I wouldn't say it's a requirement of God. Unless He wished to create human beings. Free will, the ability to control or abuse our instincts, self-consciousness.. these define us as human beings as opposed to animals.
Free will is also as obvious in our every day experience as our senses. To deny it exists is akin to saying we can't trust our own eyes.
The Calvinist method - deducing experiential data from theology reminds me of errors long ago of deducing astonomical data from theology. It's a category error of course.
If your theology requires a "fact" that is constantly disproved by direct experience, you've got a serious problem that's not easily overcome.
thanks for your reply
Don't we walk by faith and not by sight? I wouldn't go strictly on what I see around me. And even if I did, there are many people who never hear the gospel and many who further reject the message. Why Bob becomes a Christian and not Joe can only be explained that God wanted Bob to become a Christian. Otherwise He would have done whatever He needed to to get Joe to accept Christ. I trust we both would agree that if God wanted Joe to be a Christian, Joe would be a Christian.
The Calvinist method - deducing experiential data from theology reminds me of errors long ago of deducing astonomical data from theology.
LOL!!! In my mind to deny the "chosen people" is essentially denying the entire Bible which is written about the "chosen people". I personally think that a big "DUH!".