Okay, let's talk about predestination

[Imalive]

You don't grasp election, nor do you understand Ezekiel.
God tells us that those whom He chooses will never be lost. Some humans failure is never going to thwart God's will.

No? What if there's noone else?

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Why is my country not healed? Why is the majority atheist?
Their free will? Gods will? Or is the church here too lazy? I vote for nr. 3.

 

[Josiah]

The Mystery of Election...



Definitions


MONERGISM. Lutherans and Calvinists both are monergists. This is the affirmation that justification (narrow) is God's miracle and gift. We believe that Jesus IS THE Savior, which means it's Jesus that saves, Jesus does it, if it has to do with salvation Jesus' got it. Thus is it not a matter of how many "hoops" we gotta jump through and how well we do it - so that we create, earn, merit and deserve salvation (and thus Jesus is not the Savior).

JUSTIFICATION. Lutherans and Calvinists agree here, too. Justification is essentially what "Evangelicals" mean by "Born again." It means a changed relationship with God and the forgiveness of our sin. We hold to the Protestant view of Sola Gratia - Solus Christus - Sola Fide (as one inseparable, united view): John 3:16, "For God so loved the world (Sola Gratia) that He gave His only begotten Son (Solus Christus) that whosoever believes in Him (Sola Fide) will not parish but has everlasting life (justification). It's because of the unconditional love and mercy of God, which gave to us the God/man Jesus who IS the Savior in His life, death and resurrection, which we apprehend via the divine gift of faith (trust/reliance). Alone. All the divine miracle of God, the divine GIFT of God.

ELECTION The Gospel that God loved us, was merciful to us, and chose us as His own before we did a thing, before we were even born (or even conceived). It flows from a firm embrace of monergism. It is NOT to be confused (at all) with the Greek philosophy of "fate" nor is it to be applied anywhere except, solely, in justification (narrow). It is also not to be confused with foreknowledge (the affirmation that God knows all - even beforehand) for it's not simply that God KNOWS who will justified but that God WORKS this miracle and gift and thus they will be justified. They aren't justified because God knew they would be, God knows they will be because He has chosen to perform his miracle and grant this pure gift. For Lutherans, this is not law and should not be twisted upside down and inside out to convert Gospel into Law, that is to say that God "gets off" on seeing billions fry forever in hell and thus chooses some before time to glory Him by suffering the eternal flames of hell. Election is Gospel, always meant to comfort and assure - never to terrorize. Lutherans do not claim to know why some are not justified/saved - but we do NOT believe it is because God 'gets off' on frying people and seeing them suffer. This is the GOSPEL ('good news') that this Sola Gratia in view of Solus Christus has always been (and will always be) directed to me. Not because self has earned it but because God extends it. Yes, there is mystery here.... but it's wonderful if we embrace this as it is presented: as Gospel to comfort CHRISTIANS.

UNIVERSAL ATONEMENT. All but a few uber-Calvinists accept this (and it was proclaimed at the Ecumenical Council of Orange). This teaches that God's love is unconditional (NOT conditional upon being among the "Elect"), "For God so loved the world..." And that Jesus died for all sins. It embraces Sola Gratia and Solus Christus in justification. BECAUSE God loves ALL and Jesus' work is for ALL we therefore know it's for us (since it is universal, with no exceptions). Of course, Sola Gratia - Solus Christus APART FROM SOLA FIDE does not result in justification (justification results from all 3 aspects of it: Sola Gratia - Solus Christus - SOLA FIDE), justification requires the divine gift of faith which God gives to His Elect. However the divine gift of faith apprehends reality because the Sola Gratia - Solus Christus IS THERE for all. One of the many problems of those who reject this is that faith may or may not be apprehending something (since it may not be for THEM) and there's no way to know if they are justified for not.

UNIVERSALISM This is the rejection and repudiation of the "Sola Fide" part of justification, arguing that one is justified REGARDLESS of whether they have the divine gift of faith or not. It insists we are justified via Sola Gratia - Solus Christus, rejecting the Sola Fide part. Yes, it assumes universal atonement but then repudiates Sola Fide, which orthodox, traditional Christian theology does not do (since Scripture and the Councils does not permit).




A Hopefully Helpful ILLUSTRATION-


Next February, God willing, my wife and I will be joined by a son. So far, I've only seen him in admittedly hard to distinguish photos of him still in the womb - but that's all I know about him (oh, he is a boy!). We chose to not to any of the texts of possible birth issues (doesn't matter, we aren't going to abort him). We don't know if he'll be handsome or ugly, smart or dumb, good or bad. And so far, all he's done is cost a lot of money, kicked his mother a lot, and made her physically ill (she's better now, however). He hasn't done any good work to merit the life he obviously has (he does all kinds of gymnastics in there; I can now feel it).

