Is God All-Inclusive?

Question

Christians preach the doctrine that all must come to Christ to be saved. They continually promote the idea that all people possess the ability to choose to accept Christ into their life -- that all people can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved -- that God wants all people to come to the truth. And while they can easily bring forth numerous biblical verses that confirm their position, it is also true that there exist an even greater number of biblical verses which state that the opposite is true -- i.e., that certain people do not possess the freewill to accept Christ, and their lives have been preordained to reject Christ by the very Hand of God that controls every aspect of the life we live.

What Say You To This?

(Anyone that would like to answer, please feel free. Regardless of religious orientation or belief. I pose this question merely to hear the different answers from other like-minded individuals.)

Thank You.

Answer 1

I don't think so but then i could be wrong

Answer 2

I think there's universal agreement among Christendom (orthodox, evangelical, and reform) that those who hear the Gospel need to come to Christ for salvation, and that God desires the salvation of all.

There's vast disagreement, though, on what happens outside of that group. I'm Catholic because I agree with the doctrines, and I think that a cogent argument can be made that those who never hear Christ preached (or hear a distorted version preached) will be under the mercy of the Lord, simply because it is capricious to hold someone responsible for what was not revealed to them.

So once you know the Truth, you are bound to it.

Answer 3

"What Say You To This?"
I say that the key word to use to describe what God wants is "desire". God does not put the desire in everyone. Some are chosen, but many are called. The message is out there for anyone to respond to, but the desire to come may or may not be there.

That being said: Not all people want to come to God. We all have free will. Christians choose to offer their will to God. Jesus is the conduit where we apply our energy or our actions to. Those that haven't the slightest interest are going their own way. Whatever pleases them at the time. Self is the motivator for both, but the determination of who is led to God comes from God. It's His will that Christians are motivated by.

"Is God All-Inclusive?"
By the context of what you outlined, no.

Answer 4

I have actually never heard that about certain people that don't possess the freewill to accept christ and that they were preordained to reject christ. I dobt that any of that is true. After all have you read about free-agency?

Answer 5

God is time space its self,

what ever you do it is preordained becaus eit has already happened, yet you most make the best decision possible and pray and believe christ died on the cross for you and accept his forgiveness and you will reach the kingdom of heaven.

Answer 6

When Paul said predestinate He did not mean that all of us were determined for salvation or damnation before we were even born. What he meant is that some are foreordained to certain positions on earth. Jesus Christ was foreordained to be the Savior of the world, but He could have rejected it while on earth. He could have decided that to die for the sins of the world simply would not be worth it. Abraham was foreordained before the foundations of the world to be a prophet. In fact, all great prophets: Adam, Noah, Enoch, Elisha, Elias were all foreordained before coming to this earth to be leaders in mortality. They could have rejected this foreordination by using their agency. To say that we don't have free will is to deny the whole Plan of Salvation which insists that all of us are free agents unto ourselves. To say that Paul taught that we were puppets whos destiny is controlled by God is to deny all of the other scriptures to the contrary. That interpretation of Paul's words concerning "predestination" is simply wrong; and quite frankly, the word predestinate should be translated "foreordained." Below are numerous scriptures concerning our "God-given" free agency.

Gen. 2: 16 Of every tree . . . thou mayest freely eat.
Gen. 4: 7 if thou doest not well.
Deut. 11: 27 blessing, if ye obey.
Deut. 30: 19 therefore choose life.
Josh. 24: 15 choose . . . whom ye will serve.
1 Kgs. 18: 21 if the Lord be God, follow him.
Prov. 1: 29 did not choose the fear of the Lord.
Matt. 26: 39 not as I will, but as thou wilt.
John 5: 30 I seek not mine own will.
2 Ne. 2: 11 there is an opposition in all things.
2 Ne. 2: 16 not act for himself save . . . he was enticed.
2 Ne. 2: 27 men are free . . . to choose.
2 Ne. 10: 23 ye are free to act for yourselves.
2 Ne. 26: 10 yield unto the devil and choose works of darkness.
Mosiah 2: 21 that ye may . . . do according to your own will.
Mosiah 5: 8 under this head ye are made free.
Alma 12: 31 act according to their wills.
Alma 13: 3 in the first place being left to choose.
Alma 30: 8 (Moses 6: 33) Choose ye this day.
Alma 41: 7 own judges, whether to do good.
Hel. 14: 30 ye are free, ye are permitted to act for yourselves.
D&C 29: 36 third part of the hosts of heaven turned he away . . . because of their agency.
D&C 29: 39 they could not be agents unto themselves.
D&C 37: 4 let every man choose for himself.
D&C 58: 28 they are agents unto themselves.
D&C 88: 86 liberty wherewith ye are made free.
D&C 93: 31 here is the agency of man.
D&C 98: 8 Lord God, make you free.
D&C 101: 78 moral agency which I have given.
D&C 134: 2 the free exercise of conscience.
Moses 3: 17 thou mayest choose for thyself.
Moses 7: 32 gave I unto man his agency.

Answer 7

Charles Spurgeon said it best:
"SEEK UNTIL YOU FIND THE GRACE YOU NEED. THEN KNOCK. IF YOU SEEM SHUT OUT FROM COMFORT, FROM KNOWLEDGE, FROM HOPE, FROM GOD, THEN KNOCK; FOR THE LORD WILL OPEN IT TO YOU. HERE YOU NEED THE LORD'S OWN INTERVENTION: YOU CAN ASK AND RECEIVE, YOU CAN SEEK AND FIND; BUT YOU CANNOT KNOCK AND OPEN, THE LORD MUST HIMSELF OPEN THE DOOR, OR YOU ARE SHUT OUT FOREVER. GOD IS READY TO OPEN THE DOOR...THE LORD IS GLAD TO OPEN THE GATE TO EVERY KNOCKING SOUL. IT IS CLOSED FAR MORE IN YOUR APPREHENSION THAN AS A MATTER OF FACT. HAVE FAITH AND ENTER AT THIS MOMENT THROUGH HOLY COURAGE."