Thus my initial question remains unanswered. Fru could only answer it by changing the question.
Why is He pleased with some and not others?
xzins pretty well summed up the distinctions above.
OK. I think I see what you're saying now. I assumed you misspoke, but it appears instead that you are misunderstanding what we mean by saying He chose "according to His good pleasure."
There is a difference between saying "God chose them because they pleased Him" and "God chose them because it pleased Him to do so." The former makes God's choosing conditioned upon the individual, while the latter makes it conditioned upon His sovereign will.
So, as I said, I think you are misunderstanding what we are saying. It pleased Him to choose whom He chose, but He did not choose because they pleased Him.
This is what is confusing me Corin, I tell you that God chooses based on His own good pleasure and then you ask what is He pleased by in some and not others. I'm sure it's my fault for not understanding though. ;^)
I've never said that God is pleased with some, I said He shows mercy based on Himself, His own good pleasure. Nothing in there implies that He is pleased by anything in a certain set of sinners (the Elect) as opposed to another set of sinners (the Reprobate).
So the answer to your question: Why is He pleased with some and not others? is that He is pleased with none of us. But out of that group of unpleasing sinners He has deigned to show mercy on some based on nothing else than it pleased Him to do so.
***Why is He pleased with some and not others?***
I think it is clear in Scripture that He has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
So why is that?
So that His purpose of election continues.
And why is that?
Scripture teaches it is a mystery.