Can we lose our Salvation?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by JAMES FINBORG on August 13, 2009 at 8:37am

HELLO SARAH78 IF WE ARE BORN AGAIN GOD SAID WE ARE SAVED NOTHING CAN TAKE THAT AWAY SURE WE WILL SIN AND HAVE SIN IN ARE WALK WITH CHRIST. BUT CHRIST TOOK ALL SIN AT THE CROSS THATS WHY HE JESUS SPOKE MY GOD MY GOD WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME. IT IS BECAUASE JESUS WAS TAKING ALL OF THE SIN IN THE WORLD ON HIM SELF. GOD HAD TO TURN HIS BACK ON JESUS BECAUSE GOD IS PURE AND SINLESS AND COULD NOT LOOK AT THAT SIN. THERE ARE THOSE WHO DONT RECIVE CHRIST AND GO TO HADES OR HELL. SOME PEOPLE ARE VERY STUBBORN WE NEED TO PRAY FOR THEM THAT THEY WILL COME TO KNOW JESUS. GOD WILL NOT TAKE AWAY OUR SALVATION IT IS A GIFT OF GOD. PRAISE THE LORD. GOD BLESS YOU YOUR BROTHER IN CHRIST JAMES.

Permalink Reply by Prophet on February 8, 2010 at 4:50am

The Bible says that there is Nothing that can make you lose your salvation, except if you Grieve the Holy Spirit ths is a mortal sin and cannot be forgiven by God.

Permalink Reply by Carla on February 8, 2010 at 5:35am

Hi Prophet,

It seems that you may be confusing 'grieving the Holy Spirit' and 'committing the unpardonable sin'.

Grieving the Holy Spirit is this:
Acting out in a sinful manner that would suppress God's Holy Spirit working out His life through us..

Ephesians 4:30 tells us that we should not grieve the Spirit. We grieve the Spirit by living like the pagans (4:17-19), by lying (4:25), by being angry (4:26-27), by stealing (4:28), by cursing (4:29), by being bitter (4:31), by being unforgiving (4:32), and by being sexually immoral (5:3-5). These sins are all forgiveable. We are not to grieve the Holy Spirit because our purpose here on this earth is to bring God Glory in all we do..and sinning is bad for us. When we sin we create a distance between us and God...God is not Glorified that way.
When we tell God that we committed a sin (we agree it is wrong) and repent (change our minds about the sin--we hate it), He forgives us and tells us to 'Go and sin no more...'

The Unpardonable Sin is this:
The only unpardonable sin today is that of continued unbelief. There is no pardon for a person who dies in unbelief.

Matthew 12:31 (NIV)
31 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
In this passage, the Pharisees, having witnessed irrefutable proof that Jesus was working miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit, claimed instead that He was possessed by the demon Beelzebub (Matthew 12:24). In Mark 3:30, Jesus is very specific about what exactly they did to commit “the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.”

This blasphemy then has to do with accusing Jesus Christ (in person, on earth) of being demon-possessed. There are other ways to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (such as lying to Him, as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-10), but the accusation against Jesus was the blasphemy that was unpardonable. This specific unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit cannot be duplicated today.

The only unpardonable sin today is that of continued unbelief. There is no pardon for a person who dies in unbelief. John 3:16 tells us, “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.” The only condition in which someone would have no forgiveness is if he/she is not among the “whoever” that believes in Him. Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). To reject the only means of salvation is to condemn oneself to an eternity in hell because to reject the only pardon is, obviously, unpardonable.
(www.gotquestions.org)

Blessings, Carla

Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on February 8, 2010 at 6:14am

Hi Carla,
I didn't read the entire topic, but I ran across something in the old Testament that goes with Jesus' comment about not being able to removed for the Father's hand. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father,who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of tthe Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Jn 10:28-30 Deut 32:39 39 “ ‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
The Holy Bible : English Standard Version. Wheaton : Standard Bible Society, 2001, S. Dt 32:39

I take this to mean that once a person is in the Father's hand no one, even the person himself, can remove himself from the Father's hand.

