What is the big argument about election and being chosen?
It centers on whether individuals are elected and chosen before they had any part, or whether salvation is entirely a matter of human free will, where people decide to choose salvation. The discussion also acknowledges the 'whosoever will' invitation. This debate arises alongside the predetermined counsel of the triune God before creation.
Les explains that before creation, the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—came together in a determinate counsel and decided to create the universe and the human race. They knew in foreknowledge that humanity would fall in Adam, and that one person of the triune God would have to be the Redeemer. Within that big picture, God placed each person in a predetermined position. The big argument then arises: some ask whether people are elected and chosen before they had anything to do about it, while the opposite party insists it was all their own free will and they decided to choose salvation. Les responds by pointing out that 'whosoever will' sits over here.