Question: "Can a Christian lose salvation?"

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[ealgeone]

Question: "Can a Christian lose salvation?"

Answer: First, the term Christian must be defined. A “Christian” is not a person who has said a prayer or walked down an aisle or been raised in a Christian family. While each of these things can be a part of the Christian experience, they are not what makes a Christian. A Christian is a person who has fully trusted in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and therefore possesses the Holy Spirit (John 3:16; Acts 16:31; Ephesians 2:8–9).

So, with this definition in mind, can a Christian lose salvation? It’s a crucially important question. Perhaps the best way to answer it is to examine what the Bible says occurs at salvation and to study what losing salvation would entail:

A Christian is a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). A Christian is not simply an “improved” version of a person; a Christian is an entirely new creature. He is “in Christ.” For a Christian to lose salvation, the new creation would have to be destroyed.

A Christian is redeemed. “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:18–19). The word redeemed refers to a purchase being made, a price being paid. We were purchased at the cost of Christ’s death. For a Christian to lose salvation, God Himself would have to revoke His purchase of the individual for whom He paid with the precious blood of Christ.

A Christian is justified. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). To justify is to declare righteous. All those who receive Jesus as Savior are “declared righteous” by God. For a Christian to lose salvation, God would have to go back on His Word and “un-declare” what He had previously declared. Those absolved of guilt would have to be tried again and found guilty. God would have to reverse the sentence handed down from the divine bench.

A Christian is promised eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Eternal life is the promise of spending forever in heaven with God. God promises, “Believe and you will have eternal life.” For a Christian to lose salvation, eternal life would have to be redefined. The Christian is promised to live forever. Does eternal not mean “eternal”?

A Christian is marked by God and sealed by the Spirit. “You also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13–14). At the moment of faith, the new Christian is marked and sealed with the Spirit, who was promised to act as a deposit to guarantee the heavenly inheritance. The end result is that God’s glory is praised. For a Christian to lose salvation, God would have to erase the mark, withdraw the Spirit, cancel the deposit, break His promise, revoke the guarantee, keep the inheritance, forego the praise, and lessen His glory.

A Christian is guaranteed glorification. “Those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). According to Romans 5:1, justification is ours at the moment of faith. According to Romans 8:30, glorification comes with justification. All those whom God justifies are promised to be glorified. This promise will be fulfilled when Christians receive their perfect resurrection bodies in heaven. If a Christian can lose salvation, then Romans 8:30 is in error, because God could not guarantee glorification for all those whom He predestines, calls, and justifies.

A Christian cannot lose salvation. Most, if not all, of what the Bible says happens to us when we receive Christ would be invalidated if salvation could be lost. Salvation is the gift of God, and God’s gifts are “irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). A Christian cannot be un-newly created. The redeemed cannot be unpurchased. Eternal life cannot be temporary. God cannot renege on His Word. Scripture says that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

Two common objections to the belief that a Christian cannot lose salvation concern these experiential issues: 1) What about Christians who live in a sinful, unrepentant lifestyle? 2) What about Christians who reject the faith and deny Christ? The problem with these objections is the assumption that everyone who calls himself a “Christian” has actually been born again. The Bible declares that a true Christian will not live a state of continual, unrepentant sin (1 John 3:6). The Bible also says that anyone who departs the faith is demonstrating that he was never truly a Christian (1 John 2:19). He may have been religious, he may have put on a good show, but he was never born again by the power of God. “By their fruit you will recognize them” (Matthew 7:16). The redeemed of God belong “to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God” (Romans 7:4).

Nothing can separate a child of God from the Father’s love (Romans 8:38–39). Nothing can remove a Christian from God’s hand (John 10:28–29). God guarantees eternal life and maintains the salvation He has given us. The Good Shepherd searches for the lost sheep, and, “when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home” (Luke 15:5–6). The lamb is found, and the Shepherd gladly bears the burden; our Lord takes full responsibility for bringing the lost one safely home.

Jude 24–25 further emphasizes the goodness and faithfulness of our Savior: “To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”

[metmom]

They offer the Holy Mass as a sacrifice to God the Father, not as a celebration.

He gave His life, once for all.

His blood was poured out on the earth and is GONE.

Since flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven, He does not have a flesh and blood body to die over and over again, endlessly for however long Catholics think He needs to keep dying.

Jesus gave gives us His Body and Blood for our salvation at each and every sacrifice of the Holy Mass.

Really? In a non-bloody sacrifice as the official Catholic church teaching is on the subject?

