sword said:
I ask these questions sincerely:
Is the elect all the people who accept gospel and accept Jesus Christ as their savior?
Is the non-elect all those people who could have accepted the gospel and accepted Jesus Christ as their savior but chose not too. Those who could have gotten saved but God in his foreknowledge knew they would not accept his plan for Heaven?
The elect are those whom God has chosen (i.e. elected) to grant eternal life.
The non-elect are those whom he hasn't.
That simple.
How could anyone not at least have the opportunity to get saved if they would just repent . . .
Everyone has the
opportunity. As I said in my first post in this thread, God gives them their entire lives to hear the Gospel and repent. No one is prevented from doing what they want. The elect want to follow God, and choose repentance unto life; the reprobates want to remain God's enemy, and choose continued disobedience unto death.
. . . when the bible uses the words "ALL" and WHOSOEVER" and "ANY"?
You've committed a
non sequitur there. The word "whosoever" simply means "those who."
Whosoever X merely distinguishes
those who are X from
those who are not-X. It makes no statement about how they get from non-X to X. So John 3:16 simply says that those who believe get eternal life; those who don't perish. There's no assumption of libertarian free will.
As for "any" and "all," they're ajdjectives; they modify a noun. When you see "any" or "all" without a noun, you need to ask, "Any of whom?" "All of whom?" and do a little Bible study to establish the context.
Case in point:
2 Peter 3:9: The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
"The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient
toward you, because he does not wish for any [
of you] to perish but for all [
of you] to come to repentance."
The context of this passage is the second coming, and the skeptics who demand to know why God hasn't kept his promise to return. Peter's answer is that he doesn't mark time the way we do, and he is patiently waiting for the rest of his sheep to be brought into the fold.
In context, 2 Peter 3:9 makes no sense if "any" and "all" mean all people indiscriminately. If you assume libertarian free will, then there's never going to be an end to people who might
potentially turn to God. It's only when we understand this verse to mean, "God has a definite people and plan, and he is waiting for it to come to fruition" that it answers the question, "Where is the promise of his coming?"
John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw ALL MEN unto me.
Again, context matters. This particular discourse is prompted by some Gentiles who come to the disciples asking to see Jesus (12:20-22). This, Christ takes as a sign that the time of his death was imminent (v. 23). Verse 32 needs to be contrasted with the preceding verse: "Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself" (12: 31-32). There's a double meaning in the words "lifted up"; literally it signifies the kind of death he was going to die (v. 33), but Christ emphatically contrasts his own fate with that of "the ruler of this world." He will be "cast out"; Christ will be "lifted up." He will be exalted as the one who has conquered Satan and taken over his entire kingdom. He is no longer "king of the Jews" only, but the king of "
all men": Jew and Gentile alike.
Romans 10:10
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.
Titus 2:11-12, you mean? (You must have forgotten to paste a verse?)
Paul is writing Titus about organizing the church, and in chapter 2 of this letter, he discusses the kind of moral teaching that Titus is to pass on. There are specific instructions for men and women (both young and old), as well as slaves. Is Paul telling Titus to teach pagan slaves to glorify their Saviour in their work (v. 10)? Is he saying to teach the pagans to wait for their blessed hope (v. 13)? Obviously not.
Again, context defines the scope of "all men." All men, everywhere, have not received the grace of God unto salvation. Paul is writing to, and about, the community of the saved, those who
have received God's saving grace--which is "training
us to renounce ungodliness" (v. 12); leading them to wait for "
our blessed hope . . . who gave himself
for us to redeem
us from all lawlessness" (vv. 13-14). It isn't all men everywhere to whom the grace of God brings salvation. It is all men
in Christ: men and women, young and old, slave and free, without distinction.
How do these verses reconcile with man not having a choice whether or not they can be saved?
I reject your premise. All men have a choice. Outside of God's grace, they choose to stay away from him.
....door to door or any other way the Gospel is propagated. But to say that door to door is mandated in Scripture as some do is beyond my understanding.
