Imagine, if you will, being present at Sinai and still live in a state of unbelief. Yet that is exactly what happened. We see over and over with the nation of Israel that the people could not refrain from sin, and we see other examples of Godly men and women who are held up as spiritual lights to us.
The "elect" is not a physical group, something the world today still has difficulty grasping. There is a physical Israel and there is a spiritual Israel, big difference.
Imagine being in Christ's Presence and still not believing. Yet this is exactly what happened, many times.
Acts 13:46
Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.
13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.
Today we have "Christian" nations. Do you really believe that every individual that is born into one is a believer? We have "Christian" churches, is every member a believer?
The bible is clear that "the elect" are ordained to believe and the rest aren't. "Ye must be born again". It's God's Plan of Salvation, it's not mankind's plan.
Amen. I’m reading this bottom to top on my blackberry. My eyes are beginning to cross. X~)