[metmom]

As far as the accounts of “bleeding” wafers, whether they be rigged cheap magician tricks or supernatural, keep in mind that Satan is transformed into an angel of light. The original, the slickest deceiver.

Pharaoh's magicians turned water into blood and copied Moses' first few miracles.

Satan can counterfeit miracles.

[Zuriel]

**Isn’t committing a sin turning our back on God?**

When conviction of a believer doesn’t result in repentance, but defiance, then I would call that turning one’s back on God.

[Zuriel]

How does one laugh their behind off??

( no, I don’t want to see it happen )

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Placemarker

[Elsie]

You keep going over minor matters and ignore the words of salvation, “Whoever eats* my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. “

Go ahead and eat 'his flesh'.

Go ahead and wear your Brown Scapula.

Go ahead and trust 'Mary' for salvation.

It is all; your; choice. AKA free will.

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The 15 promises

(Given to St. Dominic and Blessed Alan de la Roche)

1	Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall receive powerful graces.
2.	I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the Rosary.
3.	The Rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies
4.	It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of people from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
5.	The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the Rosary, shall not perish.
6.	Whoever shall recite the Rosary devoutly, applying Himself to the consideration of its Sacred Mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune. God will not chastise Him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just, he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
7.	Whoever shall have a true devotion for the Rosary shall not die without the Sacraments of the Church.
8.	Those who are faithful to recite the Rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plentitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the Saints in Paradise.
9.	I  shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the Rosary.
10.	The faithful children of the Rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in Heaven.
11.	You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the Rosary.
12.	All those who propagate the Holy Rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities.
13.	I  have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the Rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death
14.	All who recite the Rosary are my children, and brothers and sisters of my only Son, Jesus Christ.
15.	Devotion of my Rosary is a great sign of predestination.

 

"The Most Holy Virgin in these last times in which we live has given a new efficacy to the recitation of the Rosary to such an extent that there is no problem,

no matter how difficult it is, wheter temporal or above all spiritual, in the personal life of each one of us, of our families...that cannot be solved by the Rosary.

There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult it is, that we cannot resolve by the prayer of the Holy Rosary."

Sister Lucia dos Santos

[Elsie]

They could have ‘found out’ today!

[ebb tide]

You may celebrate the crucifixion of the Son of God. I don't, I offer it as a sacrifice of the Son to God, the Father Almighty. And if you quote the USCCB as your source, I can't help you.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass: Centre of the Life of the Church

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Catholicism Pure & Simple

Compiled from meditations of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (FFI).

 On Calvary, Our Lord, Priest and Victim, offered himself to his heavenly Father, shedding his Blood, which became separated from his Body. This is how He carried out his Father’s will to the very end. It was the Father’s will that the Redemption should be carried out in this way. Jesus accepts it lovingly and with perfect submission. This internal offering of Himself in total self-surrender is the essence of his Sacrifice. It is his loving submission, without limits, to his Father’s will.

In every true sacrifice there are four essential elements: and all of them are present in the Sacrifice of the Cross: priest, victim, internal offering and external manifestation of the sacrifice. The external manifestation must be an expression of one’s interior attitude. Jesus dies on the Cross, externally manifesting (through his words and his deeds) his loving internal surrender. “Father, into thy hands I commend my Spirit.” Jesus is both Priest and Victim. “Having therefore a great high priest that hath passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God: let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest, who can not have compassion on our infirmities: but one tempted in all things like as we are, without sin” (Hebrews 4: 14-15).

The Sacrifice of the Cross is a single sacrifice. Priest and Victim are one and the same Divine Person: the Son of God made man

Christ offers himself in every Mass in the same way as He did on Calvary, although now he does so through a priest, who acts ‘in persona Christi’. This is why every Mass even though celebrated privately by a priest, is not a private action, but the action of Christ and of the Church. In the sacrifice that she offers, the Church learns to offer herself as a universal sacrifice, and applies the unique and infinite redeeming virtue of the Sacrifice of the Cross for the salvation of the whole world.

As it is essentially identical with the Sacrifice of the Cross, the Sacrifice of the Mass has an infinite value

In each Mass there is offered to the Father an infinite act of adoration, thanksgiving and reparation, quite independent of the specific dispositions of the people attending, or of the celebrant.

