[Forest Keeper]

If it is man’s responsibility to glorify God, then he must do it out of his own volition. A mother cannot cause a child to love her. But I think it might be interesting to explore the idea of the amount or extent of control that would be analogous to the Reformed view of God’s control of humanity.

If we are talking about normal, average kids, then what are the chances that a young child will love a parent who has showed her perfect Christian love in the early years of her life? My guess would be close to or equal to 100%. To the degree humanly possible, I would call this "causing" love. God, of course, has a much greater say than a human parent in the level of love a person has for Him.

If God leaves a person alone, then the person is forever lost, unable to love God. If, however, God decides to give saving grace to a person, then that grace includes all the buttons that need to be pressed for that one individual. Saving grace is not one-size-fits-all, Rather, it is tailor made to the individual in order to ensure the result desired by God.

On the sin side, we all have our kryptonite. Some types of sin are more tempting to me than to you, and vice versa. Our personal failures will not be identical. God knows all of this. And likewise, on the good side we also have our special buttons that need to be pressed in order to come to faith. They will be different among individuals too. And God is also fully aware of all of those, so the Reformed contention is that saving grace pushes ALL of those buttons, chosen person by chosen person, thus ensuring the commitment from the individual.

If you’re ever up this way, I’ll buy you a large Guinness.

You're on! :) And, IIRC, you're only a few hours away since I'm in St. Louis.

[MarkBsnr]

We must agree to disagree over this point. An individual cannot cause another to love. (S)he can make it very easy, or hard, but to love - an action verb - requires the volition of the individual.

Now if saving grace pushes all the special buttons on the individual, then what is the temporal result? Are the elected somehow identifiable because of their commission and omissions on earth?

[MarkBsnr]

That’s quite correct on location.

We get to experience the Mississippi a day or so before you experience it. Right now, we’re experiencing a whole bunch of algae. Somehow it doesn’t quite mimic a real Irish Guinness.