Posted on 05/31/2017 1:41:09 PM PDT by 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.”
No, Rich, CHRISTIANITY is based on JESUS. Catholiciism shows lots of signs of being based on Nimrod’s origins. But you knew that and still wanted to toss up a strawman/red herring ... that really is stinking and not like you.
Now its the phenomena of the Dancing Baby animation on the old Ally McBeal show that needs deep explanation...I never got that..At...All!
PS: and besides all that....$1.59 and my opinions will get me a cup of coffee at McDonalds. Such is the value of my opinions. I have no illusions otherwise!
1Jn1:8 is very true. Since the audience are believers, it states the situations where believers do sin.
One common denominator of sin, though, is that whenever we sin, we aren’t sinning while in fellowship with Him.
1Jn1:8 is very true. Since the audience are believers, it states the situations where believers do sin.
One common denominator of sin, though, is that whenever we sin, we aren’t sinning while in fellowship with Him.
I would have answered two hours ago, but I had a two hour internet outage. No, I do not think that is a logical conclusion at all. The worship of Nimrod, is a fake, and a counterfeit religion, not Biblical Christianity. For everything that is true, Satan has a counterfeit. Nimrod's religion is not the only false religious system out there. I will leave it to your imagination, to figure out which false religions I am talking about.
Some rites, rituals, holidays, and things, (not all) are brought down from Nimrod's false religion, but then again, I will leave it to your imagination, to figure it out.
Nimrod was a bad dude. I don't know if he intentionally started a false religion, or if he used it as a means to control people. Either way, he was evil. I got no time for him. 🔥
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Yep, I homed in on it with three posts.
I plan to challenge your record when I get into shape.
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Of course.
We are not “in fellowship if we are violating any commandment with regularity, but anyone doing that has no need to be admonished; their sin is deliberate, as in Hebrews 6.
Sin, regular or not, deliberate or not, breaks fellowship with God. Heb 6:4-6 refers to rejecting Him at the call.
Most sins (missing the mark) arise from our scarred souls haing faulty thinking processes developed and learned when we were fleshly or worldly. Salvation occurs in an instant. It takes time to sanctify our souls.
Hebrews was written to Hebrews, not to Gentile Christians who might become Jews. It was written to convince the Hebrews of the “better” (the word used prolifically through the book) things in Christ. It was to pull Hebrews over the line into the sufficiency of Christ. It is not a treatise on Christians “losing” their salvation.
This isn’t the time;
for another Elsie rhyme.
No matter how empty you seem.
I just cannot do it;
I’d never get through it.
Humor’s such a difficult theme.
Thank you for that.
I would have answered two hours ago, but I had a two hour internet outage. No, I do not think that is a logical conclusion at all. The worship of Nimrod, is a fake, and a counterfeit religion, not Biblical Christianity. For everything that is true, Satan has a counterfeit. Nimrod’s religion is not the only false religious system out there. I will leave it to your imagination, to figure out which false religions I am talking about.
Some rites, rituals, holidays, and things, (not all) are brought down from Nimrod’s false religion, but then again, I will leave it to your imagination, to figure it out.
Nimrod was a bad dude. I don’t know if he intentionally started a false religion, or if he used it as a means to control people. Either way, he was evil. I got no time for him
It appears that I struck a nerve with my statement. For the record, I do not believe that Christianity is based on Nimrod being God the Father and the reincarnation of Nimrod is Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God.
Nor do I believe that pagans would be allowed to worship Mary in the same way that they worshiped their goddesses. Do you or your Navigators know of any writings from the early church that supports this idea, or that even mentioned Nimrod?
There really isn’t much in the bible on Nimrod other than he was a mighty hunter and apparently rose to the top of the heap by the time the Tower of Babel was conceived of as an idea. We think from educated inferences and from other extra biblical sources he was a pretty bad guy but there isn’t much in the way of info as to how he lived and how he died.
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Do we believe you, or do we believe the “beloved” apostle John?
I’m going with John, if you don’t mind.
John says that confession fixes the times that we slip up.
>> “Salvation occurs in an instant.” <<
Yes, but according to Yeshua, and Paul, that instant has not come yet; it happens at the Last Trump, in a twinkling of an eye, and judging by present fulfillments of prophecy WRT Jerusalem, it looks like the fall of 2024 is when that instant will come along, so if you’re not dead yet your salvation is dependent upon holding fast in faith.
You’ve already denounced the scriptures that make that plain, so save your keyboard.
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I think you have it backwards. Biblical Christianity is not based on the worship of Nimrod. It is the other way around. The worship of Nimrod is a bastardization of the truth of Biblical Christianity.
As far as the Navs go, there are so many people affiliated with them, who have written so many different books and works, that I can't possibly keep track of them all, so I don't know for sure. I know there are lots of sources out there. The Nav motto, is to know Christ, and to make him known, so their authors probably concentrate on other issues. I would say, it's not bad for an old lumber yard worker. 😀👍 Later bro.
The worship of Nimrod is a bastardization of the truth of Biblical Christianity.
So going back to post 604, where you wrote,
Do you suppose this worship or veneration of Mary, whatever they want to call it, is part of the paganism that was added, to attract pagans to the church? Is it related to Diana of the Ephesians? Doesn’t all this paganism originate with the worship of Nimrod and his wife? Didn’t the queen of Heaven thing originate with her, and after Nimrod’s death, didn’t she claim to give birth to a reincarnation of Nimrod? I believe this is paganism with a capital P, and was possibly brought into the church, to make pagans feel welcome.
Do you know of any writings from the early church that supports your assertion that this paganism was brought into the church? Or that even mentioned any pagan religions?
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