True that God is not a respector of persons but choice to walk right is all yours, so you err in the end and here's the reason why:

John 1:12

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name

That means you can choose not to receive Him.

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Whoever literally means any human who chooses to believe in Christ

Romans 1:16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek

To everyone that believes is not limited to God's choice, it is limited to the ones that choose to believe, which is an intent by you and not by God as you are trying to imply.

Romans 10:9

That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved

"If you shall" is a statement of choice meaning you can choose not to do it and thus bear the consequences.

All the above nullifying your perception that God is the one who chooses your path for you. You do so by the choices you make otherwise evangelism, preaching and teaching the word would be in vain.

Even in school you are taught so that you may make the right CHOICES in life/exams which further nullifies your perception on God as the one who limits salvation to a specific people. It is pointless to teach you anything if what your being taught will not help you make a choice.

If I don't get you wrong by great success you mean, visible progress in life which you may be meaning financial freedom a.k.a great wealth.

Well, lets see whether we can get some guidance in the light of God's word on that.

Matthew 19:30

'But many who are first will be last, and the last first'

In order to interpret that verse in its appropriate context, you read before it and after it to get the flow and it is talking about the wealthy's heart in God's eyes, neither is there an issue with people being wealthy. Much to what we don't expect, it isn't the wealth that determines you living a successful life. It is about finding God's will in it for you particularly.

In the case of the rich man, Jesus told him to feed the poor rather than to amassing wealth, having many good deeds and observing every commandment as given.

As for his case, God's will for his life was to consider the poor more than his wealth but he shied away from Jesus' request. That was just addressing the success part which you may be referring to as making it in life. Summarily, great success in our lives in our sight, isn't success in life in God's sight.

Now to my other point, you digress and miss my point. Education is to teach you to make the right choice not to lead you to great success as you may be implying.

Let me bring out my point with a short extract very clearly:

After the discovery and exploration of the Americas, corn was grown by settlers and all around the world. The natives who had originally grew it would treat it with lime, but the taste was unpleasant to the Europeans and they omitted this part of the preparation. As corn was increasingly farmed, the disease pellagra began to spread. Symptoms included diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia, and finally death. Many people believed that corn was in some way toxic, but could not explain the lack of pellagra among native New Worlders. After thousands of deaths, it was discovered that corn, although high in carbohydrates, lacked vitamin B3 (niacin). Farmers would sometimes eat little other than corn and succumb to the deficiency. The Native Americans had actually been using lime as a way of adding vitamin B3. Today it is well known that by eating a variety of foods vitamin B3 is freely obtained and pellagra is easily treated.

The above case was simple, the deaths were happening due to lack of niacin (Vit B3). They didn't know the truth (that it is a deficiency disease and not a problem with the corn), so they were unable to make the right call/choice hence ended up dead. So when you know the truth, you will make the right choice than to end up dead.


One more example of choice is found in Matthew 14:28-31

And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous,[a] he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Here you can clearly see, Jesus called Peter so Peter decided out of CHOICE to make a leap of faith and walk on water. So it is by choice that you ans God's call in your life. And the Word of God still says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name"


Bottom line, whichever angle you want to look at it, it remains the same. Your choice alone determines your fate. When you have a personal relationship with the Lord, when you commune with Him, there are things that you just know because He has confirmed them to you in your life example Gideon and the fleece, wet dew (Judges 6:36-40). So you actually know because you are being led of the Spirit of God, where to step and where not to step, who to engage and who not to engage.

So it's not a matter of putting Him in a box, it is what He has confirmed to you through His Spirit. Why do I say this? It's because He is the One who convicts you, so He guides you and when you walk in total obedience, no unfounded doctrine can destabilize you. His works will also be evident in your life.

Although this digresses from the original topic which i feel we've done a lot of injustice to, perhaps you could help me understand a Lazarus question I have since you've mentioned him here (even though your reference is to Luke 16). According to John 11, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. What does that mean about Lazarus now - is he alive or did he die again? Forgive my ignorance, but those are the kind of questions I ponder every now and then.

Sorry. I'm only just seeing this.

I'm no theologian. The best placed placed person to answer this, and all other question that emanate from it would probably be an Apologetic.

That said, my simple understanding tells me that there is no mortal man, of the old, that is alive today. Even Cain died in the flood.

Jesus Christ died a most violent death. His disciples and believers weren't given any reprieve. I can only speculate that Lazurus having been raised from the dead by Jesus Christ, faced quite abit of opposition. It's said in the dinner given thereafter, there are those that came not only to kill Jesus Christ, but Lazurus too.