The claim was made that we are free to choose our own paths. This is not what the scriptures tell us. Jonah is one of the most obvious examples but there are plenty more. If we truly had free will as some would claim, then when Jonah ran God would have simply shrugged and say, "Oh well, there's plenty more of those fish in the sea."
A question I've asked before: If free will choice were demonstrated to you to be true, would you accept it?
I believed in man's free will for 30+ years. I never even heard of Calvin during that time. But I could NEVER reconcile passages in scripture. When I would ask people they simply say "It's a mystery". Well, no, I don't buy into half the Bible being a mystery. God CHOSE a whole nation, and do people really want to argue that God doesn't choose people? The logic is a bit overwhelming.
Free will can't be demonstrated to me as being true because it has been demonstrated to me as being false. What kind of "free will" did Jonah have if God pursued him, made a fish to swallow him, and waited for Jonah to either repent or be digested? Clearly your not going to argue that Jonah had the freedom NOT to preach to Nineveh?
Non-Christians CANNOT make any choices that pleases God.
Christians ARE free to make choices that pleases God. This isn't an illusion. It is a loving Father who guides our hands to make the right choices that are pleasing to Him. He gives us our works but it is all His doing. It is His guidance that we chose wisely.
Non sequitur. It doesn't follow logically.
I believed in man's free will for 30+ years. I never even heard of Calvin during that time. But I could NEVER reconcile passages in scripture.
You are describing your thought process, weighing various factors, concerning your choice of what you believe.
Free will can't be demonstrated to me as being true because it has been demonstrated to me as being false.
And, therefore, you made the free will choice not to accept it.
QED, friend.