“‘If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.’”
Our choices matter to God, but what would be the value of our choices if God had already secretly decreed all of our choices for us? In other words, if God decreed whatsoever comes to pass, including all of the thoughts and intentions of the heart, then while we certainly make choices, we wouldn’t really have a choice, besides what is chosen for us. [Editor’s Note: Many would argue that in such a circumstance, we would not make genuine choices either. How can one make a choice one does not have?] Moreover, why would God respond with approval or displeasure, if our choices were really just an extension of His decreed choices? If Calvinists were to deny that God makes our choices for us, but merely that God renders our choices certain, then that would seem like a distinction without a difference.
Lucifer became Satan through a choice, and a third of the angels became demons by their choice. Conversely, two thirds of the angels also remained as angels by their choice. Adam and Eve fell by their choice. So it seems that our choices matter to God, and it also seems that God has placed the eternal destination of our soul within our own choosing, or else why would God warn us not to place material wealth above the value of our soul? Matthew 16:26 states: “‘For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?’”
What do Calvinists believe?
This was only a choice according to their flesh, as any actual choice for God was already made for them. If God had not made the choice to select some to save, then none would want God and all would reject Him and perish.
Our reply:
We believe that it is highly disrespectful for Calvinists to say that apart from Irresistible Grace, no one would want God. Second, the doctrine of total inability to respond to God’s grace [Editor’s Note: This should be understood in the Calvinist sense of total inability when apart from irresistible grace. Arminianism holds to the doctrine of total inability when apart from resistible grace. Cf. some of the Adrian Rogers quotes below.] was first established by unrepentant Israel at Jeremiah 18:12, which God rebuked at v.13. Third, it is apparent that the reason why one person would choose to respond to God’s invitation, and not another, is attributable to the free-will choice of the individual. Simply ask Calvinists why Adam and Eve, who were directly created by God as innocent creatures, chose to rebel? (The same question is applicable to the pre-Fall angels as well.) So, Calvinists must choose either to defer to the free-will choice of the individuals (in agreement with non-Calvinists) or claim that God decreed and rendered certain for innocent creatures to sin. Some Calvinists simply refuse to answer.675
Adrian Rogers: “God is a God who gives us the choice. Now I want to give you some Choice Principles. You are free to choose God. God says, ‘I set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.’ Here you’re in the Valley of Decision. There’s a mountain of misery and a mountain of mercy. You can choose. You are free to choose. Now, I am a Calvinist to the degree that I believe that God is sovereign. But I am not a Calvinist to the degree that I believe that God does not enable anybody to choose, or that God chooses for anybody. God gives you the choice. You must choose. And God says to all of us, ‘Choose you this day.’”676
Adrian Rogers: “Jesus came to deliver you. Jesus came to set you free. He came to give you peace and power, forgiveness of sin and a home in heaven, but He will not force it upon you. The same God that gave to Lucifer the power of choice, gives to you the power of choice. ‘Choose you this day whom you will serve.’”677
Adrian Rogers: “Your responsibility is your response to His ability. … Now you must choose. Listen, you can’t do it without Him; He will not do it without you. You must yield. … When temptation comes, you must yield, and you will yield. That much is settled. The only question is, which way you will yield? Will you yield to Satan, or will you yield to Christ?”678
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675 “But Adam and Eve were not created fallen. They had no sin nature. They were good creatures with a free will. Yet they chose to sin. Why? I don’t know. Nor have I found anyone yet who does know” R.C. Sproul, Chosen By God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers Inc., 1986), 31.
676 Adrian Rogers, Choices Made in the Valley of Decision: Joshua 8:1, 1996.
677 Adrian Rogers, From the Palace to the Pit: Ezekiel 28:8, 2004.
678 Adrian Rogers, Abounding Victory Thru Amazing Grace: Romans 6:6-7, 1994
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
