I know a man who came to trust Jesus at a fairly young age. He and his siblings were raised in a God-fearing home, with parents who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. This man was the oldest in his family, and at the time, when things were tough and money was scarce, he had to work on the farm. However, one of his younger brothers was able to go to Bible camp each summer, attend Vacation Bible Schools and was raised within the same family and the same church. The brother had access to all the same means of grace as the older.
And yet, when the younger grew old enough to leave home, he joined a branch of our nation's military, lived a profligate life, soon found a woman of like-mindedness (she also liked to "run around") and they got married. They settled into an upper midwestern suburb, after his departure from the military. He attended a church, an evangelical church and yet he and his wife continued down a somewhat sinful lifestyle. Some years later, he was offered a grant and a position to teach philosophy at a small midwestern college. During his tenure there, he embraced Buddhism.
All this was to the consternation of the elder brother. And to this day, the elder brother cannot figure out what went wrong. The same upbringing, the same parents, the same church and the younger had even more and better opportunities with the gospel. Yet one rejected the gospel and the other embraced it fully and entered into ministry.
Now I know a man who holds firmly to the free will he believes resides within every human being. He is convinced of each person's freedom to choose to come to Christ or to reject him. I think, from the few dialogues with this man that I've been able to have, that he is somewhat opposed to the full and free sovereignty of God to exercise His grace as He sees fit. I don't think he's "violently" opposed to it (trust me, I know the difference; I've met them and they're not easy people to love). But I'm fairly certain he does not see eye-to-eye with me on the the working of God's electing love in salvation.
Yet he cannot, for the life of him, figure out why he is saved and his younger brother has rejected the Lord.
What would you say to this man?