What's unfair about mercy and justice?

For the past few weeks, I have been having a discussion with an Arminian on the doctrines of grace. This person goes by the nickname "trsinheaven". You could almost call our discussion a debate, although there have been no set rules of engagement or any agreed format. I do hope however to have the opportunity to formally debate this individual in the near future. Being a 5-point Calvinist myself, it goes without saying that we have diametrically opposing views on the Doctrines of Grace. One particular point of contention that I'd like to focus on in this entry is the matter of God's mercy and justice.

Let us take a look at a key passage of Romans chapter 9 that I brought up in my discussion with this person:

14 What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
15 For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION."
16 So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH."
18 So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
19 You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?"
20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22 What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,

The passage is no doubt one of great controversy and with very good reason. It presents the clear and undeniable truth that God is the one who predestines man unto salvation, not man himself. We see two categories of persons in the text which are the vessels prepared for destruction and the vessels of mercy. And we see that a vessel is a vessel of mercy or a vessel unto destruction, not because man does anything to make himself one or the other, but rather because God has prepared him to be such. I would like to provide the following quotation of Trsinheaven's own words to give you an idea of the Arminian mindset:

"Your predestination manipulator using people as pawns only showing some people mercy is evil. He may be showing mercy towards you but what about all the others. This is your opinion and not scripture."

It appears that there is a lack of even the most basic understanding of the definition of mercy. According to the above quote, Trsinheaven seems to be suggesting that mercy is something that is owed to all of mankind. Not only so, but if God chose to show mercy only to some people, then God must somehow be evil. I shuddered at these assertions, and pray that Trsinheaven will repent from doing what I can only describe as a complete twisting of God's Word and perverting His Gospel.

Is God obliged to show mercy to every human being? Where in the Bible can we find this kind of teaching? As I search through the pages of Scripture, I find myself being told repeatedly that man is a creature worthy of destruction, that God is sovereign to show His mercy or execute His justice upon persons as He sees fit. Where does this idea come from that God somehow owes every person salvation or even the chance of salvation? To put it plainly, the idea comes from the darkened mind of man who refuses to acknowledge God as the supreme authority.

Let us suppose as an example that 10 criminals are found to be guilty before a judge. All 10 of the criminals are guilty of the same crime and all deserve the same punishment. However, the judge decided to take the punishment for 1 of the criminals so that he could go free. Do the other 9 criminals have any ground to accuse the judge of being unfair?

Trsinheaven also says "Your predestination manipulator using people as pawns". When we read the words which tell us that we are mere clay in the Potter's hand, should we not simply bow our heads before our creator and say "Amen"?

Further in response to Romans 9, Trsinheaven writes: "You are quoting about chosen people of the old testament old covenant persons chosen to carry out certain tasks if they chose to follow God. Here is the new covenant!"

Not only is such a statement wrong, but it is completley antithetical to the entire passage in Romans 9. Trsinheaven mentions the Old Covenant because Paul mentions those of the Old Covenant, Jacob, Esau, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and also quotes from Exodus 33:19 which says:

And the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Even though Paul does quote this Old Testament passage, and refers to those of the Old Covenant, are we really to suggest that the text is only relevant to those people? If so, why would Paul bother to write about it? Furthermore, it has nothing to do with these people following God. The passages presented make it abundantly clear that it is not to do with man's desire or will but God's choice. God didn't simply love Jacob because he was more faithful than Esau or more righteous. God chose Jacob before either of them had done anything good or bad so that God's choice and God's choice alone would stand. To suggest that Romans 9 talks about what happens if people will faithfully follow God is completely missing the point.

In summary, it is altogether necessary to have a basic understanding of what justice and mercy are. Justice is to receive due recompense for sin. Mercy is to receive undeserved revocation of punishment due for one's sins. As a fellow brother in Christ aptly responded, "Again, if God were "fair" to all, we all deserve hell. It is GRACE we want, not fairness." The fact that God actually had mercy upon us at all ought to humble us in prostration before our God. The creature does not question the creator but simply bows his knee.