Posted on 10/20/2013 11:29:26 AM PDT by CHRISTIAN DIARIST
Once upon a time, Groucho Marx hosted the popular game show, “You Bet Your Life.” At the start of the show, a “secret word” was revealed to the studio audience. If a contestant said the word during the course of the show, a reward would descend from the rafters (a one hundred dollar bill).
Whether we know it or not, we are all, Christians and non-Christians alike, contestants in the spiritual equivalent of “You Bet Your Life.” If we bet wisely, our reward is eternal life. But if we bet foolishly, we condemn ourselves to eternal damnation.
That brings to mind Pascal’s Wager, credited to the seventeenth-century French philosopher, mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal. He famously posited that every human being bets his or her life on whether or not God exists.
“Let us,” he wrote, “weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.”
To put this in terms to which most of us can relate, even if the odds of God’s existence are, say, 1 in 175 million – the odds of winning Powerball on a single ticket – it is worth the wager.
Because, if we have bet on God, and God does not exist, we lose nothing. That is, save for indulging in certain behavior proscribed by God, including sexual promiscuity, idol worship, adultery, homosexuality (and other sexual perversions), thievery, greed, substance abuse, slander and robbery.
But if we bet against the Almighty, and indeed He does exist, we shall be cast into the lake of fire, eternally separated from God. We shall be condemned to place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Where we will be burned with unquenchable fire. Where we will be tormented day and night forever and forever.
Most of us are rationale. So we heed Pascal’s advice.
Even if we are uncertain there is a God, we hedge our bet. We respond to an altar call at some point in our lives. We say we accept Jesus as our personal Savior. We get baptized.
In so doing, we believe we have ensured our eternal security. We believe that, because we went through the ritual of being “saved,” we have a lifetime “Get Out of Hell Free” card. And that we can live our lives as it pleases us – not God – with impunity.
But what if we are wrong? What if this doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved,” espoused by many Godly pastors, preached in many purpose-driven churches, is errant? What if it actually is possible for us to forfeit our eternal salvation, to condemn ourselves to hell, by living brazenly and unrepentantly in defiance of God’s law?
That presents a corollary to Pascal’s wager, one that has not been considered by those who profess themselves Christ followers, but who are not truly leading a Christian life.
Let us call this corollary the Salvation wager, in which we weigh the gain and loss in betting on “Once Saved, Always Saved.”
Those who reject the doctrine, who believe those of us whom the Son sets free, must go and sin no more, must faithfully strive to live in obedience to God, have everything to gain if the doctrine is wrong and nothing to lose if the doctrine is right.
But those who subscribe to the doctrine, who believe that, having been saved, they can commit any and all manner of sin and it doesn’t matter in the eternal scheme of things, have hell to pay if they are wrong.
So what might Pascal advise?
That even if it’s more likely that once a person is saved, there is absolutely nothing they can do to lose their salvation, and that even if the odds are, say, 175 million to 1 that the widely-accepted doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved” is right rather than wrong, it still is wise to bet against the doctrine.
Because there are many who claim themselves Christians, who think their names have been written in the book of life, who will appear before the great white throne of judgment, who will find themselves sinners in the hands of an angry God.
They will look to Jesus and say, “Lord, Lord,” hoping He will spare them from punishment. But He will declare to them, “I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice wickedness.”
That’s a warning to those abiding unabashedly and unrepentantly in sin. They have bet their lives on “Once Saved, Always Saved.” And if they are wrong, eternal torment awaits.
I would be careful in calling God a liar by accusing Him of being unable to compete the work He begins in His children. Can God die? Neither can the divine nature of the new birth!
What did Pilot do after asking Jesus that question? Pilot left the room. Perhaps if he remained he would have received an answer. Ah but he did get an answer. Jesus said everyone who is of the truth hears His voice.
Sounds like something a Pharisee would say. Doesn't sound like something Jesus would say though.
Jesus told Paul to say it for him...
2Co_13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
I'm sorry if I sound disrespectful but why are you trying to discuss things Christian when you don't even know what the bible says???
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you THE GOSPEL which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also YE ARE SAVED, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died FOR OUR SINS according to the scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the scriptures."(1 Cor. 15:1-4).
Job also received a strong rebuke from God starting in chapter 38.
Does midget porn count?
But seriously, I have a hard time believing that all FR Catholics believe that. I have seen no religious topic where everyone is in unity on anything. And that includes porn-watching. The bottom line is that I don't think it serves anyone to make such broad-based generalizations against any religious group.
