Men are born fallen, spiritually dead, under the curse, unable to believe and unwilling to obey.
Unfortunately, yes, they can get deader than dead.
Romans 1:21 they had darkened hearts, were under God’s wrath, had rejected the true God and were worshiping false gods. They were dead and damned.
Romans 1:24 God gave them over to the “lust of their hearts” and they followed their passions and dishonored their bodies (temple prostitutes as an act of worship). They became “more dead“.
Romans 1:26 God gave them up to “vile passions” and they exchanged natural lusts for unnatural lusts. They became “even more dead”.
Romans 1:28 God gave them over to a “debased mind” and they became filled with all forms of evil and malice. They became “dead to the utter most”.
What Calvinism, me, and scripture affirm is that at no point were they “alive”. “Alive” left the building with Adam and only returns when God the Father draws us under the blood of God the Son. All natural men (the unsaved) are dead [Ephesians 2:1-3].
Some see evidence of a Prevenient Grace to all, but I see that as a wonderful eisegesis of our wishful thinking into the text. What I have in black and white is a God who states “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.” [Romans 9:15-16 NLT] and “God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.” [Romans 8:29-30 NLT] … a Sovereign Grace to those God has chosen to receive it.
11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),
12 it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger."
13 As it is written, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."
14 What shall we say then?
Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! (Rom. 9:11-14 NKJ)
A Thought Experiment: Imagine the Elect aren't the only ones saved. What shall we say then?
There certainly is no unrighteousness with God when He Elects unto salvation whoever He chooses to have mercy upon, because He did not thereby Reprobate unto damnation those He did not elect.
Is there scripture proving its not just the Elect that can be saved? Yes, in the symbolism of the book of life:
The names of the Elect are in the Book of Life (Phil. 4:3; Rev. 13:8; 17:8) but other names written in this Book cannot be of the "Elect" because those names can be blotted out (Rev. 3:5; Exod. 32:32; Ps. 69:28) or written in (Ps. 69:28; 87:6; Mal. 3:16).
Blotted Out:
"He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and
I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Rev. 3:5 NKJ)
32 "Yet now, if You will forgive their sin-- but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written."
33 And the LORD said to Moses,
"Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. (Exod. 32:32-33 NKJ)
Let them be
blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous. (Ps. 69:28 NKJ)
Written In:
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not
be written with the righteous. (Ps. 69:28 NKJ)
The LORD will record, When He registers the peoples: "This one was born there." Selah (Ps. 87:6 NKJ)
Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. (Mal. 3:16 NKJ)
As God did not exclude people from the Book of Life when He wrote the names of the Elect in, others beside the Elect can be saved. Therefore, all the scriptures inviting everyone to believe, to choose life, aren't a charade. They are genuine offers for life.
Moreover, everyone assumes Esau is unsaved. He clearly wasn't one of God's Elect. But is he unsaved eternally?
Although the writer of Hebrews describes him as a Godless profane person who sold his birth right for a meal (Heb. 12:16), he also notes Esau and Jacob both were blessed "concerning things to come":
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come. (Heb. 11:20 NKJ)
It doesn't appear from this Esau is cursed concerning things to come. Just the opposite.
Although the sins of the descendants of Esau led to their destruction, God enriched Esau's first descendants and destroyed the Horites from before them just as He did for Israel:
The Horites formerly dwelt in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their place, just as Israel did to the land of their possession which the LORD gave them.) (Deut. 2:12 NKJ)
3 `Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.
4 `To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.
To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. (Jos. 24:3-4 NKJ)
Although Paul focuses on God's right to do with His creation as He wills, that wouldn't exhaust all the reasons why "there is no unrighteousness with God".
When it comes to salvation, God isn't partial:
4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds":
7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality;
8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness-- indignation and wrath,
9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek;
10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
11 For there is no partiality with God.
12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law
13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified;
14
for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves,
15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them)
16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. (Rom. 2:4-16 NKJ)
2
Calvinism ???