Calvinists: If God loves only the elect, why did He create everybody else?

Answer 1

Short answer: For His glory.

Longer answer: Well, it's a bit of a sticky subject. God loves everyone in a Creator sense, but not necessarily everyone in a personal sense. He only has that personal love for those who enter into a personal relationship with Him through His Son, Yeshua (Jesus). I know that doesn't answer your question, but it does give a bit of set-up.

Yeshua was the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The crucifixion was not Plan B. It was the plan all along. So, if this was to occur, there had to be an agent (sin, Satan, whatever) through which these series of events came about. So, the curse fell upon us and mankind stumbled along until the sacrifice was made on our behalf. So, why did God choose to save some and not all? The whole idea was to save a remnant, a portion of humanity to who Adonai would show the abundance of His mercy. For us to be able to look at those perishing and think "There, but for the grace of God, go I" magnifies the mercy and love He has shown His people. Why didn't God just create us all as perfect believers and not have us go through the curse to begin with? Where's the glory in that? We wouldn't have appreciated Him nearly as much. Instead, we have the story of our great Warrior King Who humbled Himself to take our punishment ... in fact, He even took our punishment while we were still His enemies! And it's a very personal thing! He didn't offer blanket salvation to all. He offered salvation to those who would know Him personally. When we were dead and unable to respond, He came to us. The walking dead around us serve as reminders. Save for God's grace, that could very easily have been me.

I probably did a crappy job of explaining it. It's really a massive thing to discuss. Great question, though!

Answer 2

Wow!! I was just scrolling through and noticed that not a one of them answered you. And I KNOW there's gotta be some floating around here...