If I may intrude, though I confess to not reading the entire exchange you and Colleen have been having.
You make this an either/or question, where we see it as both. God wants to keep my place in Heaven secure. But I can choose every day, every minute, to work with Him or against Him. He does not force me to do His Will.
Together we ensure my salvation. God doesn't force me. I can't do it alone. But together we can do it.
This is the message of the Incarnation. God took on humanity to join with us, to partner with us, so that we could come to join with Him, partner with Him.
SD
Go right ahead, feel free to join in anytime.
You make this an either/or question, where we see it as both. God wants to keep my place in Heaven secure.
That’s because it is an either/or question. Either God keeps you secure by Himself, or He doesn’t. It is my contention that the Scriptures teach that God keeps our place in Heaven secure all by Himself.
But I can choose every day, every minute, to work with Him or against Him. He does not force me to do His Will.
All of that is true, but it has no bearing in this discussion. The decisions we make after believing in Christ for our Salvation will affect the level of reward we receive when we get to Heaven. Our Post-Salvation decisions also affect our life here on Earth. I have said before that God has never promised to protect us from the earthly consequences of our sin.
Together we ensure my salvation. God doesn't force me. I can't do it alone. But together we can do it.
See, I think your thinking is wrong on this. Let’s say for a moment that Salvation is a you and God thing, He does His part and you do yours. Will God fail in upholding His end of the bargain? No, He won’t. Will you fail in upholding your end of the bargain? Probably, I would even make that a definite yes.
So, if God will not fail, but you most likely will, then who is your Salvation really dependent upon? You. There’s an old saying about a chain being only as strong as its weakest link. If your Salvation is dependent upon you and God then it is only as strong as the weakest partner. Again, you.
This is the message of the Incarnation. God took on humanity to join with us, to partner with us, so that we could come to join with Him, partner with Him.
The message of the Incarnation is that God loved us so much that He was willing to set aside everything that He is entitled to, in order to made sin for us.
-ksen