Once a person has turned his life over to God and actually begins to try to live the life God meant us to live, mortal sin is rare, if non-existant. I don't remember the last mortal sin I confessed.
So, future actions do matter. I just believe in God's promises to His elect in that regard. Those actions are future included events to the salvation.
You appear to contradict yourself in these two sentences. First, you future actions do matter - I presume towards salvation. Second, God has already chosen you and you cannot fall. So tell me, why do your future actions matter if you have already declared yourself saved irrefutably?
I don't declare for God who gets into heaven and who doesn't. God picks His elect and they will go to heaven. It only makes sense to me that He would also pick some who lived their entire lives without access to a Bible, etc.
Ah, well this is a new concept from you. Previously, you have told me that one must have knowledge of Jesus Christ and believe upon Him. Why does it make sense to you that God would pick some elect who don't have access to the Bible?
Regards
From New Advent:
Mortal sin is defined by St. Augustine (Contra Faustum, XXII, xxvii) as "Dictum vel factum vel concupitum contra legem æternam", i.e. something said, done or desired contrary to the eternal law, or a thought, word, or deed contrary to the eternal law. (emphasis added)
You can't remember the last time you said a word, or even had a THOUGHT contrary to eternal law??? Your wife is one lucky woman! :)
You appear to contradict yourself in these two sentences. First, you future actions do matter - I presume towards salvation. Second, God has already chosen you and you cannot fall. So tell me, why do your future actions matter if you have already declared yourself saved irrefutably?
Future actions matter because of all the "perseverance" verses that you can quote to me better than I can to myself. :) The difference is that I do not say I "choose" to persevere, if I am of the elect. It is a part of being chosen by God that the future actions will necessarily occur. It might be akin to the fulfilling of prophecy in real time. One could say "why bother with the fulfillment if the result is already ordained anyway"? The answer is that the fulfillment is also ordained, so it must be so. For the elect, God has already ordained that future acts will occur, regardless.
Ah, well this is a new concept from you. Previously, you have told me that one must have knowledge of Jesus Christ and believe upon Him. Why does it make sense to you that God would pick some elect who don't have access to the Bible?
Yes, I do believe that the elect must have knowledge of Jesus and believe on Him. In my knowledge I know Him in English as "Jesus the Christ". I didn't know what His disciples called Him until I saw "The Passion". :) Of course there are a million other translations and names that refer to only Him. The English name "Jesus" is of no consequence, it is the person of Jesus that matters.
It makes sense to me that God would pick some elect who don't have access to the Bible because Jesus had tremendous compassion for the poor and unprivileged. (IOW, He wasn't an American leftist! :) Therefore, He doesn't pick His elect based on the blessings, or lack thereof, He bestows on them. The disciples were not chosen for their education or wealth or success in the world, so I don't see why the elect should be either.