The Upgrade Controversy: Selection by Election

In over 60 years of attending church, I have rarely if ever heard of anything more than a sentence used in passing to describe what election is or is not. When I gently challenged a pastor on this, he, like the majority of others, said they would 'discuss it again' - which is a not-so-subtle way of saying 'Go away, this topic is too heavy for most people, and I have to consider the pastoral problems that may arise if I truly opened it up for in-depth discussion'. As with any scriptural issue, all I ask is that this topic is discussed openly in an unbiased manner, accepting that it may be a complex matter, but one that is possibly the most important issue. If the future life of everyone is already decided and there is no true choice in the matter, what is the point of anything that relates to Christianity, belief, faith, evangelism, testimonies and so on? The books I have read tend to be super-academic, super-complex and as such, not relating to general audiences. It's as if 'only certain people' need to know the contents, the 'rest' should simply listen to their pastor/minister and get on with life. It reminds me of the days when the bible was chained to the pulpit, and very few would own one for themselves. What faith (?) people must have had to listen and digest everything that came from the mouths of whatever minister was in the pulpit at the time!