Thanks for agreeing. It is easy to agree for it is just common sense. It is a good test to see where peoples' minds are at when they respond to such simplicity. Legalists want to be bad lawyers and not distinguish between the image of God and the will of the flesh (only see the will of the flesh), whereby it is the image of God, not the will of the flesh in the man that can come to the cross as afforded that right by God making the man in His image.
Obviously man does choose the right way, otherwise no man would ever come to the cross to receive God's grace. God chooses because He forsees that choice that some employ made in His image. And He longs to see that choice made.
Perhaps some will wonder why God employs such a troublesome way to proclaim His word. A question of this kind belongs to the same category of questions often asked by unbelievers, such as: Why does God not take away the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Why does He not create a species of man who cannot sin? For would not man then avoid the plight of sinning and God escape the dilemma of atonement? The same answer can be given to the question concerning the ministers of the word as to these similar inquiries. God does not will that the man He creates be like a machine, having no freedom of choice but having to obey perfectly. It would be easy for Him to make such a perfect machine. There would be no trouble with man, but neither would there be glory for God. Such obedience and goodness have no spiritual value. There may not be any fault or sin, yet neither can there be holiness, for the obedience is passive. God rejects such a thing.
What God desires to have is the kind of man who knows his right hand from his left. He accordingly creates a mankind that is capable of choosing the evil as well as the good, the wrong as well as the right. If the man God created were capable of choosing obedience to Him only, the glory he would render to God would not exceed that which a machine can present. God gave man a free will, capable of choosing good or evil. In such a circumstance, if man should choose good, a glorious thing is done by him. Although the possibility of doing evil is a great danger, that of doing good is of exceeding glory. This explains why God does not create a machine-like man who can only do good and obey God, but why instead He makes a man free to choose good or evil. God decrees it to be a matter of glory for man to choose good and to choose to obey under his own initiative.
Now God applies this same principle to ministry of the New Testament order. In terms of difficulties, it surely gives God much trouble to speak through man. He would have no trouble, though, if He were to speak directly, nor would He incur any trouble if He used angels to communicate His word. Even speaking by an ass is less troublesome than speaking through man, since an ass is far less complicated and, therefore, poses less obstacles in the areas of the mind, understanding, memory, intention, and so on. Nonetheless, speaking by an ass is an exceptional case. God used the ass to speak only after the prophet failed. He never intended to make an ass a prophet, because He always calls man to be the prophet.
God’s wish is to use man. Man was created for God’s specific purpose. As He did not make an obedient machine at the time of creation, so He now rejects the use of a preaching machine. He does not want an automaton; He wants a man with free will. It is a calculated risk with God to choose man as a minister of His word. Yet in spite of the complexity of man and his many problems such as sin, defilement, weakness, the outward man, and natural resistance, God still entrusts His word to man. Through the greatest rigor God obtains His highest glory.
The reason why Jacob’s brother is not named is because it is written in the Scriptures, “Jacob I loved, Esau I hated†(Rom. 9.13). This is the marvelous way of God’s election. “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion†(Rom. 9.15), thus showing that the purpose of God according to election “is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy†(Rom. 9.16). Notwithstanding this sovereign way of God’s election, it is not done casually but rather according to His “foreknowledge.†For God knows beforehand who will be willing to accept grace and so be blessed: “the elect . . . according to the foreknowledge of God the Father†(1 Peter 1.1,2). First, foreknowledge; then, election. Due to God’s love for Jacob, his sons became the twelve tribes of Israel.
According to His foreknowledge God foresaw the rebellion of the angels and the fall of men; hence He was unable to establish His authority in angels or in the Adamic race.
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate" (Rom. 8.29). Ergo, predestination is by foreknowledge. The antecedent to predestinating is foreknowing. God foreknows the choice we would make in His image. He does not pre-make us to choose. Pre-making (calvinism) is not required, but just a pride and false work of the unrenewed mind.
So we are left with a work here of arminian that agrees with God's Word and proper salvation according to God's will -
http://top100osasarminian.itopsites.com
If you can not accept this way of God's salvation, there is not some other way.
