Once Saved always Saved?

[jehoshaphat]

What are your thought provoking opinions on this controversial subject?

[Tea Ess]

This is an extremely difficult topic to think clearly about. It seems to always trace back to predestination, making it a double debate.

I personally believe it is possible to lose your salvation. One may be a Christian, having accepted Jesus Chirst as their Lord and Savior, and then later turn away and lose their faith. Admittedly, no one can outrun God's love, but we can choose to reject His offers and turn away from our previous roots.

If we look at the parable of the seeds (if that's the official name; I can never remember the names everyone else uses), we are told that some of the seeds put down roots and thrived for a short time, but were later burnt to a crisp in the sun. There are people who, if they died that day, would be accepted as Christians. They might turn away from their roots when times get tough, and lose their salvation.

As a thought of the moment, salvation is a helmet. We can choose to take it off.

[godisawesomeness99]

one word.

A resounding..... YES!

[Renae]

hmmmm.... I'm not so sure.... I personally believe that if you "lost your salvation", you never had it in the first place. Salvation isn't something you can take so lightly by saying, " now I have it, now I don't". If you TRULY received God's love and His salvation in the first place, than this means that you loved him so much, you would never break apart. I'll come back to you guys with verses on this.

[Stella C.]

I agree that is it a very touchy subject. My personal opinion (and I really don't want to start a debate ) is that one CANNOTlose his/her salvation. It would have to be a reliance on works, which the Bible clearly states is NOT how one is saved. ("In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace." -Eph 1:7)
I believe that once you are saved, God is holding your hand and is with you always, and those sins you commit on a regular basis, are puny in the sight of the Creator. He has had your life planned out since before you were born, and to commit a sin that would be great enough to pull you away from the Almighty God, once you are saved, is nonexistent.
Here's an example- Suppose a child or teenager decides he doesn't want anything to do with his parents anymore, and so he runs away. Does that make him any less the son of his parents? No of course not. No matter what he does, he still has the exact same genes he inherited from his parents. He is still their son. It works the same way with God. No matter what we do, nothing can separate us from our Heavenly Father. If it were possible to become unsaved once we were saved, would we even be able to be saved in the first place? Salvation is not something that can be simply thrown out the door by sinning. It is too precious, it is eternal.
I'm not sure of you guys opinion on "lesser" or "greater" sins, but consider this, ALL sin is equally evil (lying, stealing, murdering, adultery, ect.) so every time you lie ( and no, I don't believe in the "little white lie"), would you have to pray and ask be saved again? I would hope not. Every day we sin, more then we can count and salvation would seem pretty childish if you could lose it every time you lie. Once you are saved, your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life, for eternity.
There's my two cents (I added a few paragraphs in there for you guys =) )

[Renae]

I totally agree Stella!!! and this doesn't mean that just cuz we're saved always sin and not worry about it. If you think this way... than maybe you should recheck the scripture. I def. do not believe that

[Tea Ess]

Of course a runaway child is no less of a son or daughter. The real question is: Will they still be included in the inheritance?

Eph 2:8-9 'For it is by grace you have been saved- through faith. And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast.'

We have indeed been saved by grace. God has extended it to us and we received it. We can also reject God's grace, lose and forget our faith, and therefore lose our salvation.

Good point about the Book of Life. I am still making up my mind on this subject (my church tends to not give opinions, only teach the Bible and let us decide for ourselves) I have to ask myself whether God would ever cross out a name.

I can tell you that I am certainly saved. It's not easy going right now, but I have a true and definite relationship with my Creator. I have accepted his Son as my Lord and Savior and I fully believe that He lived, died on the cross for my sins, and rose from the grave.

However, what would happen if I shut my Bible forever, turned my back on God and left to lead a life of sin? What if I never so much as though about God for the rest of my life and I left a trail of destruction behind me?

Would I have never been saved in the first place? Would I lose my salvation? Could I reject God in the first place?

Not tring to start a debate, just asking a few questions and discussing.

Edit: Did I scare everyone away again?

[Renae]

T.S. Question. Do you think you would ever do that? Close your Bible, turn away, and never come back? I would not. I can say that I am saved and I know that I love my Father, I would never turn back. Anyone who does such a thing never truly experienced Christs salvation! Otherwise He would be sooo overcome by it that HE WOULD NOT TURN BACK!

[Stella C.]

Triangle, I see where you are coming from. And I have a few answers for you.
To your Inheritance question, when you are saved, your inheritance is a by-product of being in God's family. Take the story of the prodigal son. The son ran, and used up ALL his inheritance. When he ran away, he was a child of his father. When he returned he was still a child of his father, but without inheritance. He never lost his father, just his inheritance. He was still in the family, and his father loved him even when the son was sinning.

