Paladin's open post:
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Can a loving God predestinate people regarding their salvation? While it is impossible for God to allow any unsaved man condemned by the Law, would he refuse a man the chance to get salvation? I struggle with this thought. I do not accept predestination, but I want to hear your thoughts on the (much more specific) of: Can a loving God force someone to never gain salvation?
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This is a typical misunderstanding of Calvinism. God is not forcing anything on anyone, or refusing salvation to anyone. He clearly says He wills that all be saved and He gave us the command to take the gospel into all the world so that all may hear it and believe or not believe. Everyone will be responsible for their sins and for their response to the gospel. What the scriptures about God's sovereign election and power do is give us a glimpse behind the scenes, seeing things from God's perspective, but from our perspective things remain the same -- we are given the choice and we make it and it's our responsibility. The concept of predestination really only becomes a help to us when we need to be sure our faith is resting on something solid and not on our own shaky wills.
I know that as long as I was in Arminian churches where they are always explaining hard times in terms of the devil's doing it, I would feel uneasy, as if the devil had way too much power. It was only when I had a grip on the Calvinist perspective that I was reassured that the devil is on God's leash, and that God is in charge of EVERYTHING that happens, absolutely everything. That gave me the assurance that NOTHING can happen without God's willing it. NOTHING. God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. He doesn't make His decisions in present time but in eternity, so of COURSE we are predestined to salvation.