Billy is not a robot: He responded to the love of Christ, not pushed by God, IMO.
I agree with you on the first part. Billy is not a robot. Billy acts freely according to the will of his nature. As an unregenerate sinner, Billy's will is hostile to God. After regeneration, Billy's wills to love God and serve Him.
Technically, God does not push, he pulls. In fact, he
drags us. And it's a good thing too, because scripture tells us that we cannot nor will turn from our wicked ways. John 6:44 tells us, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws him." The Greek word used here (helko) means to "drag off." It's used in other places in the NT as well that illustrates this meaning:
Acts 16:19, "But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and
dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers."
Acts 21:30 "Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and
dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut."
James 2:6 "But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich ones who oppress you, and the ones who
drag you into court."
So God just doesn't entice us to come to Him with a simple invitation to which we choose to respond through our own "free will." Because of our depravity, we would not respond to that on our own accord, the same way that billions of people do not respond to it now. He draws, i.e.
drags, us to Him because in our state of unregenerate depravity, we are hostile to God and we need his sovereign grace (and power) to pull us, kicking and screaming, to Him.
Yet you claim the unregenerate man was predestined to be that way....Odd...If all is predestined and determined, there is NO FREE WILL or choosing at all, and all the sinner's doing could be "God's doing"....
I claim that because that's what scripture tells us. As for having "no free will", there is only room in the universe for one person to have true free will. That would be God. If we all had free will, if we were all free agents with complete and unfettered freedom of maneuver in the world, God would be able to guarantee nothing. Man is not sovereign. God is. Have you ever said a prayer for God to affect a particular outcome in your life, perhaps for a promotion or for safety while doing something dangerous? Is it possible for God to make those things happen for you without affecting other people's "free" choices? God is very busy in the world ensuring that all outcomes work out for our own good and ultimately glorify Him in the end.[/quote]
God is not in need of proving or showing off His power to us, IMO. Destroying billions of humans will not make the remainder happy. Especially if your theory that God created them to fry....
Paul disagreed with you. (Rom 9:22-23) God may not need to do it, but He has chosen to do so. It may not make us happy, but it will certainly help us appreciate the awesomeness of God.