If God hadn't done what he did, all of this would be a pointless conversation anyway. When I learnt about Christ and things started happening in my life, I had a choice; accept Christ into my life and follow him or don't.
Allow me to answer the question then for you. :'What is the value of Christ' death on the cross to an unbeliever?" Specifically, what dose one who has not, does not, and will not, trust in his/her heart of the saving grace of Christ Jesus....gain from the death of Christ on the cross? Answer: Absolutely nothing.
But more than that, and In the interest of time, and so that you don't feel I'm picking on you Grazer, allow me to complete this thought so as not to express this as a diatribe of theology, because I think you brought up something immensely important, and as I mentioned, popular in understanding salvation. It's truth is irrelevant compared to what I will say of it, but it's full understanding adds value to anyone who wishes to explore it.
So allow me to quote you again, specifically
"They have the same chance and choice I had"...they being those without Christ, but did they? Did you for that matter?
There are generally two views of man’s will, the
libertarian view and the
compatibilistic view. The libertarian view says that man is totally free in choosing God or rejecting God. This is often referred to as "Free Will". In fact there are whole denominations that emphasis this, and there are sub-denominations of it; like "The Free Will Baptist", which always makes me laugh when I pass that church and see the sign. What makes it even more funny to me is it's right after the local RCC church.....but that's just nerd humor and I realize not everyone would get the joke.
In any case, the compatibilistic view of free will say that man’s will is free naturally (nothing from
without is coercing his choices against his will) but not morally (man’s will is controlled by forces or desires from
within). In other words, man’s will is
in bondage to his nature, which is fallen. With the compatabilistic view, man’s will and God’s will cooperate to accomplish God’s purposes in the world,
whether man realizes this is happening or not.
So, to say that the unsaved, those without Christ...
have the same chance and choice I had, before I chose Christ (which is essentially what that says) deserves some thought.
How would a person who is by nature sinful, freely choose on his own, anything outside his nature to do so? As Charles Spurgeon once said
"…Any one who believes that man’s will is entirely free, and that he can be saved by it, does not believe the fall… " he's right. How could they? If man is fallen and by nature a sinner, then his nature is to sin. But, let's say he does freely choose God in his own sinful nature; How would he give thanks to God for his salvation? Here is the only way I can think of.
Dear God thank you, for dyeing on the cross for me, and allowing me the opportunity to freely choose, and accept you. I know that you died for all men, but some don't accept it like I did. I would pray for them Lord, but I know there is nothing you can do, because the choice is theirs and they simply did not, or will not choose you like I did. For I know that many will Go to hell bought with the same price you paid for me.
They had the same grace offered them, but unlike me lord, they chose not to improve that grace like I did. I know that it was not your grace that made the difference between me and the unsaved Lord, but the fact that I improved what you did, and they simply chose not to. I used what you gave and they did not. So I'd thank you Lord, but actually I know that you will thank me for doing the right thing on my own with the free opportunity your gave.
I, and this is just me, but I have never meet a Christian in my life, and this includes me, who came to Christ without Christ first coming to them; and I have never heard an absurd prayer like the one I suggested, on free will.
No one prays like that in earnest. Every Christian I've meet gives thanks to God for what God has done unto them, and if we are saying that God only gives his word to man and not man the ability to "choose him", then we are saying man either has the ability or he does not freely on his own, yet that does not square with the fallen nature of man.
It's man's nature to think he is in control. That's a comforting thought to those who do not see anything else, in that one can only really place their faith in themselves and their own ability to choose God. How righteous they must be, and how honored God must feel to be accepted by them. too bad those rotten sinners can't get it together, but Christ can't do anything for them, only the good ones who are good enough to choose him can be saved.
To know God is in control is to have faith in God and not in ourselves.
