In many conversations with Calvinists, a familiar pattern tends to emerge. When an illustration presents Calvinism in a way that includes both election to salvation and the corresponding reality of non election destination of judgment, the most common response is a single word.

Strawman.

That response often comes quickly, not because the illustration is inaccurate, but because it makes visible implications that are usually left unstated. Calvinism does not merely affirm that God elects some to heaven. It also entails that God passes over others. When divine election is unconditional and decisive, non election is not an accident or a neutral category. It is the necessary other side of the same decree.

That part of the doctrine is real.

Illustrations that show both the elect and the non elect are not adding something foreign to Calvinism. They are simply refusing to isolate the comforting half of the system from the sobering half. When God chooses some for mercy, others are not chosen for mercy. When some are granted life, others are left in a state that ends in destruction. Those conclusions do not come from hostility toward Calvinism. They come from taking its claims seriously.

This is often where discomfort enters the conversation.

Rather than asking whether the illustration accurately reflects the system, the focus shifts to whether it feels fair or charitable. But theology is not tested by comfort alone. Christians are called to examine doctrines carefully, including their moral and relational implications. Raising questions about how a theological system reflects the character of God is not an act of bad faith. It is part of faithful discernment.

An illustration can be produced with a good heart and sincere intent, even when it presses on difficult consequences. Disliking what an illustration reveals does not make it a strawman. It may simply mean that the illustration has succeeded in holding the doctrine still long enough to be seen from all sides.

Those are conversations worth having.

Avoiding them does not make the tension go away.