I find it deplorable that when addressing an unbeliever, they are told by Calvinists that the reason they don't believe is because they CAN'T - that they haven't "yet been regenerated to do so." Romans 1 tells us that ALL men know basic things about God's attributes, His benevolence, His provision, but THEY chose INSTEAD not to honor what He has already shown them - with the obvious implication being that they COULD have at least honored God as He's ALREADY revealed Himself, but they refused to. In fact, they did the very opposite - and thus His anger and condemnation. Acts 10 shows the Roman Centurion Cornelius, honoring what God has ALREADY shown Him, praying and seeking Him diligently, WELL before He ever heard the Gospel from Peter and THEN (and ONLY then) he responded, RECEIVED Christ, and was he saved. Did God not woo Cornelius BEFORE salvation? Certainly. But could Cornelius respond to and honor God in RESPONSE to what he already knew and had been shown BEFORE salvation. Obviously! And because he did so, God honored Cornelius by sending Peter. But Cornelius could have had a hard heart and mind. He could have ignored all God was showing Him. But He had a teachable, open heart and mind. Most don't!
The ONLY reason ANY unbeliever is held back from belief is his OWN hard heart and mind - which he can decide to have OR to have an open heart and mind!!! IF they will not permanently resist Him, God will be able to enlighten them, all the way to salvation. God constantly warns, threatens, shows great anger that people will not repent and believe - even stern warnings including hell. Why the anger, the threats, the warnings IF they remain unsaved because God has not allowed them the regeneration belief and repentance supposedly requires? And does God or does He not want people to turn from their rebellion? Why threaten, why have anger, IF the reason for their disobedience is that God refuses them the tools and ability to believe? When God said "all men everywhere" are to repent - WHEN does He expect obedience? Does He command something He has withheld one's ability to obey? Does God, Who is fair, just, loving and merciful - and Who tells us, in Matthew 5, that, "if you (only) love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" Does a God Who says such Himself only love SOME men? When the lawyer wants to selectively pick and choose who God commands we love, what does Jesus reveal about whom we are to love - just the ones like us - or does He hold up the "despised" Samaritan as being virtuous for showing love and compassion for a horribly beaten stranger? This idea that God doesn't love ALL, that He wants some (MOST!) men to perish, is an evil doctrine (That's not to say He doesn't ordain righteous, eternal punishment for those whom refuse to obey Him).
And for all the virtues and enlightening men like Luther and Calvin brought us, let's not hold them up to sometimes be any different than our fellow sinful men. Luther wrote terrible, hideous and hateful incitements to hurt and do violence against Jews! The theologies originating with both Calvin and Arminius have their flaws in trying to put God into a theological box of man-made logic. Both have unScriptural elements! IF God has operated as FP Calvinism teaches, He is a nightmare for most of the world. And His hatred of most of mankind would boggle the mind, as this is the very same (fallen) world that "God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already." (note this verse doesn't say that "those whom God gave the ability to believe are not condemned, but those He did not give such ability to are condemned already). And the "might be saved" refers to God's condition that Jesus must be received in hearts and minds to be saved.
Really, to be active on an apologetics forum and using arguments and reason (just as the Apostle Paul was famous for) with unbelievers makes no sense IF they cannot or don't have the ABILITY to understand or discern the truth of what you are arguing for, until they are first "regenerated." If true, you're wasting your time! But this goes against many, many Scriptures. Let's not forget, Five Point Calvinism teaches THERE IS NO CHOICE BY MAN, as it's ONLY a matter of what God decides for a person - and He decided so before anyone was born or the earth existed, and was NOT based upon their rejection but ONLY upon HIS will. Again, in FP Calvinism, there is NO choice before man. Why does He "stand at the door and knock" IF HE is the one that must open that door and come on in? What does God say a person must do? "If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." This makes it clear that we DO have a choice to make, that it's one available to us, that we CAN make it (or not), and that He is waiting upon OUR choice to accept what He has already made availble to us (in Jesus, through the Cross). Otherwise, why is He merely standing outside and continuing to knock? What might He be waiting on? What is His knocking alerting us to? And if not our choice, what is that door for?
If I were an unbeliever and a Calvinist told me that the reason I don't believe is that 1) I have no ability to do so and 2)this is because I haven't yet been regenerated: I would likely dismiss this as belief in a false god that purports to love all, says he wants them to believe, repent and have faith, but he's a hypocrite who condemns vast billions to unthinkable suffering and absolutely NO hope... simply BECAUSE that is what he so wills. This god tells us to love EVERYONE, that EVERYONE is our neighbor, while HE hates FAR more than he loves, and then he will punish them ETERNALLY, for NO other reason except that this is what he has decreed for them before they were born. And even if I DID think such a god really existed, as an unbeliever, I would very likely think to myself that, "if this god exists, there is an excellent chance that I am not one of his "Elect" - I mean, DO THE MATH! And so I might as well do all I want, as I want, when I want - I mean, why NOT? As such a god's existence would give the non-elect little reason to want follow any aspect of Biblical morality - not that I'd want to, mind you. But from a practical assessment, what would be the purpose? And if I'm not of his Elect - well, if you're screwed, you're screwed - right? I mean, I can't do what I wasn't meant to do, wasn't given the ability to do. If I was created to just sin, die and then be punished, well, that reality means this Five Point god is a nightmare for most men. He threatens, warns, shows great anger at unrepentance - but he hasn't made the people he's angry at CAPABLE of repentance. Yeah, right, that makes a lot sense.
Really, this god is as human-like as all of the Greek, Roman and Egyptian gods. Pity!To ANYONE reading this, you CAN believe in Christ and obey God's requirement to have faith IF you want to. IF you want to, He'll do all the rest to make salvation possible. Don't let anyone tell you differently!!!
Greatly enjoy the music of Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, Andre' Rieu, 
