1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Can I Know I'm Going to Heaven When I Die?

Discussion in 'General Baptist Discussions' started by InTheLight, Jan 22, 2011.

  1. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    24,988
    Likes Received:
    2,268
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Thread title contains my question. Would prefer to hear from adherents of the reformed theology camp.
     
  2. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 30, 2006
    Messages:
    20,914
    Likes Received:
    706
    According to the Bible you can - if you are a child of God.
     
  3. Alive in Christ

    Alive in Christ New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 22, 2008
    Messages:
    3,822
    Likes Received:
    1
    InTheLight...


    If you have placed your faith FULLY and COMPLETLY in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in His faithfullness to secure you for heaven, then there is no possibility of you ever going anywhere but to heaven when you pass on.

    Thats great news, isnt it? :thumbs:

    If you have fully and sincerely placed your faith completly is Christ, then REJOICE!

    You are saved and secure.

    God bless.

    AiC
     
  4. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2004
    Messages:
    10,295
    Likes Received:
    0
    The bible says we can know and we can if we base our acceptance on what the bible gives as the evidence of being heaven bound. Some people say that they know but have decided that their knowledge comes from some place other then what the bible gives. They are deceived. If a person does not meet the evidences of what the bible gives for who is saved, they are lost no matter how much they kick and scream. A person who is saved may doubt their salvation but that happens because there is something in their life that they have not dealt with.
     
    #4 freeatlast, Jan 22, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 22, 2011
  5. luke1616

    luke1616 New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2010
    Messages:
    216
    Likes Received:
    0
    John 3:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
    1 Corinthians 15
    1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

    2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
     
  6. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2004
    Messages:
    10,295
    Likes Received:
    0
    1John:
    These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
    If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
    And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
    He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
     
  7. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    24,988
    Likes Received:
    2,268
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I'm secure in my beliefs.

    I guess my question should be phrased thusly:
    Do Calvinists believe one can KNOW they are going to Heaven?
     
  8. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 30, 2006
    Messages:
    20,914
    Likes Received:
    706
    Oh absolutely. Every single Calvinist I know does. I'm talking those I know personally. It would be those who DON'T believe in the doctrine of grace who I'd think would not know if they are going to heaven. If you don't believe in the perseverance/preservation of the saints (or in other words, once saved, always saved), then you'll never know if someday in the future you will fall away. That is not a doctrine of the Calvinist.
     
  9. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    24,988
    Likes Received:
    2,268
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Sure but if God can do whatever He wants whenever he wants surely he can unelect you?

    I asked a Calvinist pastor this and his answer was that the Puritans didn't know if they were assured of heaven until they were in the coffin.
     
  10. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2004
    Messages:
    10,295
    Likes Received:
    0
    So you really are not asking if a person can know if they are saved, but you want to start a debate with a Calvinist to see if he/she believes that salvation can be taken away. Correct?
    Well i have a question for you. Do you know if you are going to heaven? If so how?
     
  11. mets65

    mets65 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2011
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    0

    Not every Calvinist is going to see it the same way. The label doesn't define the believer it just gives a broad overview of the believer, but not without error.
     
  12. annsni

    annsni Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    May 30, 2006
    Messages:
    20,914
    Likes Received:
    706
    No He couldn't because our names are written in the palm of His hand - and He will never blot that out.

    I know. I can't imagine going through life wondering something as important as that. It's like wondering all through your marriage if you are really married and if your husband actually loves you. How tragic.
     
  13. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    24,988
    Likes Received:
    2,268
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Incorrect. I was in a Calvinist Baptist church for years and never heard one mention of a person being able to know they were going to Heaven. Questions about it were given the runaround.

    I'm not sure where you are on the Reformed Theology spectrum but I'm getting the runaround. I'm also getting the time worn tactic of Calvinists of posing questions back at the inquirer in an attempt to lead them down a particular logic pathway, rather than simply giving a straight answer.


    I believe in my heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead and confess it with my mouth.
     
  14. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    24,988
    Likes Received:
    2,268
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Ann, I know this and you know this, but the Calvinist says that God can do whatever He wants whenever, so why couldn't he unelect someone? [Note: I don't want to derail this thread, so let's not go down this path.]
     
