Greetings to all,
New member/first-time poster. I am firmly Arminian in my theology and am familiar with the basics of Calvinism. I am trying to understand it more, however, because there seems to be so many inherit contradictions with it. I am assuming that there are valid answers to these contradictions; otherwise there would not be so many Godly people whom I respect that agree with it. I would like to present some of these and ask for explanations.

I'll start with a simple one.

If it seems to me that if the elect are predetermined, there is hardly a need for sharing the gospel message. Consider this illustration.

Let’s say that I'm a minister and I received a phone call from a friend who's father is about to die and has never heard the gospel. Why can't I respond by saying "Don't worry, if he is one of the elect he'll go to heaven anyway. If he's not, I would just be wasting my breath."

Please be sure to glorify God in your response.