And we are already "nesting" (as my wife puts it). We bought a new car (a Honda Pilot SUV), repainted the nursery and already have it all decorated, we have the car seat and rocker and dresser/changing table and LOTS of other things already in the nursery and ready to go (although it's still some months before his scheduled entrance). And there's LOTS of clothes and other things - even before the 3 upcoming baby showers - some from us, most from the two sets of soon-to-be grandparents (a first grandchild for them both). We've both arranged for leave with our employers

And we already LOVE that little boy to pieces. We pray for him constantly (together and separately). My wife is already singing to him (including "Jesus songs"). I suspect only the parents out there know what I'm talking about.... Crazy, absolutely crazy, how much you can be in love (and all that means) with one you've never seen and has done absolutely nothing whatsoever to earn all this (quite the opposite - he's cost us a lot).

And years from now.... perhaps because of the brokenness of this world and of sin..... he may wander to a place.... and wonder about Mom and Dad..... wonder about our love and dedication to him.... wonder if our love has disappeared because he isn't earning it..... and we can remind him of this time when all he did was kick his mother, make her sick and cost us a bunch of time, effort and money - and we loved him: more than we can convey, more than we can understand.... not because of what he did but because of who he is: our son, our heart.

.... THAT is essentially the "Mystery of Election" ....



OBVIOUSLY there is much mystery here, but it's to leave mystery as mystery... and to leave gospel as gospel.

I accept Sola Gratia - Solus Christus. And I accept Sola Fide. Thus I reject your premise that if faith is lacking, ERGO it is mandated that God's grace and Savior are also missing - your premise is absurd and unbiblical.

It is absurd to insist that if one doesn't have faith, ergo there is no grace or Savior. And of course, it creates "a terror of the conscience": it means that you have no assurance, no reason to believe that God's love is unconditional (as the Bible says it is) or that Jesus is your Savior. The rest of us KNOW that God is merciful and gracious to us, that Jesus is my Savior because His grace/mercy and Savior is for all. Faith then apprehends that and applies it to me. In this Greek idea of some Calvinists, faith is likely ineffectual because God's grace/mercy and Savior is only for SOME and there's no way to know if I'm one of those "some." It's not only an absurd and unbiblical idea - but it's a horrible one.


And you are making a common uber-Calvinist mistake: Of simply casting everyone else as an Arminianist. It's just not true.



.

Notice that God tells us that he only came to save the elect. His atonement was not universal.

No. There are no verses that dogmatically teach that God's love is CONDITIONAL upon being the Elect, that Christ's atonement was insufficient.

You simply are confusing two DIFFERENT things - universal atonement and universalism. Universal Atonement embraces Sola Gratia - Solus Christus. Universalism is the DENIAL and REJECTION of Sola Fide. They aren't the same thing.

I reject your premise that if a person lacks faith, ERGO God lacks love and the Savior. True - without faith one is not justified (and it might be argued is not among the Elect) but that's an entirely (and unrelated) issue. I hold justification as Sola Gratia - Solus Christus - Sola Fide. Thus, accepting Sola Gratia and Solus Christus does not mean justification in the case of a certain individual (the Fide part is essential) but that doesn't mean that ERGO there is no grace or Savior - only that there is no faith that apprehends the blessings of that.

Friend, if your view, faith becomes meaningless. After all, faith is meaningless if there is nothing for it to embrace, to apprehend. If God is not universal.... if His love is not for all.... if the work of Jesus is insufficient for all - then you have NO REASON WHATSOEVER to believe your faith (no matter how real or sincere) is embracing anything, you may well be clinging to NOTHING but your feelings, your faith in vain. The only way faith gains meaning is if we KNOW there is something out there which is saving, when you insist most of the time there's not, then... well.... the odds are mostly that your faith is clinging to nothing. What a horrible theology.


I don't disagree ONE BIT with ANY of the verses you quoted.... NONE of which teach that God's grace/mercy/love are conditional, NONE of which teach that Jesus' work was insufficient for all.




.

 

[MennoSota]

No? What if there's noone else?

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Why is my country not healed? Why is the majority atheist?
Their free will? Gods will? Or is the church here too lazy? I vote for nr. 3.