  15. mets65

    mets65 New Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2011
    Messages:
    392
    Likes Received:
    0

    He can do whatever whenever, that's not the point. The point is he's not going to go back on his word so he won't "unelect" someone.
     
  16. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2004
    Messages:
    10,295
    Likes Received:
    0
    Thank you for the response,, but, and I am not trying to be smart, but you just criticized the cal people for not answering a question directly and you did the same with my question. I understand that you believe in Jesus, but do you know that you are going to heaven?
     
  17. InTheLight

    InTheLight Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Dec 17, 2010
    Messages:
    24,988
    Likes Received:
    2,268
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I did answer your questions.

    Yes, I know I'm going to Heaven.

    BTW, you just did it again. Asked a question of me, instead of answering my original question.
     
  18. glfredrick

    glfredrick New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2010
    Messages:
    4,996
    Likes Received:
    2
    Of course... Those who have become born again Christians by the biblical method are God's elect and no one can remove them from God's hand (including themselves). We cannot be un-born, or un-adopted.

    How else? The Spirit confirms in our spirit that we are the Children of God.

    Experientially, following after Christ becomes natural instead of un-natural, for we do what the Holy Spirit within us directs us to do -- follow after the Father.

    It is the poor soul who has come to God "religiously" on their own efforts that I greatly feel for... They can never know, for the moment they change their mind, have a bad day, forget to confess a sin (known or un-known), etc., they are out. God never intended for His children to live in that sort of fear and work of human hands. That's what the gospel is all about!
     
  19. freeatlast

    freeatlast New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2004
    Messages:
    10,295
    Likes Received:
    0
    I really think that there is a great deal of miss-understanding in the church as to why we are lost and what being saved means.
    Let me start with this. The law cannot send anyone to hell. No person will go to hell because they lied, robbed, murdered, raped or what ever. The law given through Moses had no provision to save or to cause someone to be separated from God ( to be hell bound)
    The law was given with promises and those promises were blessings and cursing for this life, not the next. The law had no power to save or condemn.

    Men before the law of Moses all were lost without the law and had to be saved by faith to go to heaven. There has only been one law that has ever been given that could separate man from God. That was the law of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Once man (Adam) ate and fell his falleness was passed onto every person after him. Then God put him out of the garden and the tree of knowledge of good and evil is no more. One act with a tree and all died. In Christ one act on a tree and many live again.

    Once we are saved there is no law to cause us to be separated again. Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, [there is] no transgression. (Romans 4:15) It takes a law to be broken to be lost and there is no such law. There is no more a tree to eat of. Again the law of Moses cannot cause someone to be lost, nor can it save someone or keep them saved. It had no provision for that. And again the only law that could separate man from God is no more available. The tree is gone. We are born lost and can be born again unto salvation, but we cannot die again. There is no law to kill us.

    Most think that Jesus came to pay for our fleshly sins and that is all. However the scripture says this;
    The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

    Notice the word sin. It is singular. It is singular because one sin caused the fall, the eating of that one tree. It is not what we do today when we sin that makes man lost. One sacrifice of One Man paid the price for the sin at the tree, and there is nothing to undue that. God cannot go back and un-elect us, because He would have to destroy the work of Christ and in doing so would destroy Himself. We are kept and can never be lost once saved. The absence of that one tree makes that it impossible to die again (be lost a second time). It is impossible to become lost once saved.
    So the problem is not are we going to heaven. The problem is are we saved, because all who are saved will go to heaven, and none will be lost. We can know if we are saved, but not just because we believe in our belief of Jesus. 1John
    These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God
    I hope I have answered your question God bless
    Read the whole book of 1john and know. :thumbs:
     
    #19 freeatlast, Jan 22, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 22, 2011
  20. glfredrick

    glfredrick New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2010
    Messages:
    4,996
    Likes Received:
    2
    The "sin" is rebellion. "Sins" are all the rest. As long as we are in rebellion against Holy God there is no hope. And we cannot not rebel against Holy God in our natural state.

    The inventions of a myriad of religions proves that out. We are most happy to invent a religion instead of trusting that God will do what only God can do.
     
Loading...