UK Apologetics Editor's Note:
Michael Bronson is a fine writer with a highly logical and somewhat 'dry' approach, although we would not explain every point on 'selective salvation' and 'limited atonement' in exactly the same way as Michael does. Michael would agree with us that one does not have to be either a "Calvinist" or an "Arminian," and that errors may be found in both positions, we also share common ground in supporting Eternal Security, yet Michael rejects the principle of the 'Elect' whereas we do not. Also, his conception of "choice" might differ from ours. Nevertheless, Michael has made some excellent points in section 14 of his 'Selective Salvation,' we bring that section to you here, pointing out that it is Michael's copyright and the entire article may be found on his website (which is, again, generally very fine although we do not necessarily agree with every single word).
UK Apologetics 2008.
Copyright © Michael Bronson 1998 - 2005
(BibleHelp.org)
There are many reasons why I don’t believe the doctrine of selective salvation is Biblical. To help you obtain a quick overall understanding of the problems with this doctrine, I have created this summary for you. Once you have gone through the list, you can read the remaining 60 plus chapters or you can go to the specific chapter that has captured your interest.
As you read through the list, you will find some of the problems with this doctrine are simple and obvious. Other problems, however, are more complex and the Biblical contradictions are less obvious. Although many Christians don’t do it, we need to think through each doctrine to its obvious conclusion. It is important to see the hidden implications of each doctrine and then see how they affect other doctrines.
As we study the doctrine of selective salvation, we will find that its implications contradict a large number of other doctrines. Hopefully, this section will help you think about some things you have never considered before. Listed below are some of the contradictions I have found with selective salvation.
It is inconsistent with the Bible
There are over a hundred verses that say salvation is offered to everyone. For example, 1 John 2:2 says, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world."
The Bible says God desires the salvation of those who are perishing. For example, 2 Peter 3:9 says, "He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
The Bible says people are going to Hell against God’s will. For example, 1 Corinthians 15:34 says, "For there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame."
The Bible says people are perishing because no one has brought them the message. Hosea 4:6 says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
Selective Salvationists say God "hates" all of the non-elect. Yet, when the rich young ruler turned his back on Jesus, the Bible said Jesus "loved" him.
Selective Salvationists say before God created the universe, He selected certain people to go to Heaven and the rest go to Hell. Yet, the Bible says Hell was created for the fallen angels, not us (Matthew 25:41).
Selective Salvationists say the core of this doctrine is the sovereignty of God and His complete control over everything. He dictates every action that takes place. They say God would not be in complete control if man had a choice in his destiny. There are three problems with this view:
There are hundred of verses in the Bible that clearly show God changing His mind and altering His plans because of our actions or inactions.
There are many evil and sinful things going on in the world. Do we really want to say God forcibly made people commit these heinous acts?
We cannot be held accountable for our sins if we have no say or choice in any of our actions. It would be unjust to send a person to Hell for something he did not choose to do.
Selective Salvationists say God preplanned people’s lives (forced them to become Christians and perform great services for Him). If this were true, you would think He would have planned lives that would consistently glorify Him. Instead, we find many of His leaders (Saul, David, Samson, Solomon, etc) made some major blunders and had their years of service cut short.
There are dozens of verses where God commands the world to seek Him. If some are incapable of seeking God, why did He make that command? For example, Hebrews 11:6 says, "He rewards those who earnestly seek him."
God said to the whole Nation of Israel, "Seek me and live" (Amos 5:4). God was offering his plan of salvation to the whole Nation of Israel. Yet the Bible clearly says not all of the Israelites became believers. This means many of the people God wanted to go to Heaven ended up going to Hell.
The Bible says we can resist God. For example, Matthew 23:37 says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing." This means some people were resisting God’s call to salvation. It also means some people went to Hell against His desire.
There are dozens of verses where God commands the world to repent. If some people are incapable of repenting, why did He make that command? For example, Acts 17:30 says, "He [God] commands all people everywhere to repent."
There are dozens of verses that talk about how we can be easily led astray from God and salvation. This shows our eternal destinies have not been pre-planned.
The Bible says our surroundings can greatly influence our eternal destiny. For example, Matthew 19:24 says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to Heaven"
Why did Jesus have to suffer such a terrible spiritual damnation? If there is no choice in our spiritual destiny, then our spiritual "test" (and subsequent failures) could easily have been bypassed. There was no need for us to be lost and ultimately redeemed. There was no need for Jesus to suffer such a brutal, humiliating, and despicable punishment.
It is inconsistent with observable facts
If selective salvation were true, you would expect an even distribution of Christians all over the world. In contrast to this, we find areas with very high concentrations of Christians and other areas with very low concentrations of Christians.
If selective salvation were true, exposure to the gospel should not have any impact on how many people become Christians in a given area. Yet, areas with a strong gospel witness have a high number of believers and areas with little or no gospel witness have few or no new Christians.
