The Bible does say that God died for everyone.
That is the focus of the debate at hand. Agreed, The Bible does say that God died for everyone. The question is whether "everyone" (the Bible uses the word ALL or WORLD also) is ambiguous. I responded to the meaning of WORLD in post #204. As for ALL and EVERYONE ... here goes (where EVERYONE is analogous to ALL)
Philosophical Distinction
...An error occurs when there is confusion about whether we refer to a term in a
collective sense, or a
distributive sense. A collective sense means all the items are considered together as a whole. In a distributive sense, all the items are considered separately, one at a time. The tricky thing is that the word "all" can be used either way. When "all" is used collectively, it means "all together". When "all" is used distributivity, it means "each and every one." The difference is really important and can often be distinguished only from context.
.. Example... Jill says, "All motorcycles have two wheels. " Greg responds, "That's ridiculous. A single motorcycle has two wheels. And there are of 200,000,000 motorcycles in the world. Therefore, all motorcycles would have over 400,000,000 wheels. Thus the word ALL is ambiguous and often construed by one's bias.
Biblical Examples
That the word “all” is used in a relative and restricted sense, and in such case means all without distinction and not all without exception, is clear from a number of Scriptures, from which two or three samples follow: “And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Mark 1:5). Does this mean that every man, woman and child from “all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem” were baptized of John in Jordan? Surely not. Luke 3:21 distinctly says, “ Now when
all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized,” Then what does “all the people were baptized” mean? It does not mean all without exception, but all without distinction, that is, all classes and conditions of men. Again we read, “And early in the morning He came again into the Temple, and
all the people came unto Him; and He sat down, and taught them” (John 8:2); are we to understand this expression absolutely or relatively? Does “all the people” mean all without exception or all without distinction, that is, all classes and conditions of people? Manifestly the latter; for the Temple was not able to accommodate everybody that was in Jerusalem at this time, namely, the Feast of Tabernacles.
If that weren't the case it would be impossible to know if you are even eligible for salvation or if Christianity even applies to you.
The word ELIGIBLE means
having the right to do or obtain something; satisfying the appropriate conditions. Your statement assumes we have to meet conditions to be saved. Though many believe this, many believe God chooses who He will save and only those He chooses independant of human input. They believe NO ONE SEEKS GOOD and therefore being ELIGIBLE has no practical application. (But this is another can of worms)
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