Actually, I know I'm pond scum. I'm well aware of that. And it's precisely that knowledge that gets me back to square one..."why would God choose me, and not my neighbor?"
And there's the arrogance that I've seen (not necessarily on this thread) that "I'm chosen and you're not." Because while I'm sure that mom, jerry and doc don't take that attitude, I have experienced it in the local church.
You know what Ward I have seen that attitude in my Wesleyan church too.. I think it is part of the sin condition..not God's process.
And that is what we are talking about here process..not the outcome or the product (we are a sorry bunch)
Our salvation does not hinge on how we believe God works. I was saved as a Catholic.I was saved as an Arminian,I am saved today as I was then.
Then why is this an important discussion? Because God wants his kids to give Him the glory that is His.
I was saved in my bathroom 25 years ago, by the grace of God..no preacher, no altar call..just God and me..We have an awesome God..before I was born He knew my name, who am I Lord that you should have mercy on me??
If that is what you experienced, it was a BAD church. Calvinistic theology actually CONDEMNS that. The apostle Paul specifically says "If you have received something, why do you glory as if you have not received it?"
The kind of carnality which you are describing is utterly unacceptable. It is rare, but not completely unknown in Calvinistic circles, I guess. I just haven't seen it in my 25 years since ordination. I don't give a fig for churches like that. (Come to think of it, most of the time they prove to be non-Calvinistic after all, like today's mainstream Presbyterian churches.)
Again, I would like to stress that I don't think you have experienced a good Calvinistic church. And a good Calvinistic church is a good thing indeed. (I am not worried about the neo-pentecostals telling me what I am missing, of course!)