I personally am secure in these verses that one can't backslide into hell.

Once saved, we have the Holy Spirit living within us guiding and instructing us to further ensure that we can't leave God. And who would want to?
Sometimes when we think of God, we think of one who is as wishywashy as we are. We fail to consider His power, mainly I think because we know of no one like Him and we have no human to compare him to. Because there is none.

Jesus also speaks of the sheep that goes astray out of the 100 in the flock. The shepard goes after that one, and brings him back to the flock. So I think God does with us. We're His, we stray, we are brought back. How great is our Lord and greatly to be praised!

Blessings,
Rita

Permalink Reply by Carla on February 8, 2010 at 7:32am

Hi Rita,

Yes.. I agree with you. This is indeed scriptural.

Regarding the 'unbelief'... I believe this is for 'nonbelievers'.. not 'believers'. NonBelievers condemn themselves by rejecting the only means of Salvation--Jesus Christ.

I'm sorry if I was not clear in distinguishing that important difference. A true believer cannot loose their Salvation.

Blessings, Carla

Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on February 8, 2010 at 12:26pm

Hey Sarah78,

I have read most of the comments here, and i would like to approach the topic from a some what different angle if i may. I have been on both sides of the fence on this secondary issue and my final conviction is that we cannot lose our salvation.

I tell you how I concluded eternal security is a fact. When I see verses teaching that God will keep us, without stading, if you want to be kept, if you abide in him, if this or that.... no He simply states through so many ways: I SAVED YOU AND I WILL KEEP YOU. Having that knowledge then I in counter verses that appear to say that I can lose my salvation, not directly, but they sound like they are teaching that. That would create a bonafide contradiction, not an apparent contradiction, but contradiction and I have learned that any apparent contradiction is only lack of knowledge in my part, so using the verses that speak directly on God's ability to finish what He started in us regardless of what we want, for we belong to him and God has the right in our lives to do good, and keeping us in his ways is GOOOOODDDDDD!!!! I am force by the word of God to reconcile those verses accordingly; otherwise God would be lying about how he can keep us.

Let me explain it like this in light of Matthew 24:13 and Col 1:23, both verses mentioned enduring to the end:

Matthew 24:13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

The ones who persevere are the same ones who are saved---not the ones whose love grows cold (v.12). This does not suggest that our perseverance secures our salvation. Scripture everywhere teaches precisely the opposite. God, as part of His saving work, secures our perseverance. True believers are “are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation” (1 Pet.1:5).

The guarantee of our perseverance is built into the New Convenent promise. God says: “I WILL PUT My FEAR IN THEIR HEARTS SO THAT THEY WILL NOT DEPART FROM ME” (Jer. 32:40). Those who do fall away from Christ give conclusive proof that they were never truly believers to begin with.

To say that God secures our perseverance is not to say that we are passive it the process, however. He keeps us “through faith” (1 Peter 1:5) ---our faith. Scripture sometimes calls us to hold fast to our faith (Heb. 10:23, Rev. 3:11) or warns us against falling away (Heb. 10:26-29). Such admonitions do not negate the many promises that true believers will persevere (John 10:28-29, Rom. 8:38-39; 1 Cor. 1:8-9; Phi. 1:6) Rather, the warnings and pleas are among the means God uses to secure our perseverance in the faith, Notice that the warnings and the promises often appear side by side. For example, when Jude urges believers, “keep yourselves in the love of God” (Jude 21-24), he immediately points them to God, “who is able to keep you from stumbling. I used the McArthur Study bible to helped me with some notes here.

So this is how I reconcile this apparent contradiction. If scripture teaches God will keep us and then it tells us that we can lose our salvation then we have a discrepancy.

And the bilbe does not contradict it self!!

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on February 8, 2010 at 12:57pm

To add to what David has stated I repeat to something I have said before.

Salvation is by grace, not of works. (Eph. 2:8-9)

Therefore,

We are saved by grace and maintianed by grace.