Also, if one is careless enough to "lose" and "forget" his salvation, was he really saved? Now if you (as a Christian) decide to close your Bible, run and live a life of sin, you would still be a born again Christian. Why? When you are saved, you are born again. Is it possible to be unborn? Well, your mother may have a few things to say about that Ultimately, there is no way to be "unborn". There are also two kinds of people in the world. The saved, and the lost. Is there a half-way mark? No. Your either one or the other. You can't simply jump back and forth between the line that God created. That's the beauty of His plan.


Jesus states, in John 10:27-30, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall NEVER perish. neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, my Father who gave them to me, is greater then all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one." He clearly states that nothing, and no one, can pluck believers out of His Family. Now, does that mean we can simply up and sin carelessly? Like Renae said, NO. God expects us, as Christians to be mature enough to repent of our sin, not to go thru the whole salvation process again.

So, correct me if I'm wrong, do you believe that there are "lesser" and "greater" sins? You (and me) sin everyday. Lying and hating someone is just as evil as murder. If you leave a trail of sin and destruction behind you, like if you murder (which I really hope you don't, by the way), that's just as bad as lying, which all of us do, almost every single day. So really, you need to be "re-saved" every day?

Now I'm a bit confused at the last question. If you reject God in the first place, why would you get saved at all?

I hope my response made sense, because its really late where I am, and I am tired Now, I'm sorry, but I need to turn in for the night, so I shall try to look at your response in the morning

[Doll]

My youth pastor always said that he felt that if you "lost" your salvation, you never really had it in the first place.

But personally, I don't know what I really believe. I think, that the parable of the seeds means that people can believe, and be saved at first, but then loose their salvation, by falling on rocky soil or among weeds.

[jehoshaphat]

So can you go out and kill people and be okay? Also I believe there are greater and lesser sins, if you tell a little white lie, is it equal to killing people? I think not.

[Rosy]

I believe that no matter how much you sin, you are still saved, but if you turn away from God, you can lose your salvation. Here's an example:
Ever since he was little, Bob went to church, and when he was 7, he excepted Jesus. But then, as he got older, he stopped going to church and bible study. When he turned 20, one of his friends told him about Buddhism. He liked the idea, and began to worship Budda. Then, 3 years later, he died in a car accident.
Would Bob still go to Heaven? I don't believe so.

*this story is completely fake

[jehoshaphat]

Sinning is turning away from God.

[Doll]

So can you go out and kill people and be okay? Also I believe there are greater and lesser sins, if you tell a little white lie, is it equal to killing people? I think not.

To whose post where you referring?

[Renae]

I believe that no matter how much you sin, you are still saved, but if you turn away from God, you can lose your salvation. Here's an example:
Ever since he was little, Bob went to church, and when he was 7, he excepted Jesus. But then, as he got older, he stopped going to church and bible study. When he turned 20, one of his friends told him about Buddhism. He liked the idea, and began to worship Budda. Then, 3 years later, he died in a car accident.
Would Bob still go to Heaven? I don't believe so.

*this story is completely fake

Yah, but see in this story Bob was very young. personally I don't think seven year olds are really capable of fully understanding. In this situation, Bob never truly experienced the salvation of Christ because he would have loved Him till the end.

[jehoshaphat]

I believe that no matter how much you sin, you are still saved, but if you turn away from God, you can lose your salvation.

This

[Striped Leopard]

So is it our works that are keeping us saved? Like, we need to work to remain saved, and if we stop doing good works and start doing bad enough works, we are no longer saved by God's grace alone?

If we're saved by grace alone, that means that we are kept saved by grace alone. Our good behavior and not rejecting God don't keep us saved; God keeps us saved.

Furthermore, if you're a saved person, God has given you a new heart that no longer delights in doing evil. If you're delighting in sin and willfully rejecting God, that's just evidence that you never got a new heart.

And what about the verses that talk about the Holy Spirit as the seal of our salvation until the final day of redemption? Is the Holy Spirit just going to up and leave us when we sin enough? Isn't He supposed to help us to fight against our sin? Why would He just leave us to ourselves when He's supposed to continually sanctify us and keep us until we die?

It just doesn't make sense that someone who has had their sins washed away forever--their past, present, and future sins have been totally forgiven--could become "un-forgiven" and guilty before God again. If Jesus took the wrath of God on the cross for them, then how can the wrath of God abide on them again?

[godisawesomeness99]

What I was trying to convay in my earlier post was that I don't think god says after someone was accepted him, Oh, you killed a person, you can't get into heaven. God isn't like that. God always accepts and forgives us

[gabbygirl17]

I believe u can loose it. If u backslide your not saved. U need to come back to Christ.

[Striped Leopard]

@ gabbygirl17: So you keep yourself saved then? And if you happen to mess up and backslide, you make yourself unsaved, and you have to get saved again. So the only way you stay saved is if you're good enough?