Post 350 is mine and was not addressed to you.
You seem to be getting contentious in your posts to me. What did I do to upset you so? Why do I owe you a response to my own post?
I am merely stating what I believe scripture to teach. My theology may have some "loopholes" in it, but no man's theology is free of such problems. Certainly not Calvinism.
If you can explain exactly why it is, if God did not see something in you that differentiated you from the reprobates, that God chose you over others for election, then I will do my best to answer your questions. Seems to me that the biggest problem is in reconciling a God of Love with the arbitrary election described in Calvinism. Seems to me the best way to do that is to simply deny that God is love. It also seems to me that that is what many do.
Sorry for my accounting error, I think the post was actually 351 (in response to 350).
I was not attempting to be contentious - merely curious about your understanding of salvation. I also noticed you answered another message after my posting, so I assumed you had read mine. From your postings here, I presumed that you followed a theology of free will. I rarely come in contact with those of that belief and wanted to learn more of this system of theology.
I do not claim to be a Calvinist but I do align with many of Jean Calvin's teachings, so if you choose to label me a Calvinist, that's up to you. I do believe that God is ultimately soveriegn and that nothing occurs in this world without his permission. It is hard for me to think otherwise of the Creator and Lord of all.
I too look to Scripture for all revelation of God's character, will, and relationship to His creation. I beleive that Scripture is inerrant and inspired by God. I believe that Scripture teaches that God is a God of love, as you suggest. But love is merely one of Gods many attributes - although it IS a very significant aspect of His character.
When we consider God's love, we cannot forget that His love does not contradict other aspects of His character such as justice, wisdom, omniscience, or compassion. When we say that God is love, it may not always result in a pleasant result from certain perspectives. A perfect example of this is God's love for His chosen people, the Jews. When God imposed the plagues upon the Egyptians in order to free his chosen people, that was an outpouring of His love toward the Jews. You may argue that only Pharoh really deserved God's punishment, but that was not God's will - he punished all the Egyptian people for the sins of their leader.
We rarely understand God's perfect and divine will for His creation. As referenced earlier in this thread,
Romans 9:20: On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
I prefer to trust God in His perfect wisdom even if His decisions appear cavalier from my perspective. The alternative that you purport is that we possess some intrinsic will within us that is prone to choose God. Obviously not all men have this intrinsic will because not all excercise this choice. So I would propose our views are not that far apart. You have choosen God, and all others who have chosen God, have been given some desire for God. I would propose that desire comes only from our Lord and Creator.