It's enough that Jesus did not teach them. Whilst I accept the fundamental principle that God is the source of all revelation and draws men to himself, I do not go further and maintain that it is based on mere arbitrary selection, as Calvinists maintain. There is nothing more antithetical to faith than to presuppose that predestination is based on arbitrary selection and there is nothing in the bible to suggest that it is.
Even Paul has a theory of why God had mercy on him:
1 Tim 1:13 "Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief."
In other words, he is saying that had he done the things that he had done in the full knowledge of Jesus, then he would never have believed. The divorcement of God's decisions from human activity is the greatest mistake made by Calvinists, for it seeks to put humans in God's place. It ordains a power of judgement that humans are not given.
Calvin was in an incredibly dangerous position in Geneva vis-a-vis being overtaken by pride. He was a theologian who also had great influence over the civil government. Let's take Servetus. Servetus had committed no crime on the territory of Geneva, but was prosecuted by Calvin and put to death nonetheless for violating the Justinian code in another country that had been imported from Byzantium. If he had done that today, he himself would probably have been executed for judicial murder or at least given life in prison. Contrariwise his brother's adulterous wife was merely expelled from the territory of Geneva even though what she had done was against the universal law of God. Thus by the standards of modern jurisprudence, Calvin can't be considered a good man at all.
Even Paul has a theory of why God had mercy on him:
1 Tim 1:13 "Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief."
In other words, he is saying that had he done the things that he had done in the full knowledge of Jesus, then he would never have believed. The divorcement of God's decisions from human activity is the greatest mistake made by Calvinists, for it seeks to put humans in God's place. It ordains a power of judgement that humans are not given.
Calvin was in an incredibly dangerous position in Geneva vis-a-vis being overtaken by pride. He was a theologian who also had great influence over the civil government. Let's take Servetus. Servetus had committed no crime on the territory of Geneva, but was prosecuted by Calvin and put to death nonetheless for violating the Justinian code in another country that had been imported from Byzantium. If he had done that today, he himself would probably have been executed for judicial murder or at least given life in prison. Contrariwise his brother's adulterous wife was merely expelled from the territory of Geneva even though what she had done was against the universal law of God. Thus by the standards of modern jurisprudence, Calvin can't be considered a good man at all.
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