dermdoc said:
Can some one who is in the "elect" not believe Calvinism?
Absolutely. I didn't believe in Calvinism for 20 years of salvation. In fact I warred against it, and lost a few friends in the process.
Ultimately what got me to see the light, was massive conviction of sin. As a free will Baptist, I believed there was good in every man. We all bear the image of God, no? There has to be good in the unsaved, somewhere. Its just not right for man to be condemned. At the root of it, I didn't trust God. I didn't trust He could execute all of this and be unsullied, He had to be culpable.
I got to a low point spiritually, and a brother showed me. Romans 3, Nebuchadnezzars confession in Daniel, God interjecting in Job. These passages put mankind in its place, spiritually and cosmicly.
I based my free will argument on man being on a higher footing than we really are. We have defeated diseases, split the atom, invented the KFC Double Down, we do well. But...we are a creature from the dirt. We do not walk in the depths of the seas, we did not command the mountains to be their height.
The Potter absolutely has power over the clay to make one man for the purpose of honor and the other for dishonor (or wrath).
All the silly times I equivocated God's saving plan "before the founding of the earth" as "God just knew ahead of time, He is just running out this simulation" it slapped me in the face. There is no way I could escape Him if I tried...and yes I tried.
I was submitted.
It's funny, I remember the weight I had when I was Arminian. I would deliver the Gospel in nursing homes, they don't have long to live, this may be the last time they get a chance. The burden weighed on me to get em saved. After my intellectual conversion, I could deliver the exact same message and I was light as a feather.
The previous theology made me responsible to properly evangelize "I gotta help the Holy Spirit along". But then I actually trusted Him: those that are called will hear it, those who are dead will not.
Ultimately God is responsible.
He have mercy on whom He chooses to have mercy. To inject our will into that truth is the height of arrogance.
So yes, you don't have to be a Calvinist to be elect. The elect were elected before earth was created, they were elect in their sin, they were elect before they submitted (partially or fully) to Him.