Featured What would cause you to lose your salvation?

I believe that I and all people have what John 1:9 says we have, and it's more than the light of nature, it's the light of Christ, and by this light God calls and draws all people toward Him. It is still up to us to heed that call or to resist it.

 

If God were to lighten every man's soul in the world to the depravity of his corrupt nature and make him tremble of the flames of hell, it would be as strong as a man suddenly realizing he is in the mist of a burning house and he would flee for his life. The scripture says, thy people shall be made willing in the day of Thy power, Psa 110:3

 

Question: What would cause you to lose your salvation?

Possible answer: Forsake God, turn your back on him, and then join the Church of Satan.

 

If I were to ask a free will, when were you saved, most would give an answer of when they believed and when they repented and when they accepted. But what was Paul's answer ? Gal 1:15-16. When it pleased God who separated me from my mothers womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. This scripture takes salvation out of the hand of the creature and puts it in the hand of a sovereign God.

 

How could one who has an intimate relationship with God say he never existed?

 

:thumbs::thumbs::thumbs:

 

I don't mean to insult anyone's sincerely and strongly held belief. However, I can only go by what I believe scripture teaches and experience confirms.

I was a Christian, saved from an early age. When I was about 20, some things happened that turned me away from the God I grew up believing in. I became an agnostic. Looking back on it, I could have gone either of several ways. It was my decision, and God gave me the free will to exercise that free choice. I could have become an atheist, or a member of another religion, or a Unitarian, or something else. I started studying, and I had some experiences. Ultimately, I came back to Jesus but with a faith and understanding different from what I had as a child and teenager. But I am well aware that I could have gone in another direction.

I believe this idea of predestination is an illusion based on a false concept of who God is. And frankly, the god of Calvinism or determinism is not a god I would want to serve.

 

That does not answer the question, Rebel.
Your belief that God has given all men the ability to choose does not equate to you being righteous before you were saved.

Do not, as many have and do, skip this point.

Again, I will ask the question...

We are speaking in a pre-salvific context and of you in your natural state.

Please answer the question.


God bless.

 

Well, perhaps you could not, and would not do it. But what if others COULD and WOULD? Respectfully asking, would forsaking God, turning your back on him, and joining the Church of Satan be a perfect example of what is written in Hebrews 6:4-6? Would the above example be cause for one to lose salvation because it involves rejection and repudiation?

 

That is all of us, my friend.

So you can say without question you were saved as a child? And you have not considered whether, if that is true, your return to Christ is not simply Christ's preservation of one of His own, despite their wanderings?

You say you could have gone in a different direction, but would not our Heavenly Father be the Supreme example of what He commands of man? Can He not train you up in the way you should go, in nurture and admonition, that, when you are old...you would not depart from it?

So you have a burden you present to yourself: show how Scripture does not teach what some feel it does, which can be seen as simply a recognition of Scripture states in a pretty straightforward manner.

It's either that, or believe what you want to believe without being able to show why an opposing view is in error. That's where we test our beliefs, not just by embracing them, but defending them and examining other views in light of Scripture.

And many opt for a particular System because first, they reject the opposing view, secondly, because they dislike how those of other Systems behave, and third, because the opposing view makes the most heinous charge one can levy on another...you are wrong.

And nobody deals well with being told they are wrong.

The above statement can be found on just about any forum one goes to. The usual content of discussions are personal rather than doctrinal, and the tendency to exclude the weightier matters is the result.

So while you may have convinced yourself that the views you hold are the truth, the question is, are these your views, or simply views of others that happen to agree with what you believe? Can you present a Biblical Presentation in support and show a reasonable Basis of Belief that cannot be shown to have errors? Are you willing to recognize error in your own views, and be honest if someone points a conflict with that view?

I have asked a simple question in the other post, and I ask that you answer it. You say you have free will to choose, but I would suggest to you that you have never had free will, and that the freedom you have now in Christ brings about what might be viewed as even less free will.

In order to support your view you are going to have to show that God has first presented that in His Word. God remains consistent in His revelation to man, and unless we can harmonize every teaching our views will come under scrutiny and criticism. The big question is whether that criticism is valid or not.


God bless.

 

I counted sixteen times in this post you referred to the word I. It is apparent you have chosen to believe what you want to believe by picking a scripture hear and there to back yourself up regardless of whether that scripture may have a different definition of what you think it means. Your theology is a works gospel. It is a man centered gospel. It is a man exalting gospel. Instead of believing you are kept by the power of God unto salvation, you believe you are kept by your will to do or not to do. There is no assurance in a backsliding theology. There is no peace in what you believe. In everything you posted you gave yourself the credit or glory, when the scripture says of God, my glory will I not give to another. You have fulfilled the scripture in St. John 7:18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory.

 

It would not be an example of Hebrews 6:4-6.

You need to understand that the context is one of rebuke from a Jew to a Jew, and while the teaching certainly has application to Gentiles, we don't forsake the context of the passage to make this about born again believers losing their salvation.

Taken out of it's context...


Hebrews 6:4-6

King James Version (KJV)

4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,

5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,

6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

...vv.4-5 seem to speak of born again believers, which it does when the context is post-salvific, because these thing, most of them, anyway, are precisely what believers experience as the Holy Spirit ministers to them in their natural state.

But now ask yourself if these things cannot also be applied to those who hear the Gospel, fall under the Ministry of the Comforter, and reject Christ.

Read Hebrews 5:10-6:12, and we will discuss it. Understanding this passage has to kept within the framework of the Book, and it is one of the most debated passages in all of Scripture. So read it a few times, and then we will discuss it if you like.

For now, I am beginning to see an antagonism towards Eternal Security, so if you don't mind, I would like to pose to you the same question posed to the other member, who also feels that men have a choice, or, free will, if you will.

Here it is: did you have a choice to be righteous before you were saved?


God bless.

 

You have mischaracterized everything I said and then made false statements based on that. That is not surprising. I believe what the first English Baptists believed about free will, which they and I back up with scripture.

A god such as you describe is not a god to be worshiped but dreaded.

 

There is an old saying, "you can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink". I am done here.

 

No need to apologize, and, no, I don't think you are inconsistent or illogical.

I have strong views, based on my past, my reading of scripture, and even on observing others. I knew someone who was undoubtedly saved, born again, a faithful Christian with fruits of the Spirit. I watched him turn away from God gradually, and he is now an atheist and pornographer.

To say that one cannot forfeit his/her salvation by an act of will goes against scripture, experience, and how God created us.

Sometimes I realize I over-react based on what someone else says about me, but it is refreshing to be able to discuss things reasonably and calmly. I respect that.

 

Yes, I am done talking with you as well, as there is no point.

 

Went to heaven 'spanked', perhaps?

Sure made an impression on the others....