loves the Sawi of Indonesia but not the Buginese, as in “Jacob have I loved. Esau have I hated” (Rom. 9:13). Few theologians or other Christians hold this view consistently. It is often used as a fallback position when no other explanations are satisfactory. A Christian worker would be foolish to evangelize where God is choosing not to work, or among a people from which God does not intend to bring any to himself. However, based on the hermeneutic principle of understanding Scripture at face value