Salvation - Election or Choice

"I believe the doctrine … that God intends to give saving grace, through Jesus Christ, only to a certain number, and that the rest of mankind, after the fall of Adam, being justly left of God to continue in sin, will at last suffer that eternal death which is its proper wages. … But as the sovereign Lord of all, who is debtor to none, he has a right to do what he will with his own, and to dispense his favours to what objects he sees fit, merely at his pleasure. And his supreme right herein is clearly and strongly asserted in those passages of Scripture, where he says, "Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" (Rom. 9:15, Exod. 33:19)."

- Letter from George Whitefield to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley In Answer to Mr. Wesley's Sermon entitled: "Free Grace"

God's Free Grace or Man's Free Will. It is the doctrine of my current church to support God's Free Grace, yet my entire life I have been raised to know it is Man's Free Will that leads us to salvation. If I am honest with myself, I must admit I never studied this topic much until now, and all arguments against God's Free Grace do not appear to be scripturally based or Christ-inspired. On the contrary, the support of Man's Free Will has much scriptural backing, and appears to fit with the idea of God's sovereignty and descriptions of character.

My conclusion is this: there is a need of more study and prayer regarding this matter… For I do not want to agree with scholars or masters of theology simply because they are experts, but I want to use their insights and see their differing opinions, and look to Scripture for answers all the while praying for the Spirit to open my eyes and heart to truth.