Charge: Arminianism is Illogical
Calvinist Complaints: Arminianism is Illogical
One Calvinist explains: Since God is omniscient, He knows who will, and will not, believe in Him. According to Arminianism, for those that God knows will not believe in Him, He still sincerely desires their salvation anyway, even though this could never happen.
Continuing: But isn’t illogical to say that God wants what has zero chance of ever coming to pass?
Continuing: Even if God’s omniscience is not causal, by God’s omniscience, He could have easily prevented the birth of all those that He knows will someday reject Him. Yet, God allows them to be born anyway, and somehow still loves them and desires their salvation?
The key factor is opportunity. Yes, God may foreknow that by allowing a certain person to be born, that they will eventually reject Christ and perish, but if at any point in their life, God gave them the opportunity to do otherwise, via Prevenient Grace, then there is a basis by which He may rightly demand better of them, and rightly desire that they do it? Hence, even in allowing the birth of someone like Judas, God has a basis to demand better of him on the day of Judgment. The opportunity in salvation comes in the form of Jesus dying on the cross for their sins and the grace of a seeking Savior who knocks upon the door of their heart, as well as the Holy Spirit who convicts them of their sin. This is why God can demand better of literally anyone, regardless of what He foreknows that they will eventually do.
On Judgment Day, when unrepentant godless men stand before God, they will be found guilty for their own sin, because they rejected the sacrifice Christ offered up for their sin, and not because God first rejected them. God’s advance knowledge does not alter this fact. However, if God really had first rejected them, can they be judged guilty because God denied them the opportunity to believe?
Question: How can God genuinely love and sincerely desire the salvation of anyone that He knows will ultimately reject Him, and spend eternity in Hell?
Answer: The way in which “God so loved the world” was in the gift of His Son, and God, for His part, is willing that all receive Him, having made a bona fide offer of salvation, through the provision of Calvary, and the grace of a patient Savior who stands at the door of our heart and knocks.
This is like saying that because God knowingly allowed Judas to be born, knowing how he would later betray his Son, God is not only responsible for His Son’s betrayal, but also the indirect cause of His betrayal. After all, God could have shut his mother’s womb, and as well as every other unrepentent evildoer that ever lived.
Question: If God knows that someone will never come to faith, does that mean that they never had a “chance” to be saved?
Answer: If a person does wrong, when they could have done right, then God has the right to hold them accountable for what they should have done, especially if God intervenes and makes it possible for them to have done the right thing.
