Or, rather if they are, they weren't really elect after all, right?
Accordingly, someone could say the sinners prayer and get lost, but then they weren't really saved, right?
So I see the POTS as really hindsight. Those that persevere are the elect, never lost; those that don't, get lost, but they were really reprobate. You don't have insurance until your claim comes due.
Claiming X is one who won't get lost is known by God's omniscience, but by man in hindsight.
[DF:] Or, rather if they are, they weren't really elect after all, right? Accordingly, someone could say the sinners prayer and get lost, but then they weren't really saved, right?
I'm afraid "no" on both counts. :) What BD and I are saying is that there is no "if they are [lost]". In this context, the hypo is that one can be "found" and then later be "lost". We say that is impossible. When we say someone was never of the elect in the first place, it means that the person was never "found" in truth, but he may have just pretended to be. There is no issue with time, just with a good or bad "guess" on the part of the rest of us. The truth never switched. Our fallible perceptions might.
So I see the POTS as really hindsight. Those that persevere are the elect, never lost; those that don't, get lost, but they were really reprobate. You don't have insurance until your claim comes due.
Any reference to hindsight would only apply to other people, not ourselves. I would say that those of the elect will persevere, and not be lost. Those who don't persevere do not "get" lost because they were always lost from birth. They are the reprobate. Those of the elect can have insurance about themselves at the moment of salvation. We can never be positive about anyone else.
Claiming X is one who won't get lost is known by God's omniscience, but by man in hindsight.
Yes, and that's why we don't make claims about other people, even though we might have a very good inclination toward thinking another is saved. We can't be sure in the way we can about ourselves.