
Premise: If man can choose to be convinced/have faith then he would be participating in his own salvation (Not all Christians agree with this)
Conclusion: Man cannot have faith of his own volition.
Premise: The Spirit could regenerate man so he could have faith.
Conclusion: God must regenerate certain men through the spirit so they will have faith.
The above is vastly simplified, but you can see that Monergism is not as simple as the idea "God alone saves". Instead it is a theory developed from that starting point.
Synergism is a buzzword usually used to describe how Calvinists perceive any non-Calvinist presentation of salvation; namely that any view contrary to monergism must hold that man contributes to saving himself.
As such, it is not a theory people hold of themselves (usually), but rather a "prop" theory to argue against.
In the monergist view, claiming sinful man could have faith is equivalent to claiming that man saves himself, at least in part, and hence the idea that man can obey/have faith without prior spiritual regeneration is branded 'synergism'.
This is what is known in logic as a "false dichotomy". Two ideas are presented, and one is asked to decide 'either/or'. One is pressured to choose a "side", vs. Examining the actual premise or the definitions involved. Often, these 'sides' are presented by a person who only believes one, and so the view he/she opposes is often a false presentation, a characterization, or presented through a distorted lens.
This leads to factions and divisions, as those just beginning to study an issue are told that one idea or another is more Biblical, more spiritual, more humble, etc. This may lead to the further consequence of scripture being redefined or ignored in order to hang onto the chosen theory, and errors become more and more entrenched over time, as the person who has taken a side feels he "must" hold to it, lest he fall into the "even worse" errors of the other side.
Some resolve this simply by choosing not to resolve the problem, saying "It's a mystery", or "It's unknowable", and then doing their best not to think about it. Others resolve this, partially, by becoming experts in where the "other side" is wrong. The best resolution is to avoid, as far as possible, the trap that any Biblical concept can be completely summed up by a theory of man or popular buzzword; or that any one person or theory will have all the answers.
God alone accomplishes salvation, as man cannot save himself.
But what is salvation?
Salvation is deliverance. It has connotations both of what one is delivered from (sin, affliction, poverty, captivity, etc.) and of what one is delivered into (righteousness, welfare, prosperity, freedom, etc.)
Yet, there is nothing inherent in the concept of salvation that would mean a captive accepting salvation 'works with' the savior.
