Charge: Arminians teach a frustrated God who will be eternally unhappy
Calvinist Complaint: Arminianism teaches a frustrated God
Calvinist, Erwin Lutzer, writes: “Arminians teach that God is frustrated by the free will of his creatures. He decrees to save as many as possible, but the numbers are comparatively few. He plans and wills the salvation of all, but his goals remain unfulfilled.” (The Doctrines That Divide, pp.212-213)
Calvinist, James White, writes: “Indeed, we must conclude [according to Arminianism] that God will be eternally unhappy, since He will love those in hell with the very same kind of undifferentiated love He has for the myriad surrounding His throne.” (Debating Calvinism, p.18, emphasis mine)
Does God love people who are in hell, who are being tormented for all eternity? The answer is that He doesn’t, since they have been cut off from God’s love, and He no longer has any compassion for them because He does not provide for them there. While man has compassion for those in torment, God prevented people from even trying to help them. (Luke 16:26) Those who are in hell, are pretty much completely cut off from God’s love and now experience God’s wrath for all eternity. That’s why evangelism is so important.
Calvinist, Phil Johnson, states: “God is not going to be frustrated throughout all eternity because He was desperately trying to save some people who just could not be persuaded. If that’s your view of God, then He’s not really sovereign. Pharaoh fulfilled exactly the purpose God raised him to fulfill. God is not wringing His hands in despair over Pharaoh’s rebellion and disbelief.” (For Whom Did Christ Die? The Nature of the Atonement, emphasis mine)
In other words, according to Phil Johnson, the only people that God allows to go to Hell are the ones that He created to go there. These, He really never cared about any way, and logically it must follow that if God doesn’t care about them, then why should you? And if God eternally “passed by” them (i.e. Preterition), why shouldn’t you? Yet, Jesus had an indiscriminate love for mankind (Matthew 9:36), teaching that since everyone is our neighbor, we are not to pass by anyone. (Luke 10:30-37)
