Common Questions Asked on the Doctrine of Election
By Edwin Jardinel
 
  Did He choose to save mankind and failed?  No.  Jesus never fails.  He wants to save all men and sincerely offers salvation to all men by the blood of Christ through the preaching of the gospel; however, He decided and choose to save only those who respond to the gospel by humility, repentance, and faith.  God does not fail in his decree.  He did not decree all events to happen but just some events.  Calvinism teaches that God decreed all events to happen and that it is God’s purpose and eternal decree that some men will not repent and believe in Christ so that that they will continue in their sins and idolatry and that they will disobey God and go to hell because of God’s purpose and decree.  Thus the Calvinist will say that God did not fail in His eternal purpose and decree because, according to them, He effectively caused them not to repent and successfully send them to hell.
  This question is similar to “Why did God allow pain, evil, and suffering in this world?”  God has given the devil a freedom of decision to afflict men or not.  God did not order or command the devil to afflict God’s children and the people in this world, but God permits or allows, especially when His children disobey Him.  The Calvinists believe that God decreed all events to happen and that when the devil tempts the children of God and afflicts the people in this world, they believe that the devil is just doing the order, commands, or decree of God.  The existence of evil happening in this world cannot be blamed on God because He is not responsible for such. However, the Calvinist makes God responsible for such evil events because they think that God ordained all events to happen including the evil acts of men.  Unbelief is not of God but of the devil.  God is the author of faith (Heb.12:2) not unbelief.  It was by the fall of Adam that all became sinners.  God did not create men to be sinners but he made man to have a freewill. But man chose to sin, and so all his posterity became sinners by nature and choice.  God is not happy with it. (Mal.1:10; 2:16-17). He wants all men to repent but he is longsuffering because of His love and mercy to all, giving them a time to repent. (II Peter 3:9). However, those who reject God’s love and do not repent, God is surely going to punish them in hell. (Luke 13:3).  God has a time to execute punishment for the disobedient to the gospel of Christ (II Thes.1: 7-9).
    Yes God loves the world and Christ died for the world (Jn.3:16; Heb.2:9).  In fact, Paul was under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit when he commanded the believers to pray for all men. The Calvinist might interpret all men here as elect only.  But the question is, Are all Kings and all those in authority elect?  You will notice that in I Timothy 2:1-6, the command to pray is for all men including all those in authority.  Did Jesus pray for the world?  The answer is yes. In John chapter 17: First he prayed for his disciples only, then he prayed for those who would believe.  Then, he prayed for the world.  Here below is my exposition of the passage:
 

EXPOSITION OF JOHN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
By Edwin D. Jardinel

 John chapter 17 contains the prayer of Jesus for His disciples, all the believers and those who will believe, and the people in the world.  In verse 9, Jesus prayed particularly for His disciples.  He said, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine."  He further said in verse 10, "And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them."  In verse 12 He said, "While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name; those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled."  Calvinists believe that all the elect were given to Christ in eternity and that the passages above were Christ's prayer for all the elect, including the unsaved elect.  However, there are many questions to this kind of belief.  The Bible says, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature..." (II Cor. 5:17).   Were all the elect including the unsaved ones already in Christ in eternity?  If they were in Christ in eternity, were they new creatures in eternity? If they were in Christ in eternity before they became believers, was Christ glorified in their lives during their unbelieving state or condition? SInce Christ said, "I am glorified in them," isn't this a proof that Christ was referring only to believers or his disciples? Christ was praying particularly for his disciples because He said, "While I was with them in the world..."  He did not spend time with all the elect during His earthly ministry.  Furthermore, not all elect were born in the world when Christ prayed this prayer and He said, "...these are in the world" (v. 11).  Therefore we conclude that the passages above do not refer to all the elect but to Christ's disciples.

 Christ also prayed for all the believers, including those who will believe in the future. He said, "Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their word..." (John 17:20)  He also prayed for all the people in the world.  His prayer for them was "... that the world may believe that Thou  (the Father) hast sent Me (Christ)," John 17:21.

 The Father gives to Christ those who believe.  Those who believe in Christ are given eternal life by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself (Jn. 17:2).
 

No.  Only those who believe in Jesus.  Below is my explanation of the passage in John 6:37:
 

AN EXPLANATION OF JOHN 6:37
By Pastor Edwin Jardinel

"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."                                                               - John 6:37

 I.  NO ONE WILL COME TO GOD UNLESS HE BELIEVES, Heb. 11:6
A. Sinners must believe in order that they can come to God. Heb.11:6 says,
       "... He that cometh to God must believe that He is..."
B. Man comes to God by means of calling on Him through a  prayer of faith.  An example of this is found in Luke 18:13.
C. A sinner who repents, believes, and calls on God for salvation will be saved.  However, no one will call on God unless he believes (Rom. 10:13-14).

 II. THE FATHER GIVES TO CHRIST ALL WHO BELIEVE, John 6:37.
     A.  All authority was given to the Son by the Father, Mt. 28:18.
1. This includes authority of giving eternal life to as many as the Father has given the Son, John 17:2.
  2. This also includes authority of the Son to execute all judgement, John 5:22,27.
     B. Because the Father has given all authority to the Son, the Father gives to the Son all
                       who believe in Him.
1. The reason is, the Son must exercise and execute His authority to give eternal life to those who believe in Him, John 17:2

 III.  THOSE WHO BELIEVE COME TO CHRIST, Rom. 10:13-14; Heb 11:6
       A.  Coming to  Christ is calling on Him, Rom. 10:13.
        B.  But, according to Rom.10:14, a person won't call on God  unless he believes.
D. So the sequence is: Election according to God's foreknowledge, God's call through
       the  Spirit's conviction and  the preaching of God's word, hearing, repentance,
       faith, calling on God (coming to God), then Salvation (Rom. 10:13-17).
E. Therefore, all those the Father gives the Son will come to Him  because those who truly believe will come to Him (Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:14).

 IV. THOSE WHO COME TO CHRIST ARE ETERNALLY SECURED, John 6:37.
       A.  Christ promised, "...I will in no wise cast out," Jn. 6:37.
B. Many passages speak that those who come to Christ obtain  eternal life such as Jn.
       10:28,6:47, Matt. 11:28.

 V. CONCLUSION:
      A.  Calvinists believe that the elect were given to Christ in  eternity.
1. Were the elect already in Christ in eternity? According to II Cor. 5:17, "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature..." Were the elect new creatures already in eternity before they believe?
2. In Eph. 2:12, the believers at Ephesus were said to be "without Christ" and "without God" before they believe.
3. Were the elect in the hand of Christ already before they believe? But, John 10:28-29 and 6:47 refers only to the believers.
      B.  Therefore we conclude that a person or elect is given to Christ at the point of faith.
 

No.  some are not.  Only the believers are God’s sheep.  The Calvinist teach that some elect who are not yet regenerated are God’s sheep.  The question is, Is there a sheep who is not yet regenerated?  They will answer “yes”.  What is the spiritual state of a sheep and not yet regenerated, can he hear?  The Calvinist answer is No, unless regenerated.  But the Bible says, God’s sheep hears and follows God’s voice, and has eternal life (Jn.10: 27-29).  The Calvinist has God’s sheep but does not hear and follow until some time later.