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I'm not asking you to project anything on anyone.

I'm asking you why you believe and the guy next door doesn't.

How can you preach the Gospel if you don't know the rebuttal to that Gospel?

Why do you believe and they guy next door doesn't?

Let's make this even easier.

Why do you believe?

Q: Why does one person believe in Jesus and not another?
A. This question assumes a deterministic framework. Each person is a unique being who has the God given capability to make his own choices ex nihilo. One person believes and not another because one chose to believe, and the other did not.

Q: Man is dead. How can a dead person believe or do anything?
A. This is a non-scriptural definition of death. Death does not mean “unable to respond”, rather, it means “separated from God”. In the parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32), the father states “my son was dead, but now is alive. He was lost, and now is found” (Luke 15:32). The son was able make decisions, including the decision to go home. Yet, he was separated from relationship with his father, and dependent on his father for reconciliation. To be dead is to be separated from Christ. To be alive is to be in relationship with Christ. Making choices does not give one the ability to be reconciled to Christ absent his consent.

Q: If man is dead in sin, how can he believe outside of the grace of God?
A. This is a statement that Arminians fully agree with! Arminians believe in prevenient grace, that God is in the process of drawing non-believers to himself. It is God’s drawing that enables the sinner to believe. We differ with Calvinists in that 1) We believe scripture teaches that God gives a measure of genuine grace to everyone (Titus 2:11), and 2) We believe that grace is resistible (John 5:34,39-40).