Just to give you an example, I used to play in a church softball league. The league was made up of the usual suspects. There were maybe four Baptist churches, three Methodist churches, two Presbyterian Churches, and a Catholic church. Then there were the odd balls. There was our church, which is your basic Spirit-filled Present Truth Christian church. And finally, there was a muslim team. And of those 12 teams, the one that exhibited the most what Jesus would do was the muslim team. Their team was terrible, but it was a joy playing with them. They never argued. They never expressed a bad attitude. They always yielded the opening prayer to the Christians. Always.
My point here is that we are all God's creations. And Christ can live in all of us regardless of what church we happen to go to.
I happen to know Catholics who pray in tongues, prophesy, and lay hands on the sick for recovery. Do I believe that Christ lives in them? Absolutely.
Too bad...You could use that time more wisely by searching the scriptures...
The calminian in me comes to the fore on this classic protestant question. “Once saved always saved (osas)” is a phrase that poorly presents the doctrine of perseverance of the saints.
The truth is that the doctrine should be called: The Faithfulness of Almighty God. Neither of the above is really the heart of the teaching, so once you get into it you find a lot of clarity explaining the faithful love of Almighty God who will never leave us or forsake us.
That accurately describes the Lord Jesus. It describes the Father in the story of the prodigal son. It describes the Apostle Paul’s teaching that our worthless actions will be burned up but that we ourselves will be saved “yet so as by fire”.
Does God keep His promises? Yes. Absolutely. Does the bible say that “whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved?” Yes it does...romans 10:13. If we act in John 3:16 belief, then God provides us a John 3:16 eternity.
God will bring us on that journey so that whatever we need He will provide, so that at the end we will be with Him.
We need to remember that it might be us acting, but that everything is by grace. As the bible says: God graciously gives us ALL things.
Romans 8: 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”j
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,k neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Believe what you will, “I know in Whom I have believed,” have read the Bible probably 100 times, spent a considerable amount of time on my knees before God in the last 48 years, and am very comfortable with His sufficiency to not only save me, keep me as well. I was not dependent on my own works to be saved, and I’m not dependent on my own works to remain saved. I was saved by grace, and I’m kept by grace, else no one would make it.
Some of my best friends are porn watching gay Protestants of colour!
As far as Latin goes, I would be careful holding on to the same meaning over the years. Consider the KJV and the NKJV. Both are translated into English from the same source. Yet one was translated in the 17th century while he other translated in the 20th century. Thus the discrepancy arose from common English usage at that particular time.
The Bible itself is a literary marvel. I always wonder how we came up with English words like 'boisterous' from reading old Greek manuscripts.
That’s where you’re wrong and don’t understand the new birth. The new birth is the creation of a “new creature.” A divine nature that has no capacity nor desire to sin, yet, we still deal with an unredeemed body. God promises those whom He justifies, sanctifies, and cleans, that one day we will have a glorified body to house our redeemed souls. The new creature the Spirit of God has created cannot die. When I made a decision for Christ, it was an eternal commitment that brought about a supernatural spiritual change within that cannot be altered. We are being conformed into the image and likeness of Christ. In the end, the word of God states clearly, that we will be likened unto Him. What God begins, He finishes! Those who accept Christ are immediately declared justified, sanctified, and cleansed —— FOREVER! The desire to live lives of holiness and purity resides within us; we despise the sin that plagues our humaness. We do not see and understand God’s forgiveness, justification, and sanctificatin as a “license to sin.” Those who think so, or believe in such a way do not know God, do not understand the Scriptures, and have not truly been born-again.
That does not answer my question.
When your interpretation of Christ’s Revelation to John is that those who believe through faith in Christ will burn in the Lake of Fire for all eternity future, you need to revisit the veracity of your interpretation.
Actually it does answer your question. According to 2 Tim. 2:15.
That accurately describes the Lord Jesus. It describes the Father in the story of the prodigal son. It describes the Apostle Paul’s teaching that our worthless actions will be burned up but that we ourselves will be saved “yet so as by fire”.Purgatory Padre?
You do sound disrespectful.
.. . but why are you trying to discuss things Christian when you don't even know what the bible says???
See, this is you sounding disrespectful again. For the record, I actually nailed it. I said it sounded like something a Pharisee would say. Turns out that a Pharisee did say it.
And as I pointed out before, Paul wasn't saying that if they couldn't comprehend what he said, then they should examine themselves. The original question you were asked is whether you sin or not. And instead of being forthcoming, you dodged it, posted some scripture that was totally unrelated to the question at hand, and then admonished another for not comprehending what turns out was an error on your part. And that is not at all what Paul did to the church at Corinth.
Was Augustine Catholic?
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