If selective salvation were true, parental influence should not increase or decrease a child’s chance of becoming a Christian. However, we find children raised in Christian homes are much more likely to become Christians than children who are raised in atheistic homes. In fact, children who are raised by strong, mature Christians are much more likely to become Christians than children raised by weak and spiritually immature Christians.
The Bible has over a hundred verses that clearly say salvation is offered to "everyone," "whosoever," and the whole "world." Yet, Selective Salvationists say salvation is only offered to the select few. To get around these verses, Selective Salvationists say these verses are only talking about the elect. In other words, verses that say "… salvation is offered to everyone" should actually be read as "… salvation is offered to everyone of the elect." To force this type of interpretation on hundreds of verses, Selective Salvationists have violated multiple basic rules of Biblical interpretation.
In addition to the above problem, there are many verses where this type of forced conclusion still would not work. For example, 1 John 2:2 says, "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for the sins of the whole world." Using their rules of interpretation, this verse should read: "He is the atoning sacrifice for the elect’s sins, and not only for the elect’s sins, but also for the sins of the elect."
Selective Salvationists say God has chosen certain people over other people. Yet, the Bible says God does not pick one person over another. For example, Acts 10:34 says, "God is no respecter of persons."
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, salvation is open to everyone in the world. What would God say differently in the Bible (from what He has already said) that would show salvation is open to everyone in the world? The Bible already has over 100 verses saying salvation is offered to everyone.
God "sought a man after His own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14). If selective salvation is true God already knows the mindset of each person (He’s the one who preprogrammed each person’s life). If He already knows each person’s mindset, why was He searching for people with a particular mindset?
David was "a man after God’s own heart" (Acts 13:22). If God created the elect’s heart and mindset, wouldn’t all of the elect be people after God’s own heart?
Joshua said, "Choose you this day who you shall serve. As for me and my house we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15). If God already chose our destiny for us, why was it so important for Joshua to make this admonition?
Problems caused by this doctrine
If people are predestined for salvation, parental influence will not increase a child’s chance of becoming a Christian. If this is true, Christian parents should have the same number of Christian children as atheistic parents. This of course is not true.
Selective Salvationists counter the above problem by saying children of the elect are also elect. This approach creates many new problems. For example:
Since Adam and Eve were part of the elect, all of their descendants (which means everyone) should also be part of the elect. This, of course, is not true.
Since Noah was part of the elect, all of his family and their descendants (which means everyone) should also be part of the elect. This, of course, is not true.
Since Abraham was part of the elect, his son Ishmael was also one of the elect. This would mean all of his descendants (the Arab nations) are also part of the elect. This, of course, is not true.
Since Isaac was part of the elect, his twin sons (Jacob and Esau) were also part of the elect. Yet, Selective Salvationists say God hated Esau and condemned him to Hell. If children of the elect are also elect, Esau should be one of the elect.
If children of the elect are also part of the elect, then 100% of the children from Christian parents would be Christians. We don’t, however, find this.
It is inconsistent with the nature of God
The Bible provides us with a general description of God’s nature. It describes Him as a loving, compassionate, fair, and righteous being. The doctrine of selective salvation totally contradicts this description. A basic premise of selective salvation is God chose to love or hate certain people purely on an arbitrary basis. This contradicts the nature of God outlined in the Bible. For example:
You would expect a loving God would love all of His creation.
You would not expect to find a loving God arbitrarily choosing to hate people (and condemning them to Hell before they were even created) simply because "He can."
"Hate" is a strong emotion. It is an emotion developed in response to an offense. To passionately hate someone who has not yet existed does not even make sense.
A person who is "sovereign" over another being will treat the other being in a manner consistent with his own nature. A dog owner, for example, is basically "sovereign" over his dog. Yet, a good owner would never mistreat his dog. Likewise, a sovereign God who is loving and compassionate would never mistreat His creation simply because "He can." Arbitrarily condemning a person to Hell before he is even created (with no choice, say, or recourse) is not the actions of a loving and compassionate God. A good person (sovereign or not) would never mistreat his subjects.
Selective salvation completely contradicts the issue of choice
A central theme of the doctrine of selective salvation is God can’t be sovereign if we have a free will to make choices. They say giving us the ability to make choices would be the same as us telling God Almighty what to do. They said God can’t be God if He is not in full control of everything.
The issue of choice is the Achilles’ heel of selective salvation. The doctrine falls apart when the issue of choice is closely examined. There are many aspects of "choice" that contradict the doctrine of selective salvation. Following are some examples:
There are hundreds of verses that say we have the ability to make choices. Either the Bible is lying or we have the ability to make choices.
Love is an emotion that is earned. You can’t force someone to love you. In order for us to truly have the ability to love God, we need to have the ability to reject Him. You can’t love if you don’t have the ability to hate.
We would not be able to ask God to alter events if everything is already set in stone. There are dozens of verses that say our prayers will prompt God to respond. Even the great spiritual leaders of the Bible understood the power of prayer. There are hundreds of verses showing this.
