I sure appreciate your faith in Jesus Christ and sense in your words an apprieciation of Him and a wonder of how He could ever do such a thing as to give His life and shed His blood for me.

I also appreciate the care, the thoughtfulness you put into your words when you describe salvation. With you and with some who would also call themsleves 'Calvinists' I feel you put the emphasis where it should rightly be on Jesus Christ the Son of God who died for us that we might be saved and know in Him the gift of eternal life.

He really is worth more than our very lives and He knows His own by name and ever ives to make intercession for them who draw near to God through Him (we sure need that).

Seems like some of you all 'Calvinists' have no faith that in the preaching of the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ that God by the conviction of the Holy Spirit will bring sinners to conviction very much enabling them to have godly sorrow, to repent and to believe Jesus Christ to save them from their sins before they are ever born again. And you all tell us you are the ones who really believe in the Sovereignity of God??? And you want me (and others) to believe you?

And like devout Roman Catholic people who view themselves as born again before they ever were old enough to hear, understand and heed the Scriptures they somehow miss personal repentance and faith never seems to be personal with them.

The kind of faith that says things such as:
In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.

Because if you view yourself as already saved/born again before you have faith you won't have much distress will you, at least falsely until it is too late?

or

In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.

Kind of reminds me of the parable of the pharisee
"And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner."

Sola Scriptura - Scripture Alone

Personal Repentance

Grace Alone - By Grace Alone

Faith Alone - By Faith Alone

Christ Alone - In Christ Alone

"and how shall they hear without a preacher?"

What! again the false teaching about new birth preceding faith is missing here too. They need to hear and apparently this is something that those who have not been born again could do.

"And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!"

Mike PA, I have already shared of the hope that is within me of how Jesus shed His blood for sinners, everyone, even a wretch like me. This is Good News that the lost who hear can believe and call upon Him who will save them.

If the leadership of your, or anyone else's, is teaching you something else you need to leave and come out from under such a false teaching or any other false "gospel" for that matter.

quote
I understand the new birth to precede faith
end of quote

Someone has taught you a quite false belief.

Romans 10:13-15 with comments
"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

The emphasis here is WHOSOEVER SHALL CALL UPON the name of the Lord, interesting. You might do well to reconsider just how The Word of God shows they come to call upon the Name of the Lord. Is it written that God has made them alive first?

"How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?"

Oh! They have to believe in Him! So how does God Himself show they come to believe in Him? He should know shouldn’t He after all isn’t He the One who does the saving?

"and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?"

What! They have to hear of Him, Jesus Christ who died and shed His blood for their sins. You do notice you the false teaching that you have been taught about new birth preceding faith is stunningly absent here.

"and how shall they hear without a preacher?"

What again the false teaching about new birth preceding faith is missing here too. They need to hear and apparently this is something that those who have not been born again could do.

"Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."

Now my point, if I may, is that before God saved us were we really any better? And if we were not than perhaps we ought to appreciate just how much it cost Jeus Christ that we would be saved and mourn (as appropriate) over our own sins and those of others such as those of Israel and pray and do all that we rightfully might do that they and anyone else for that matter might be saved.

However God Himself through the prophet Zechariah tells us of something quite wonderful that is yet to be fulfilled but will be,

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.... and this foretelling continues

His emphasis is on His Word over and over again in Scripture far more than His emphasis on giving prophecy and fulfilling it which is also a very significant part of Scripture. But Calvinists generally neglect prophecy and concentrate far more on "predestination". Why from what I hear many claiming to be Calvinists deny a literal fulfillment to the Book of Revelation and the promises the LORD made to Israel.

Why is His Word so important? Many reasons one of which many Calvinists don't want to face up to which is this.

As to your questions. They start from a misleading presumption that you have correctly defined what being lost, dead in tresspasses and sins is along with just what the Sovereignity of God is.

Bear with me, or actually the Word of God, which teaches God's meaning of both His Sovereignity and the lostness of man in their proper meaning and balance with the rest of His Word.

Repeatedly Scripture emphasizes what God says, that it is Truth, that God will fulfill His Word, That He will make good His Promises AND He does so far more than He speaks of predestination and the lostness of man and when He does His emphasis about these doesn't match up with TULIP Theology.

Example:
"For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all."

Do you notice everyone is concluded, shut up if you will in unbelief, may I say apart from God in a lost condition.

Just wondered. My father who the best I can tell was never saved was healed in answer to Christians praying for him in 1980. My mother still remembers the doctor showing her the xrays.

There are enormous theological difference between "it is predestined" versus "it is written." Especially when those who are the party of Total Inability and Predestination treat any who disagree that you must be wrong or even some kind of demonic arminian heretic.

The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

It seems with the present day 'pharisees' they are more than happy to claim "Sola Scriptura" Scripture Alone but then do not surrender themselves under its authority but abuse it, read into it what they want to make it say.