I think you can shed your salvation. After all, Annanias and Sapphira were believers and, in fact, far more committed than most believers these days. They believed enough to give half of their wealth to the church. Granted they lied about that amount, but that was enough to bring swift judgment and destruction.
Don’t be too quick to buy into this “once saved/always saved” theology, lest God give you up to your sins. Keep His commandments always as best you can, and when you fail, confess and undo, insofar as you are able, your sin.
Undoing your sin may cost you dearly, but if you do not you are not truly repentant, and yes, your salvation is indeed at stake. Do not think that because you are “saved” you can be a stumbling block for others, cause them to lose their faith, that then God will forgive and save you. He did not save Annanias and Sapphira who had become stumbling blocks. Do not think you are so cheaply bought that you can treat this gift of salvation lightly and keep it.
But if you are a repentant sinner, your salvation is not lost, and neither is this poor man’s if he kneels himself before our just but merciful God and asks forgiveness and the strength to undo this sin, though it may cost him his life.
Oh, I thought it over well and deeply, for decades.
Once saved always saved is as biblical as you can get.
If you shed it, it wasn’t salvation.
Nobody is told where the souls of Ananias (sp!) and Sapphira went — only their bodies.
By the way, repentance is arranged by God. He stoops to our need. We do not gin up His.
And frankly, this is where Methodists and others got off on a wrong foot.
How do you think the “Method” got into the name?
The only method that counts is the method that a renewing God imparts unto us. As viewed on earth it definitely is unflattering to us. Mistakes. Sins. Blasphemies. False starts. Opportunities squandered. Lessons finally learned, but accompanied by a mess. As viewed from heaven it is most commendatory towards God. Longsuffering. Persistence. Perfect wisdom. Perfect planning. Refinement towards a perfectly scheduled end. And very notably, the command not to worry! A violation of this paradigm would also provide the basis for worrying — a contradiction in terms.
And of course, understanding this is not “quick.” The folly of the Garden was that mankind became the tail that wagged the dog; we purportedly knew good and evil, which are things that only God can rule and discern, and impart the true ability to do the same to us.
We did not choose Him, the bible says. He chose us.