Our actions should never provoke an emotional response from God if He has preprogrammed all of our decisions and actions. This would be as illogical as me turning on a light switch and becoming angry when the light turns on. It is obvious from the Bible we can provoke a response from God.
There are dozens of verses showing our obedience can produce a positive response from God.
There are hundreds of verses showing God can be provoked to anger or jealousy by our sins.
The Bible says God holds some of our choices in high esteem. The only way our choices could have value to God is if our choices were made from a free heart. Choices that are forced on us would hold no intrinsic value to God. Following are some examples:
The life of Job demonstrates that even Satan understands we have the freedom to make choices. Satan knows we often choose to curse God when we are faced with great adversity. It brought great pleasure and glory to God when Job remained faithful in the midst of his great suffering. There would not have been any exceptional glory or victory for God if Job was forced to remain faithful.
None of our decisions would have any value if our actions are forced on us. If selective salvation is true, a person’s decision to return a penny that doesn’t belong to him would bring as much glory, honor, and pleasure to God as a poor person’s decision to return $100 million that doesn’t belong to him.
There are many places in the Bible that say God places high value on obedience. Why should God be so pleased with obedience if all of our actions are forced on us?
As we saw in the above paragraphs, God is pleased when we make good choices. If these "small" choices bring pleasure to God, think about how much pleasure it would bring God when we would make a good choice on the most important decision (salvation)?
The parables of the lost items (lost sheep, lost coin, and the
lost son –Luke 15:3-32) are another example why selective
salvation can’t be true. These parables show there is great
joy when a lost item is recovered. The Bible says this is
especially true when a lost sinner is saved.
You would expect this type of reaction from God with open
salvation, but you would not expect it with selective salvation.
In fact, with selective salvation, there is no cause for
celebration when a person gets saved. There are no lost souls who
are salvaged. There are no people rescued from the gates of Hell.
All of the people who get "saved" were actually saved long before
the world was created. These parables don’t make sense if
selective salvation is true. It would be like a person pretending
to lose a coin and then throwing a large party when he "finds"
it.
There is an accountability problem if all of our decisions and actions are forced on us. Following are some examples:
If all of our actions are forced on us, we can’t be held accountable for our actions. We can’t be punished for sins we were forced to commit.
The fact there are varying amounts of rewards in Heaven demonstrates we do have control over our choices.
The fact there are varying degrees of punishment in Hell shows we do have control over our choices.
Confusing issues explained
Election deals with the selection for service; not salvation. In fact, it couldn’t be talking about salvation. Jesus and the angels were part of the "elect," but they didn’t need to be saved. The Nation of Israel was part of the elect, but not all of them were saved.
Predestination simply means something has been predetermined
to take place in the future. Although most Christians think of it
in connection with the Bible, this concept is also found in the
secular world. For example, anyone who becomes a policeman is
predestined (predetermined) to have certain attributes (such as
the authority to arrest people). Even Aldous Huxley uses the
concept in his book Brave New World. As you can see, the word
predestination does not need to have some mystical or divine
implication.
Just as man can predetermine certain things to take place in the
future, so can God. As we will see in the upcoming chapters, God
has predetermined that the people who become Christians will
obtain certain attributes (such as being conformed to the image
of His Son). Nowhere in the Bible does it say God has
predetermined to arbitrarily send some people to Heaven and the
remainder to Hell.
The verse "Esau I hated" is often used to support the doctrine of selective salvation. Yet, if you look at the life of Esau, there is no evidence God hated or deplored him. It is possible the word "hate" was used as a contrast. There are several places in the Bible that uses the word "hate" when it doesn’t really mean hate. For example, we are told to hate our parents and ourselves if we want to follow God. If you look at the chapter dealing with this issue, it appears that the statement probably means, "I have chosen to use Jacob (to be the forefather of the Messiah) and not Esau."
The verses talking about God hardening Pharaoh’s heart is also used to support selective salvation. God, however, did not harden Pharaoh’s heart toward salvation. Rather, He hardened Pharaoh’s heart toward Moses’ requests. God only hardened Pharaoh’s heart in the direction he had already chosen for himself. If Pharaoh’s heart had not already hardened against the Lord, there is an indication from the Bible God would have waited for another Pharaoh.
Selective Salvationists often point to the Nation of Israel as proof God has chosen certain people for salvation. The nation of Israel was chosen for service, not salvation. In fact, they couldn’t have been chosen for salvation because a large number of them were obviously never saved.
Selective Salvationists also use the verses that says, "I have chosen you" to support selective salvation. It is true God has chosen us (the whole world) to be saved. God’s choice of redemption applies only to the human race; it does not apply to the fallen angelic race.
Romans 9:21 says God is the potter and we are the clay. Selective Salvationists often use this verse as proof God has chosen certain people for salvation. This verse is talking about service, not salvation. There are several places in the Old Testament that use the illustration of the potter and clay. These verses refer to Israel as being the clay. Since only a portion of the Israelites were believers, these verses could not be referring to salvation. These verses are talking about God using the Nation of Israel to accomplish a task.