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Chapter: 14.42
(Section 14: Selective Salvation)
Copyright © Michael Bronson 1998 - 2005
BibleHelp.org

According to selective salvation, God has chosen certain people to go to Heaven. At the "appointed time" God puts an irresistible desire in their hearts to seek God. As a result, they will turn to God and become Christians.

While it is true God can force someone to go to Heaven, it isn’t true He can force someone to love Him. I realize there are some people who will protest and say God can do anything. This is not true; God can’t do "anything." He can’t do contradictory commands. The following questions are examples of contradictory commands:

• Can an all-powerful God create a rock so large He can’t lift it?
  

• Can an all-knowing God make something so small He doesn’t know about it?
  

• Can an omnipresent God (a God who is everywhere) throw an object so far it lands in a location where He is not located?

As you can see, the limitations are not with God but with our question. If you incorrectly phrase a question, the question becomes void and worthless. It is just like in math. There are basic mathematical procedures that need to be followed when performing calculations. If you violate these procedures, your equation becomes invalid. For example, you can’t divide a number by zero. If you try it on a calculator, the display will read "ERROR."

When I was in college, my professor mathematically proved "8 = 3." He started out with a very long equation and had "A = 8." After about 30 complicated calculations, "A = 3." After we sat dumbstruck, he revealed his secret. Half way through the calculations, he divided one of the numbers with zero. This, of course, invalidated the whole equation.

"Forcing someone to love you" is also a contradictory statement. Love is an emotion that is developed and earned. Love is an emotional response that develops in a free heart. You can create a robot that will hold your hand, bring you flowers, and say things like "I love you," but there would be no love. The robot is only doing what it is forced to do. It is only mimicking actions typically associated with love. Love can only develop when there is a truly free will.

You can force someone to follow you, but you can’t force them to love you

God could create a race of robots for selective salvation. He could force some of these robots to go to Heaven and the remainder to Hell. He could force one group to say things like, "I love you" and the remainder to say things like, "There is no God." He could force one group to sing songs of praise and the other group to curse him.

Yet all of this would mean nothing to God. He would know their praises are nothing but hollow words. He would know there is no love. He would know they did not choose him. He would know they have no feelings for him. Their praises would be as worthless as counterfeit money. Look at chapter Choice –Part 9: What is the Purpose of Choice? for more information.

Other Chapters in this Section

Home
Up
PART 1: What is Selective Salvation?
PART 2: What Does the Bible say about Selective Salvation?
PART 3: Problems with Selective Salvation
PART 4: “Choice” –The Achilles’ Heel of Selective Salvation

Choice 1: The Contradictions of Selective Salvation
Choice 2: Can You Force Someone to Love You?
Choice 3: Is Choice Really a Choice Without a Choice?
Choice 4: Do We Really have a Free Will?
Choice 5: Can Prayer Change Things?
Choice 6: Can God be Grieved by Our Sins or Moved by Our Repentance?
Choice 7: The Choice to Sin
Choice 8: Are We Incapable of Choosing God?
Choice 9: Choice and the Moral Standard
Choice 10: The Purpose of Choice
Choice 11: The Suffering of Job
Choice 12: Why is God Pleased with our Obedience?
Choice 13: The Rich Young Ruler
Choice 14: Why was God so Excited when the Lost Sheep was Found?
Choice 15: A Man After God's Own Heart
Choice 16: Choose You this Day whom You will Serve
Choice 17: Appointed as a Ruler over many Cities

PART 5: Difficult Questions Answered
Appendix: Foundational Documents used by Selective Salvationists

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