Giving man the power to make a genuine, independent choice need not diminish God’s control over His universe. Being omnipotent and omniscient, God can so arrange circumstances as to keep man’s rebellion from frustrating His purposes. In fact, God can and even does use man’s free will to help fulfill His own plans and thus be even more glorified.
Never did Christ or His apostles or the early church attempt to force anyone to believe the gospel. The tolerance the early church had for the ungodly around them was not an acceptance of their errors. It was recognition that no one could be forced against his will into the kingdom of God. They attempted to persuade the heathen to believe the gospel, but never did they attempt to force them to do so – nor did they believe in a God who could or would. The gospel is the good news of God’s love in Christ and can only be received willingly from the heart. Since Calvinism denies the necessity of choice, it was only natural that its adherents would seek to force their views on all dissenters.
The Bible presents evil as the result of man’s free will choosing for self instead of for God. The Calvinist, however, in denying human moral freedom, makes God the cause of all evil, insisting that He “creates the very thoughts and intents of the soul”.