Thus there is no more perfect way of adoring God than by offering the Mass, in which his Son, Jesus Christ, is offered as the Victim, and at the same time acts as High Priest. There is no more perfect way of thanking God for everything that He is and for his continual mercy towards us: there is nothing on earth that is more pleasing to God than the Sacrifice of the altar.  Each time Holy Mass is celebrated, reparation is made for all the sins of the world, because of the infinite dignity of the Priest and of the Victim. The Holy Mass is really the heart and centre of the Catholic Church, the Mystical Body of Christ. We have here the only perfect and adequate reparation, to which we must unite sincere repentance for our transgressions with our acts of sorrow.

It is the only adequate sacrifice that we men can offer, and through it our daily occupations; our sorrows and our joys can take on in it an infinite value. It is in this way that man’s life becomes inserted, by means of the Eucharist, into the mystery of the living God. The fruits of each Mass are infinite, but in us they are conditioned by our personal dispositions, and thus limited. Our union with Christ at the moment of the Consecration will be the more complete the greater our identification with God’s will; the greater our dispositions of self-giving.

We, who want to imitate Jesus, who want only that our life should be a reflection of his, must ask ourselves today in our prayer: do we know how to unite ourselves to Jesus’ offering to the Father and accept God’s will at every moment? In unity with the Son we offer the Holy Mass to the Father, and at the same time, we offer ourselves through Him, with Him, and in Him. This act of union must be so profound and true that it permeates the whole of our day and has a decisive influence on our work, on our relations with others, on our joys and failures: in fact, on everything we do. Let us ask Our Lady: ‘My Mother and Lady, teach me how to pronounce a yes which, like yours, will identify with the cry Jesus made before his Father: “Not, my will but Thine be done”’ (Luke 22:42).

[Elsie]

Did you ever make the connection to the Body and Blood of Jesus that He gave us at the Last Supper?

Will you ever make the connection to the Words of Jesus found here?

John 6:25-40

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. ²⁷ Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

²⁸ Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

³⁰ So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’^[c]”

³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

[Elsie]

Lanciano, Italy 8th century a priest-monk celebrating Mass with recurrent doubts about the Real Presence of our Lord as he had just spoken the solemn words of Consecration when the host was suddenly changed into a circle of flesh, and the wine was transformed into visible blood.

And Pharaohs magicians would have said, "SO?"

[Mark17]

Do you realize, it's been 47 years since my last confession. I have done just fine since then. I think I will continue to avoid it. 😀😄😱

[Elsie]

Your anti-Catholic rambling offers just your personal opinion.

Your Catholic rambling above about miracles caused by GOD, offers NO proof that GOD had anything to do with them.

[Elsie]

That’s how they are TAUGHT!

[Elsie]

This Novena has NEVER been known to fail!

[Elsie]

So you presume to tell Jesus how to do the Transubstantiation?

Really?

Your chosen religion PRESUMES to tell it's members that Transubstantiation actually happens?

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There HAS to be a pony in here somewhere!

[Elsie]

An arrogant attitude that presumes to have the knowledge of God is a pretty serious sin.

HMMMmmm...

Judge yourself.

I don't care HOW much the Prot hierarchy pays me; I'll NEVER be able to rise to THIS level!

[ebb tide]

His blood was poured out on the earth and is GONE.

His Blood is never gone. It is poured out at every Sacrifice of the Holy Mass.

[mulligan]

Why is this important at this time? It has been discussed and debated and commented on for years.

[ealgeone]

Let us ask Our Lady: ‘My Mother and Lady,...

I guess you're unable/unwilling to accept the challenge proving the Catholic worships Mary.

[ADSUM]

Your comment; “Even Jesus Christ, after taking the cup, and giving thanks, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Matt. 26:27-29

Is the Lord going to drink his blood in heaven? I don’t think so. This scriptures show he kept his word, with no mention of him drinking wine when eating with his disciples after his resurrection.”

Why would Jesus need to participate (eat or drink)in the Eucharist? That was His gift to His Church for our salvation. Your magic trick denies scientific evidence that was performed and presented over many different places and times and you presume that God would allow this trick.

Why don’t you go check out the flesh and blood of Christ at the St Francis Church in Italy that has been there for over 1200 years?

I can somewhat understand your concern for statutes, but as a practicing Catholic we do not worship them or any other idols. Look at ST Mother Theresa of India and St Pope John Paul II as examples of how they served others as servants of God and spread the Good News and love of God.

Many protestors say the same old and then repeat them and they are minor items based on their personal opinion. They don’t want to understand the position of the Catholic Church. They are more negative than positive.

Seek the Truth and find God’s Peace. Thank you also.