The Problem of Election

I know people -- even people whom I count as genuine believers -- who have real problems with the concept of Election. No, not voting. (This isn't about Obama.) The idea that God chooses whom He will save. One guy told me, "If election is true, then I might as well join the KKK" because clearly if God chooses to save some and not others, this is a privileged group with a higher standing than those who are not chosen.

Of course, this is problematic for me. I mean, I understand the sentiment. But I'm bound by a prior commitment. My view is if I find it clearly in Scripture, regardless of how I feel about it, I'm forced to agree with Scripture. This starts very early in your examination of the truth. Is God right when He speaks against sexual immorality or is our culture right when we vote in favor of it ... in large numbers? Is Scripture right when it says, "In the beginning, God ..." or is society right when the "intellectuals" assure us there is no God? Is the Bible correct when it tells us that Jesus died and rose again or is the world right when they tell us it can't happen? We have to decide early on which source of truth we're going to buy into. Will culture and experience and feelings determine truth for you or will the Word of God be what is true?

Having determined which of the two you will accept, we come up, then, to the question of election. Does God choose in advance whom He will save? Regardless of how you feel about the question, what does the Bible say? That is, if God's Word tells us that God chooses in advance whom He will save, is that sufficient reason to believe it is true regardless of how we might feel about it? I ask because these are the kinds of things we read in Scripture on the subject:

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out (John 6:37).

You did not choose Me, but I chose you (John 15:16).

He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him (Eph 1:4).

We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. To this He called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess 2:13-14).

Now, there is a lot of Scripture that demands the concept of election -- God choosing whom He will save. This is really quite incontrovertible. It's impossible to avoid. But the question becomes whether or not God chooses in advance or do we choose and God then confirms our choice?

As for me, I'm stuck with these Scriptures (and more). Jesus said, "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me" (future tense). He told His disciples that they did not choose Him. Paul told the Ephesians that we are chosen "before the foundation of the world". He told the Thessalonians that God chose them for salvation "from the beginning". I can do whatever fancy word dances I might do, but I can't get around these clear passages. So I'm forced by my prior commitment to the Word of God to conclude that God chose before the foundation of the world whom He would save. Does that make me special? Frankly, yes. But not because of anything in me. Believe me, of that I'm quite sure.