When it comes to salvation, there is a part of God doing something and there is a part of man doing something. God sent His Son and man has to believe Him. Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins and our reconciliation to God, but man has to accept this and live by his faith. And that is what our free will is for. You are not automatically saved by being raised in a church or because your parents were Christians. That is taught nowhere in the Bible. When the Gospel is presented to you, whether you are raised in a Christian home or not, it is you who has to choose to accept and believe or refuse and not believe. So yes, man is required to choose in order to be saved. But the salvation he receives upon that choice is from God. That principle is found in both the Old and the New Testament.

Mirjam