The answer to this question is, quite a lot actually. It doesn’t matter if you’re not interested in this topic. Many people are not, for one reason or another. However, for some the question of who God saves and just how people are brought to faith in Jesus is so important that they cannot leave it alone.
Essentially, Reformed Theology and Calvinism starts from the premise that it is God alone who decides who is saved. It has nothing to do with our own sense of ‘free will’, a subject which they will question even exists. It has nothing to do with a choice made by each one of us as individuals. Reformed Theology and Calvinism has God making these choices for us before we were even born. It is therefore not just a question that certain people will be saved, but that only certain people can respond and be saved. This group is referred to by those who hold to Reformed theology as ‘the elect’.
Make no mistake, all Christians should believe in the elect. It’s how the elect are defined which is important. Unfortunately, through misreading scripture, the Reformed think that people are elect before they are born whereas the Bible states clearly that those who are “born again” or “born from above” are the elect. This means that we are not chosen to be elect but that we are given the ability to choose whether or not we want to be included in the elect.
If you find out that your church is Calvinistic and you didn’t know beforehand or did not understand quite what that meant, don’t worry. This happens to many people because Calvinism is rarely openly preached from the pulpit. But if you constantly feel that you are not being correctly taught then you may need to take steps to address this. There are plenty of resources on-line to help you and Christian books to read which will provide adequate support.
You may also ask a question here and I will provide as good an answer as I can. 🙂