I was reading your comments on the column “More on Whose Choice Is It?” By saying “God knew who would accept Him so He gave them the faith to chose just at the right time” makes God sound like He has a great crystal ball. I hear people trying to explain this all the time. Maybe just believing Almighty God is sovereign and taking literally the many verses stating that He “chose” us would make the whole thing a bit more simple. Since we have all chosen sin, we are all destined for Hell. In His sovereign mercy maybe He chose to rescue some, for reasons and purposes known only to Him (Job 9:12-19), and only because of His grace–nothing in any of us. Seems pretty simple to this simple mind.
First, let me say that God has the ultimate crystal ball. He has actually seen the end from the beginning. (Isaiah 46:10) The problem with saying that for reasons of His own He chooses some implies that He rejects others. This is contradicted by Scripture, which says He doesn’t want any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). The Bible can’t contradict itself so both can’t be true. Other references may be subject to interpretation, but 2 Peter 3:9 is clear. He doesn’t want any to perish. The Bible says some will perish because they refuse to believe the truth and be saved (2 Thes. 2:10), and that means it’s not His choice but ours.
By the way, if sin was merely a choice there would be some among us who’ve never sinned and wouldn’t need a Savior. This also contradicts the Bible that says “There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10)