"My people," in your quote, refers to God's elect.
God will always bring redemption to His elect, no matter the country or the place. Remember what Mordechai said to Esther..."If you do not act, God will use someone else to save His people."
Why is your country not seeing more people in God's Kingdom? That is for God to know, not for you and me to know. God is saving his elect in your country. I consider you as example number one. ☺

 

[MennoSota]

No. There are no verses that dogmatically teach that God's love is CONDITIONAL upon being the Elect, that Christ's atonement was insufficient.

You simply are confusing two DIFFERENT things - universal atonement and universalism. Universal Atonement embraces Sola Gratia - Solus Christus. Universalism is the DENIAL and REJECTION of Sola Fide. They aren't the same thing.

I reject your premise that if a person lacks faith, ERGO God lacks love and the Savior. True - without faith one is not justified (and it might be argued is not among the Elect) but that's an entirely (and unrelated) issue. I hold justification as Sola Gratia - Solus Christus - Sola Fide. Thus, accepting Sola Gratia and Solus Christus does not mean justification in the case of a certain individual (the Fide part is essential) but that doesn't mean that ERGO there is no grace or Savior - only that there is no faith that apprehends the blessings of that.

Friend, if your view, faith becomes meaningless. After all, faith is meaningless if there is nothing for it to embrace, to apprehend. If God is not universal.... if His love is not for all.... if the work of Jesus is insufficient for all - then you have NO REASON WHATSOEVER to believe your faith (no matter how real or sincere) is embracing anything, you may well be clinging to NOTHING but your feelings, your faith in vain. The only way faith gains meaning is if we KNOW there is something out there which is saving, when you insist most of the time there's not, then... well.... the odds are mostly that your faith is clinging to nothing. What a horrible theology.


I don't disagree ONE BIT with ANY of the verses you quoted.... NONE of which teach that God's grace/mercy/love are conditional, NONE of which teach that Jesus' work was insufficient for all.




.

You are in contradiction with yourself, Josiah.
The verses I shared show that universal atonement is not taught by God in the scriptures. You don't actually address any disagreement with the verses, therefore you must accept that all people are not atoned for, universally.
Second, you contradict monergism by preaching Arminian theology of unlimited atonement. No matter how you slice it, you are not promoting monergism when you uphold unlimited atonement.
Keep tossing out the Sola's like a mantra, but you don't actually follow what you preach. You are following a synergistic path while claiming monergism.

 

[Josiah]

The verses I shared show that universal atonement is not taught by God in the scriptures.

No. I think you are misapplying some select verses to imply your rejection of Sola Gratia - Solus Christus, and to avoid the problem that creates for Sola Fide.

you must accept that all people are not atoned for, universally

I think you just continue to confuse universal atonement with universalism. The difference has been explained repeatedly but you just circumvent it.

Second, you contradict monergism by preaching Arminian theology

Again, you have fallen for that ploy of some uber-Calvinists that there are only two positions in the world: Uber-Calvinism/TULIP or Arminianism, and if you can show Arminianism wrong, ergo TULIP must be right. It's silly, it's absurd and it's wrong.

There is NOTHING in monergism that REMOTELY suggests that God's love is conditional and that Christ's work was insufficient. And of course, I have fully accepted that it is the Elect who are justified, fully and only and exclusively by the miracle, working and gift of God. I'm just joining with nearly all other Christians in rejecting the Greek view of a few uber-Calvinists regarding "double" predestination and their odd view that God's love is conditional and Christ's work insufficient.



.

 

[psalms 91]

Throught His son God provided salvation for all and His wish is that all be saved, that is universal, but we know that not all are saved and not all choose salvation so in that sense it is not universal as evidenced by the existance of hell

 

[MennoSota]

Throught His son God provided salvation for all and His wish is that all be saved, that is universal, but we know that not all are saved and not all choose salvation so in that sense it is not universal as evidenced by the existance of hell

God has provide salvation for all his elect. (Not a universal all.)
God desires all His elect to be adopted/saved. (Not a universal all.)
Not all are saved because God tells us very clearly that He came to save those whom the Father has given.
No one chooses salvation. No one seeks God, not even one.
Indeed, the atonement is limited to the elect. The Bible is clear. We humans just can't stand the fact that our salvation is out of our control. We desperately want to be our own god, while the Creator remains an advisor in our operation.
All I can do is to keep pointing people toward the Scriptures. I can't make anyone allow it to speak clearly without trying to excuse it away.

