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Chapter: 14.35
(Section 14: Selective Salvation)
Copyright © Michael Bronson 1998 - 2005
BibleHelp.org

A main premise of selective salvation is man is spiritually dead and has no desire for God. They compare our spiritual death with that of a dead body floating in the water. Even if you throw a life preserver to the dead body, it can’t grab hold of it. A spiritually dead person does not have the capacity or willingness to receive salvation. Look at the Chapter Is Choice Really a Choice Without a Choice? for more information about this.

If this were true, you would expect to find a world full of sin inhabited by people who have no desire for God. These people would not have any desire to do good and have no desire to stop sinning. These people would have no desire to correct their sin problem.

Yet, this is not what we find. It is true we find a world filled with sin. We don’t, however, find a world inhabited by people who have no desire for God. In fact, we find a world full of people who are desperate to resolve their sin problem. We find a world full of people seeking God.

There are over 6,500 religions in the world. These religions have a variety of ways to resolve their sin problem and bring their members back to God. Some of these solutions share common themes (such as live good lives and do good works) while others are quite bizarre and disgusting.

For example, one of the tribes in New Guinea has a funeral ceremony where a relative has to lay on top of the rotting dead body. They also have to eat a portion of the rotting flesh. This is all done in the hopes of finding atonement for the departed. The extremes they go through show the desperation of these people.

The questions that beg to be asked are:

• Why are there so many religions?
  

• Why does every culture (even the most isolated cultures) have some type of religious system?
  

• Why are all of these non-elect people desperately seeking God?

The reason religions are a universal phenomenon is because everyone has been created with a "God-sized vacuum" that only God can fill. People have an inherent desire to have a relationship with God. People understand that our relationship with God has been broken, and they want to reestablish it. People understand they have sinned and they desperately want to find a solution to this problem.

Yes, we are spiritually dead. This death, however, only deals with our ability to have a spiritual relationship with God. It does not mean we have no desire for God. It does not mean we lack any ability to respond to God’s salvation.

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

How do you KnowYou are Saved?
Are We Lying when We are Witnessing?
Children of the Elect
Statistics do not Support Selective Salvation
Why are there so Many Religions?
Can We Resist God's Call to Repentance?
Can We Seek the Lord?
Why was Hell Created?
Has God Really Selected People at Random to go to Hell?
Why did the Reformation take place?

PART 4: “Choice” –The Achilles’ Heel of Selective Salvation
PART 5: Difficult Questions Answered
Appendix: Foundational Documents used by Selective Salvationists

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