If it were saved by grace and maintained by works we have gained nothing. We would still beliving under the Law living by the Law and would have no hope of living up to the Law today any better than those who lived prior to the sacrificial work of Jesus.

If we have to do something to keep it we are surely accursed and only doomed to failure.

If we rest in the work of Jesus and trust in His work and keeping power of God, which is grace, we have hope and are secure in His hands.

Lord Bless,
LT

Permalink Reply by Andras Hajdu on March 20, 2010 at 2:51pm

Hi!

I've been reading these posts and I feel I need to share my own experience.

You are talking about the question, whether you can loose your salvation or not. If it's possible to loose salvation then there must be people who have already lost theirs. Unfortunately I'm one of them.

I got to know Christ 4 years ago. I've been attending an evangelical free church. I was taught that you cannot loose your salvation, and I believed it because no one stated the opposite. I had a wonderful conversion experience. My whole life was changed. I was so glad that I found what I had been searching for so long. After two years I started listening to other "christian" teaching. It was familiar to what I used to in my old life: "the it's about me" philosophy. Slowly It began to distract my attention from the gospel. In my conscience I knew it wasn't right but I didn't care. After two and a half years I rejected the gospel by quitting from church. Since than I do not have a relationship with God. I live in despair and indescribable fear. I was born again in 2006, I experienced God, I got a brand new life, my life got a meaning and I had hope. Now I don't have any of that. I regret ignoring God's warning. He warned me, but I was the one who didn't listen. I can't put in to words how much I regret! I'm only 22 and I know that I'm already out of the race.

I didn't want to believe that I've lost my salvation. I was taught that I could never loose my salvation. It took 8 months to realize that this is what happened. I'm not blaiming anyone. If I'm honest, I knew in my spirit that this is something I have to protect as long as I live.

Now, I don't want to think of my future. I try to live day by day. Sometimes I want to think it's just a dream and I will wake up.

Andras

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on March 20, 2010 at 4:32pm

Andras,

The fact that you recognize what is missing is proof that God is working on you during that wayward time. If you were of the world and truly in the world again none of it would matter to you. Praise God for His conviction. Once you are changed you are changed forever. Once you are saved, you are saved forever. Now pick up the pieces and reengage. He has not left you, you have strayed from the Father's path for your life. Repent of the wayward ways, not to be saved again, but to be restored to usability, and then seek to draw near to Him. Read the story of the prodigal son and be blessed and encouraged.

Lord Bless,
LT

Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on March 21, 2010 at 12:17pm

Andras,

LT is absolutely correct. It it's obvious that God is working in your heart by way of conviction. From everything you have stated (the changed that occurred when you were born again) I can safely say you are a child of God.

It sounds to me that you have learned one of the most valuable lessons we can learn in our new live.

John 15
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

We can do nothing of eternal value without Christ.

Permalink Reply by Carla on March 24, 2010 at 9:36am

Dear Andras,

We are in a Spiritual Battle for truth. Christians will often be called and labelled as 'close minded' because we reject anything but the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is how we must be in the fight for Truth.... The road is narrow.. There is only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ.

You say that you have experienced a relationship with God, but you do not have it anymore.. I would say that you have it, if you have truly experienced it, but it has become broken...broken fellowship. Just as in any realtionship if we betray the trust of a loved one...the fellowship is broken.. but it can be mended when we ask for forgiveness with a repentant heart.

Jam 4:5 What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful
Jam 4:6 He gives us more and more strength to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, "God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble." [fn]
Jam 4:7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.

Tell God that you are sorry for all that you have done regarding this false message that has ensnared you.

Jam 4:8 Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites.
Jam 4:9 Let there be tears for the wrong things you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.
Jam 4:10 When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor.

Here is a great book I would like to recommend to you.
'The Truth War' by John MacArthur
here's a link to it:
http://www.christianbook.com/truth-fighting-for-certainty-age-decep...

Love in Christ, Carla

Permalink Reply by GAD_578 on March 20, 2010 at 3:09pm

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• Next ›
• Page