 

[psalms 91]

God has provide salvation for all his elect. (Not a universal all.)
God desires all His elect to be adopted/saved. (Not a universal all.)
Not all are saved because God tells us very clearly that He came to save those whom the Father has given.
No one chooses salvation. No one seeks God, not even one.
Indeed, the atonement is limited to the elect. The Bible is clear. We humans just can't stand the fact that our salvation is out of our control. We desperately want to be our own god, while the Creator remains an advisor in our operation.
All I can do is to keep pointing people toward the Scriptures. I can't make anyone allow it to speak clearly without trying to excuse it away.

We will agree to disagree or I will anyway, my problem with your position is that if it is God doing the choosing for the elct then we had no need of a saviour since it is God and we can do nothing either way. Dangerous I think

 

[MennoSota]

The Five Solas are:
Sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”): The Bible alone is our highest authority.
Sola Fide*(“faith alone”): We are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Sola Gratia (“grace alone”): We are saved by the grace of God alone.
Solus Christus*(“Christ alone”): Jesus Christ alone is our Lord, Savior, and King.
Soli Deo Gloria (“to the glory of God alone”): We live for the glory of God alone.
Limited atonement snuggles up very nicely to the Sola's.
To accept universal (unlimited) atonement you have to twist Sola Scriptura by forcing a universal "all" out of context. It therefore cannot be Sola Scriptura, but instead, scripture plus my prooftext.
Solus Christus gets twisted in universal atonement because it is humans that damn themselves by their choice to reject the atonement. It becomes Christ, almost alone, but humans screw it up.
Sola Gratia gets twisted because it's grace...until humans choose to reject...then it's all law.
Sola Fide gets twisted because all humans have had their sins atoned for, but they can reject the atonement and thus reject the faith God has given all humans by virtue of the universal atonement. Faith becomes a work of man.
Soli Deo Gloria gets twisted because God becomes too weak to save the whole of the people for whom Christ died. His death becomes a waste for the billions and trillions who reject the atonement. The glory gets placed in the human who is smart enough to choose the Creator above all other earthly pleasures.
Sorry, Josiah, but you have no Sola's left in your corner.
It is interesting to see how hard we fight against God in regard to atonement. I was once a full-fledged universal, unlimited atonement person. The arguments from others on the board were the arguments I pushed. Then...then I started to read the Bible by observing the text and studying the context. I let the scriptures say what they say. In time, my sputtering complaints gave way to accepting God's word as it is spoken, not as I wish it to be.
Limited atonement stood up and revealed how amazing God's grace truly is.

 

[Josiah]

Limited atonement stood up and revealed how amazing God's grace truly is.

I believe the uber-Calvinist idea of LIMITED grace and a LIMITED Savior shows how limited God's grace is... and how insufficient Christ is... and leaves faith very likely empty, grasping nothing at all.

I believe God's love is unconditional... I believe Christ's death is all-sufficient and able. Sola Gratia - Solus Christus. True, justification also requires Sola Fide (which is not universal) but I disagree with your premise that if a person lacks faith, that mandates that God lacks love and Christ's work like sufficiency.


- Josiah

 

[MennoSota]

We will agree to disagree or I will anyway, my problem with your position is that if it is God doing the choosing for the elct then we had no need of a saviour since it is God and we can do nothing either way. Dangerous I think

We absolutely needed a Savior. We had no tools to save ourself. We were adrift in a cold and barren sea with no feeling left in our souls, no ability to reach out, our hearts no longer pumping. And then, for no reason at all, God pulled us out of the depth and gave us new life.
That is/was the reality of our condition. We were DEAD in our trespasses and sins. But God made us alive...in Christ Jesus.
We could do nothing, that is absolutely true. But, there was still hope. God could choose to pick up our lifeless corpse and breath life back into us.
That is what makes the story so amazing. That is what makes the story so gracious. That is what makes me shout praises to the highest hills and lowest vale. GOD has chosen to give me LIFE!!! Wow! Say Amen, brother!!!

 

[MennoSota]

I believe the uber-Calvinist idea of LIMITED grace and a LIMITED Savior shows how limited God's grace is... and how insufficient Christ is... and leaves faith very likely empty, grasping nothing at all.

I believe God's love is unconditional... I believe Christ's death is all-sufficient and able. Sola Gratia - Solus Christus. True, justification also requires Sola Fide (which is not universal) but I disagree with your premise that if a person lacks faith, that mandates that God lacks love and Christ's work like sufficiency.


- Josiah

I know you believe that, Josiah, but God's word disagrees with your belief. Instead your belief makes God weaker than man. That should make you shiver because that's not what you claim, even while it is what your view believes.

