But no, I am not saved because I did anything or made some fictional quota.
If you are saved at all, it is because you called on the name of the Lord at some point (Romans 10:13).
Belief comes from outside of me; it comes from God as a gracious gift.
Indeed; faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord, Romans 10:17.
You ~ Faith is what saves us, and it is something I must attain in and of myself, and then use to get saved
Calvinists ~ Grace is what saves me; God gives me faith by His grace, and also gives me a new heart that is willing to serve and honor Him. With these graces, man is able to accept the gift of Salvation and be saved.
Me~ I receive faith as the result of the preaching of the gospel. My response to the preaching of the gospel message is either faith or unbelief. If a man rejects the gospel message, he is not saved. But if he receives Christ into his heart (John 1:12), calling upon and believing on His name, he will be saved.
Calvinists~ god arbitrarily chooses who will be saved and who will be damned, the damned are damned no matter what they try to do to be saved and no matter how they respond to the gospel message. Those who are saved can praise the Lord for ever that they were chosen and others were damned through the whim and will of God.
The difference is where we believe these things come from; their origin. You claim that it is from man and man alone, which is works righteousness. We believe that is is from God and God alone, and thus actual grace, not merited favor.
Again, faith is not a work, according to a closer look at Ephesians 2:8-9. Yes, faith comes from God; the Lord instills it within us through the preaching of the gospel message. Our response to that message, however, is not forced upon us by the Lord; we have a choice in the matter of whether we will receive or reject that message. Our choice to receive is not virtue; it may in fact be based on entirely selfish motives. But the Lord honours faith; and if the faith itself be impure, the Lord is able to cleanse it at the altar: He is able to consecrate the offering of faith by applying the blood to a faith that is even imperfect and based in selfishness.
If faith comes before grace, it comes all from you. If you earned grace because of your faith, that is called works righteousness. So you believe in works righteousness?
Faith does indeed come before grace. Romans 5:1-2 is clear that as believers, we have gained access to our mansion by using a key that was given to us. If we are currently living in our mansion, there was a time that we did not have access into it, and gained access to it through our faith. We were born dead in trespasses and sins. So we were not always living in our mansion, we had to gain access to it somehow when we still didn't believe. And that access came when, in a sovereign act of grace (not the grace of salvation) the Lord gave us faith, by which we gained access to the grace of salvation.
This faith did not come from me; but I did receive it. Jesus handed me a key; and I used it to gain access to my mansion.
I also had the option of not receiving the key from Jesus when He offered it to me.
I believe that scripture teaches that Jesus offers the key to everyone in some way, shape, or form at some point in their lives; while some receive, and others reject.