How great is God? Great enough to achieve what God sets out to do or kind of great, medium great, sort of great, great most of the time? Will all people be saved? or will God not get what God wants. This is the only question arminians need to ask. Mic drop.
Here is an article I copied from somewhere author is at the bottom:
God desires/will
God desires all people to have a relationship with Him—not just some. Peter writes, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). Paul writes, “[God] desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). Jesus said that he would “draw all men to [Himself]” (Jn. 12:32), and the Holy Spirit would “convict the world”—not just the elect (Jn. 16:8). In the OT, God makes it clear that he doesn’t desire people to be judged (Ezek. 18:23; Jer. 48:31; Isa. 28:21).
There are two different words used for God’s will in the NT: boulē and thelō. Humans are said to thwart both of these.
1. Boulē (pronounced boo-LAY)
Luke writes, “The Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose (Greek boulē) for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John” (Lk. 7:30; c.f. Acts 7:51). This is the same word used for God’s will in Ephesians 1:11 (“predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will (Greek boulē)”. Here, Luke explains that the Pharisees were capable of thwarting God’s will for them. Likewise, in 2 Peter 3:9, a derivative of boulē is used (boulomai), when Peter writes of God not “wishing for any to perish.” Since some ultimately do go to hell, this must mean that God’s will (boulē) is not fulfilled.
2. Thelō (pronounced THELL-oh)
Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted (thelō) to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling (thelō)” (Mt. 23:37). Here, Jesus (God) wanted to do something, but this was thwarted by the religious leaders. Earlier in the same chapter, Jesus said, “[The King] sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling (thelō) to come” (Mt. 22:3).
Elsewhere, Jesus prayed that God’s “will” would be done on Earth, as it is in heaven (Mt. 6:10). This word (thelēma; pronounced THAY-leem-uh) is in the same word group as thelō. If God’s will could not be resisted, there would be no reason to pray for this. Moreover, Jesus claimed that we are permitted to line up our will with God’s (or choose not to). He said, “If anyone is willing (Greek thelō) to do His will (Greek thelō), he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself” (Jn. 7:17). These passages all imply that we are permitted to resist the will of God.
The Bible has a number of broad, sweeping teachings that support the traditional definition of freewill. Let’s consider a few of these examples.
1. God calls on people to obey, choose, and believe in him (Jn. 15:10; Josh. 24:15; Jn. 3:18). These calls would be nonsense, if we are not free moral agents.
2. The very fact that we can sin implies freedom of the will, unless we are claiming that God is the agent of sin.
3. God judges us (1 Cor. 3:10-15; Rev. 20:11-15). Humans are rewarded and punished according to their actions. Judgment only makes sense, if we are free to choose and culpable for our choices.
4. God tests his people, which implies our ability to pass or fail (Gen. 22:1; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 1:6-7; 1 Cor. 10:13).
5. Prayers are not scripted; they are free expressions of the heart (see the Psalms for good examples of this).
6. God pleads with sinners to repent, which would only make sense in light of free moral decision (Ezek. 18:23-32; 33:11).
7. God desires all men to believe in him (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9; Jn. 12:32). Consider this. An omnipotent being “desires” something that clearly is not happening. Something must be stopping God from doing what he wants to do. Freewill is the most likely solution to this problem (Lk. 7:30; Acts 7:51; Mt. 23:3, 37; Mt. 6:10; Jn. 7:17).
8. God himself is a free moral agent, who is not determined (Rev. 4:11). Therefore, even the determinist will admit that it is not necessary for all decision to be determined. Jesus was not determined; instead, he submitted his will to the Father’s will (Lk. 22:42).
Moreover, all of us have an immediate experience of freewill. Imagine how good the arguments would have to be against freewill, in order for you to believe that you were determined in your actions. The burden of proof on the Calvinist is enormous, because it flies contrary to our immediate experience.
Moreover, if freewill doesn’t exist, then we could never know if our knowledge of anything is true. Reason implies that a personal agent can determine between truth and falsehood. But if determinism is true, then we could never know that we have arrived at the truth, because we would have been determined to do so. All we could ever say is that we believe it is true (i.e. this is our current psychological state)—not that we know it is true (i.e. we have used reason to come to this conclusion).
Furthermore, if freewill doesn’t exist, then we should never try to argue someone into determinism. This is both because we do not know whether our view is right (because we would be determined to hold it), and the other person wouldn’t be capable of changing their view (because they would be determined to hold their position).
In the OT, God enables the freewill of the people to choose for him (Josh. 24:15; Isa. 50:2; Jer. 1:6; 2:13-14; 7:13; 13:10; 26:2-3; Ex. 3:11; 4:1-13; Hos. 11:1-9; Ps. 78:10; 81:11-13; Jer. 32:33). For instance, Isaiah writes, “I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will bow down to the slaughter. Because I called, but you did not answer; I spoke, but you did not hear. And you did evil in My sight and chose that in which I did not delight” (Isa. 65:12). Solomon writes, “I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention” (Prov. 1:24). Jeremiah writes, “And if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned” (Jer. 18:8).
One final passage should be considered in this regard: Matthew 19:24. Jesus says, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” What exactly could this verse mean from a Calvinist perspective? Arminian scholar Roger Olson comments, “What sense does this verse make in light of irresistible grace? Is Jesus saying it is harder for God to save a rich man than a poor one? How could that be? If everyone, without exception, only gets into the kingdom of God by God’s work alone without any required cooperation on his or her part, then Jesus’ saying makes no sense at all.”
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On Romans 8:
First, God’s predestination is based on his foreknowledge of who would freely choose him. The order of Romans 8:29 is essential to understanding it effectively. God chooses the one “whom he foreknew”—not the other way around. His election is based on those who he knew would freely choose Him.
Second, this is plural, rather than singular. Paul writes, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined… 30And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” This is not referring to an individual believer; it is referring to the entire church of believers. This passage is not about me; it is about we. Therefore, it would be mistaken to interpret this passage as referring to individual salvation.
Nikola Dimitrov / author, Life of Jesus: The Four in One Gospel
