Imagine that you and I are sitting in the pub on a Sunday afternoon. You turn to me and say, “Soon, but I can’t tell you when, I will give you half of everything I have, which will leave you the 98th richest man in the world.”

If I had doubts, would you blame me?

This is the problem that the doctrine of “you must believe to be saved” has problems. Belief is not something one chooses. Either you find a claim credible or you don’t.

Calvinism can get away with this teaching as it teaches that God’s grace is irresistible. That irresistible grace is predestined to be given to some. Thus, you or I believing is not something we had any say in and “you are saved by grace and not anything you did” holds true.

If you make salvation a choice, people choose hell or choose heaven by their belief or lack thereof. That’s not a choice. Saying the prayer to go to heaven is something I could boast about, but believing in the first place, not so much.

This is actually the problem of free will. If we have free will, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves; it has to be given to us. If we lack free will, salvation was out of our hands to begin with. Either way, there’s probably no choice involved.

Unless you subscribe to modern evangelical doctrine, and then it very much is your fault if you go to hell because of free will. Just don’t squint too hard at the logic there.

Feel free to show this to your evangelical pastor. I could use the exposure that being preached against would bring.