Another train of thought is that you can never be sure of your salvation, and that you are not truly "saved" until you are dead. In this thinking, any sin can cause you to lose your salvation, and after a life of living for God, a minor sin like a lie just before you get hit by a truck would send you to hell (or to purgatory, I guess).
And yet another view on this topic is that once you are saved, there is nothing that any man or any demon can do to cause you to lose your salvation - but because you still retain free will, you can choose to walk away. To me, this seems to be the teaching that is most in harmony with the Scripture. There is a big difference between falling in a temptation and choosing to walk away from God. If we are living for Him to the best of our ability and relying on His Spirit to do the rest for us, He is not going to cast us away for falling - but if we decide we like it in our sin and want to stay there, then He will remove His presence from us.
At least, that seems to be what the Bible teaches! YMMV :-)
Satan was in Heaven before he fell..
For the headache portion of thinking, what are we saved from?
“this means that once saved you could continually live a life of sin and still be saved.”
Anyone who is saved does continually live a life of sin.
Good post and point. I know that I want to follow Jesus, but sometimes I stumble and hope that He will forgive me for those stumbles.
And you statement of “There is a big difference between falling in a temptation and choosing to walk away from God.” is very clear and what I think is correct, for I trust that Jesus believes His gift of salvation is forever and will NEVER be terminated by Him or His Father.
I don’t know where my trust falls in Protestant, Catholic, or Orthodox dogma/doctrine, but it is what sustains me and keeps me going toward Him.