 

[Imalive]

The Five Solas are:
Sola Scriptura (“Scripture alone”): The Bible alone is our highest authority.
Sola Fide*(“faith alone”): We are saved through faith alone in Jesus Christ.
Sola Gratia (“grace alone”): We are saved by the grace of God alone.
Solus Christus*(“Christ alone”): Jesus Christ alone is our Lord, Savior, and King.
Soli Deo Gloria (“to the glory of God alone”): We live for the glory of God alone.
Limited atonement snuggles up very nicely to the Sola's.
To accept universal (unlimited) atonement you have to twist Sola Scriptura by forcing a universal "all" out of context. It therefore cannot be Sola Scriptura, but instead, scripture plus my prooftext.
Solus Christus gets twisted in universal atonement because it is humans that damn themselves by their choice to reject the atonement. It becomes Christ, almost alone, but humans screw it up.
Sola Gratia gets twisted because it's grace...until humans choose to reject...then it's all law.
Sola Fide gets twisted because all humans have had their sins atoned for, but they can reject the atonement and thus reject the faith God has given all humans by virtue of the universal atonement. Faith becomes a work of man.
Soli Deo Gloria gets twisted because God becomes too weak to save the whole of the people for whom Christ died. His death becomes a waste for the billions and trillions who reject the atonement. The glory gets placed in the human who is smart enough to choose the Creator above all other earthly pleasures.
Sorry, Josiah, but you have no Sola's left in your corner.
It is interesting to see how hard we fight against God in regard to atonement. I was once a full-fledged universal, unlimited atonement person. The arguments from others on the board were the arguments I pushed. Then...then I started to read the Bible by observing the text and studying the context. I let the scriptures say what they say. In time, my sputtering complaints gave way to accepting God's word as it is spoken, not as I wish it to be.
Limited atonement stood up and revealed how amazing God's grace truly is.

Not too weak, not willing, but not out of some random made choice. He resists the proud, unless their heart is good soil like Nebukadnesar. Then He humbles em first.
It has to do w the heart and He knows hearts and foreknows everything. Seed of the snake would bruise Jesus' heal.

Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should[a] heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained
18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.

 

[MoreCoffee]

We will agree to disagree or I will anyway, my problem with your position is that if it is God doing the choosing for the elct then we had no need of a saviour since it is God and we can do nothing either way. Dangerous I think

You make an interesting point. If God saves and if human beings are not involved by anything they can do, say, or think while they are "dead in their tresspasses and sins" and if it is only after they are saved (after they are chosen by God and redeemed by God and effectually called by God and promised eternal life by God) that they can be pleasing to God in any way and if before they were saved nothing they did, said, or thought was anything but wicked and sinful then even if a saviour is needed for the elect, called, and saved no saviour is available or ultimately beneficial for anybody not elect, called, and saved. For anybody not among the elect Jesus Christ is not their saviour no matter what they may do, say, or think.

 

[Albion]

We will agree to disagree or I will anyway, my problem with your position is that if it is God doing the choosing for the elct then we had no need of a saviour since it is God and we can do nothing either way. Dangerous I think

God chooses to impart saving Faith to a person. Faith saves. He does not elect or save at random.

 

[MoreCoffee]

God chooses to impart saving Faith to a person. Faith saves. He does not choose people at random.

Edit from short reply: If God gives saving faith and faith saves then your concluding statement does not appear to follow. God chooses people on what basis if it is not "random"?

 

[Albion]

Yep. Of course we have to understand what saving Faith is.

 

[MoreCoffee]

Yep. Of course we have to understand what saving Faith is.

You wrote "He does not choose people at random." so what basis does God use to decide who he chooses to give saving faith to?

 

[Imalive]

God chooses to impart saving Faith to a person. Faith saves. He does not elect or save at random.

Faith comes by hearing of His Word. If the soil is no good you get no fruit.

 

[MennoSota]

Not too weak, not willing, but not out of some random made choice. He resists the proud, unless their heart is good soil like Nebukadnesar. Then He humbles em first.
It has to do w the heart and He knows hearts and foreknows everything. Seed of the snake would bruise Jesus' heal.

Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,
And seeing you will see and not perceive;
15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should[a] heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; 17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained
18 “Therefore hear the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 23 But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.

Nothing is random with God. However, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. None seek God, not even one.
The mystery of God's election is for Him and Him alone. That's what makes a King a Sovereign. He answers to no one.
God answers to no one and He chooses whom He wills. Whether we like it or not. The power of choice is not in our hands...whether we like it or not. And based upon the fact that no one seeks God, we should be overjoyed that the choice is not in our hands. If it was...we would flee the Light and run for Darkness 100% of the time. Be grateful that God chooses.