I personally believe in unconditional election and the absolute sovereignty of God but not at the expense of human responsbility.
I don't believe that God set Adam up to fail.
The Arminian believes in conditional election based upon the abuse of the foreknowledge of God wrongly interpreted as prescience and thus foreseen instead of foreordained faith. Hence, they believe that God foreknew everything in advance. Thus they are forced to admit that God foresaw the fall, millions going to hell and yet went right ahead and intentionally created man anyway with full knowledge. Therefore, God cannot be excused or exonorated from intentionally bringing sin into existence even according to the Arminian model. The Sovereign Model only declares what the Arminian model must admit - God did it intentionally.
God is the author of sin in one sense. There could be no possibility of sin without God creating free will as there is no potential of free choice without the potential of contrary choice to God's expressed will - thus sin.
Therefore in the creation of free will, God knowingly created the potential for sin to exist. Therefore, God is the indirect or secondary cause of sin but not the direct or efficient cause of sin. The direct or efficent cause is free will. However, God knew the end before He created free will and yet intentionally did it anyway.
In addition, I believe the origin of sin in both Satan and Adam and Eve came through natural desires created good by God but became sin due to the particular context. Satan wanted to be like God, which no doubt began through admiration of God. Satan was the most beautful of God's created beings and there is nothing wrong in the admiration of beauty. However, when admiration for God turns into covetuousness for God's position and admiration for one's own beautry turns in to self-centered pride then sin is begotten.
Eve was deceived into thinking she would be as God and there is nothing wrong with wanting to be like God. However, the deception consisted in believing this would be an appropriate way and an appropriate likeness when in reality it would be the usupation of God by disobedience to a direct command.
Adam was not deceived but knew fully well that Eve had been deceived and had fallen into sin by eating the forbidden fruit. I believe that Eve was the most beautiful woman that has ever lived and she was designed to meet every desire and need of Adam. They were one flesh and one heart entertwined in the bond of love. He was made to love Eve and that was good. I believe he intentionally chose to die with Eve rather than live with God without her. So even something as good as love created by God could be turned into sin when the created became more loved than the Creator.
By Adam's one act of obedience he made many sinners and thus acted as the representative of humanity in this test of obedience to God.
In the fall man became totally depraved or inclined to evil by nature and his will came under the dominion of his own evil heart and thus enslaved to his own fallen nature. The will cannot be separated from the fallen heart and mind nor can it master the depraved heart and mind but is the servant expression of the depraved nature. Thus the will's freedom is confined within the compounds of the fallen nature which controls all desires and thinking so that man will not come to the light but LOVES darkness rather than light.
The only thing that God looked down and saw in regard to fallen man was that he saw NOT ONE MAN left to his own power of choice would seek after God (Psa. 14:2-3; Rom. 2:10-11).
God could freely choose to condemn the whole race justly or He could arbritrarily choose some unto salvation while allowing the rest to continue in their own free choice to refuse to seek God.
The non-elect deserved hell and freely chose that over seeking God and nothing prevents their salvation but their own free choice not to seek after God and God is perfectly just in allowing them to continue in that choice.
The elect do not deserve salvation any more than the non-elect and have no one to thank but the grace of God. There is no respect of persons in this choice by God simply because there is nothing in either that would cause God to pick one and not the other but his own free will.
The elect are chosen TO salvation THROUGH sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth and so not merely the persons but the means are elected by God so that none are saved but through the preaching of the gospel.
We do not know who the elect or non-elect are except by preaching the gospel and the elect are known (1 Thes. 1:4) by their response to the gospel as the gospel does not come to them in "word only" but in power and in the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:48).
