To address a few separate points at once. And again with the hope that if on any point I am mistaken, I will be corrected from Scripture.
The "goal of holiness or righteousness which must be attained" is Christ. Obviously that is impossible apart from the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit, and obviously it is not concluded in this life. But for the reprobate it is impossible at any time, for, by definition, he or she is without Christ and will remain so, and will die in his or her sins. But Scripture seems pretty clear that the believer is declared justified, and is then sanctified, and will one day be free from sin not just judicially, but in actuality, albeit not in this life.
Will reprobate blame God for their condemnation? I'm sure many will. But they are wrong. (a) It is what all people deserve; and (b) God does not need a reason nor an excuse for anything He does. He is the Potter; we are the clay, and He is as entitled to create vessels unto dishonor, as those unto honor. I have been accused of blaming God for my state, and if there is any truth to that, then shame on me; it is not because of anything lacking on His part, but because of my sin. God has been nothing but Good to me.
I'm reluctant to try to answer questions like "who else is innocent of the charges for which I (jta) admit myself to be guilty." Because I see only the actions of others, not their inward attitudes and thoughts and inner depravities that may not be outwardly expressed. Yet, I do see those in myself, and they are heinous sin, seemingly at least as wicked, but probably far more so, than my outward actions. I cannot reconcile them with the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and I therefore conclude, though with the sincere hope I am wrong, that He is not there, either because I have grieved Him, or because He was never there and therefore (Rom. 8:9) I was never His.
In others who name the precious name of Christ I do not see sinless perfection, but I do see growth over time. I see that they become more like Christ, and less like the unredeemed person they once were. I am grateful to God for this, and praise Him for it. But my own situation stands in stark contrast: I seem to only become less like Him over time, not more.
Finally, I should state for the record that until shown otherwise from Scripture I do hold firmly to TULIP, the Solas, the 1689 LBC, the canons of Dordt, and most importantly the Scriptures I believe are summarized by those formulae, and therefore, that:
* God's providential provision and care for all people, which He has shown me in abundance, is nonetheless something different in degree and/or in kind than His special Love for His own elect chosen from before the foundation of time;
* Nothing of any kind is lacking in the death of Christ, but, unless He was punished for the very same sins for which the reprobate will also be punished, it was effective only for the elect; (Particular Atonement);
* Even a well-meant offer will not change the heart of a person not first regenerated by Christ unto repentance and faith (John 8:44); it can be compared, though not perfectly, to offering rehabilitation to a committed drug addict, wanting him or her to accept that offer, but knowing that he or she most likely won't;
* God and God Alone gets the credit, praise, and glory for salvation, in all its aspects, including sanctification, but based on Phil. 2:12-13 and numerous other commands in Scripture, sanctification includes us working out that salvation with fear and trembling, and can therefore at least in that sense it can be said to be synergistic.
And, yes, these things get me branded as a hyper-Calvinist by some; however, I fully accept the responsibility of man both for sin in general and for repentance and faith in particular; I insist that the Gospel must be preached to every creature, for, while God knows who will and will not repent and believe, we do not, and it is both a possibility and my sincere hope that many will; I agree with what is commonly referred to as "Common Grace" although I find the name potentially misleading because the Grace which results in salvation seems to me a different thing, or at least a different degree of a thing, from that Providence which extends to all people. And also because I strongly resist the Arminian/Pelagian claim that "Common Grace" empowers equally all people to repent and to believe, making salvation in some sense their work and thereby denying God the praise and glory to which He is infinitely and uniquely due.
The label "High Calvinist" probably fits me but I think "hyper-Calvinist" goes too far, and I myself oppose hyper-Calvinism, not because it too much stresses the Sovereignty of God, but because it ignores many of His other perfections and attributes . . . a common theme among many false beliefs and heresies. I hope I am not guilty of this myself, but it is very possible that I am, and indeed I think I do tend to understand His Justice, Holiness, and Perfection, and Wrath, to a greater degree than I do His Mercy, Grace, and Love. Even though in this life I have experienced so many of the latter things, and in this life, so little of the former, though I think I will experience the former in the next.
BTW: I don't encounter many I'd call hyper-Calvinist, but in the past I have encountered a few, and, yes, many of them seemed utterly devoid of grace or love, and, ironically, behaved as though they had been elected on account of their superior knowledge and wisdom and decisionmaking skills, and that therefore all others ought to be berated for their stupidity and foolishness, rather than offered the Good News that Christ died and rose again to save sinners. I truly do hope that, though I may be as wicked as they, I at least am not so heartless nor cruel.
