“Exactly. Some people say “how can it be possible for one to lose their salvation?” Of course it is not something that falls out of your pocket and you lose like your car keys, but you can throw it away. Nobody can take you out of God’s hand, but you have the choice to jump out yourself. As 2 Peter 2: 20-21 says,
“For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.”
Right on! That’s how I describe it to my friends of other denominations who try to stir up debate. Salvation in Jesus Christ is NOT like the t.v. remote control.
We MUST accept it and then proceed to nurture our RELATIONSHIP with the LIVING God throughout our lives. We do NOT achieve sinless perfection here on earth but we have opportunity to grow and repent-(turn away from our sin when we reckognize it)
My ex-wife was a “once saved/always saved” person. She believed that when she repeated a prayer at the age of 4 that a Sunday school teacher told her, she’s all set. She can talk the talk when in the right company, but she lives for number 1 - herself, which is why she is my ex. We had a wedding, but she never “got married”. It was a business deal for her. Never could get the relationship going with this person who was forever ‘independent’ above all things.
I think God expects us to ‘marry’ Him and BE married to Him. But He did give us our free will - first to be able to choose Him and then we always have the option of saying “no thanks”. He will not force us to stay.
But He makes the rules, not us.
So true! Sad though how many doctrines there are out there based simply on man's rules.