Calvinism: Does God force people to be saved? Calvinists often object to the criticism that their doctrine teaches that God forces men to be saved against their will. From what I've read, Calvinism teaches that God changes a man's nature and desire so that it is the man's utmost will that he become saved. In this sense, it seems technically true that Calvinism does not teach that God saves men against their will. However, I'm wondering if this is just a semantic argument on the part of the Calvinist?

The doctrine of total depravity teaches that men (even elect men) despise God in their natural state. In order for a man to love God, he must first be supernaturally regenerated. But God-hating men do not desire to be regenerated. It is not their will that their will be changed. It is not their desire to desire God. Thus, even though salvation may not be forced, I don't understand how any Calvinist could claim that the act of regeneration is not a forceful act accomplished against the will of the recipient, which (at the moment immediately preceding regeneration) is inclined to hate God utterly.

Since regeneration leads inescapably to salvation (with some Calvinists even claiming that the two events occur at the same moment in time), it seems like a semantic argument to claim that God doesn't force men to be saved against their will. He may not force them to become saved, but if he forces them to become regenerate and regeneration leads inescapably to salvation, then are Calvinists simply dodging the issue when they claim that their doctrine does not teach that men are saved against their will? Am I correct in asserting that traditional Calvinist doctrine teaches that regeneration is forceful?
You are correct in your estimation of God's action. God does, indeed, "force" salvation. The Scripture (e.g. Paul's description of the moral condition of man in Romans 3) makes it clear that it could be no other way since unregenerate man is unable to willingly turn to God. The analogy that Jesus used in his explanation to Nicodemus of salvation (John 3)  brings home this fact. He uses the metaphor of physical birth for the act of salvation. You did not ask to be born. Your will was not involved in the process of birth. Jesus indicates that the spirit moves where the spirit moves and that the recipient's will is not a participant in that process.

As you accurately point out, however, once regeneration has taken place, having eyes to see and ears to hear, the person who has been regenerated now makes a willing choice since they are no longer bound in slavery to sin.

Once given the inability, as described in Scripture, to willingly come to God, there is no other logical way for a person to be saved except for the monergistic work of God.

As you look throughout Scripture, you find that God chooses. That is his modus operandi. In Genesis 12, God chooses Abram rather than Abram choosing God.

Those who have and are teaching and preaching this "forcing of Salvation" are Alistair Begg, John Calvin, D. A. Carson, Jonathan Edwards, Sinclair Ferguson, Martin Luther, John Knox, John MacArthur, John Piper, R.C. Sproul, Charles H. Spurgeon, and Paul Washer.

And one final thought, would you "force" an intervention in the life of someone you loved if they were a drug addict and could not stop on their own?