Raised Church of Christ, married a Southern Baptist.?

Question

I find it difficult to accept the "once saved always saved" teachings of Southern Baptist. My husband is Baptist and has this amazing peace about his life and death for that matter. I want it too but....I guess I can't let go of my Church of Christ upbringings.

Any thoughts?

Answer 1

How long is God's promise of EVERLASTING life?

Do a Bible study on the faithfulness of God.....PRAY beforehand that He shows you He can and will always be TRUE to His WORD!!

God Bless you!

EDIT:

Bear in mind that the Bible tells us it is IMPOSSIBLE for God to lie....(Titus 1:2),

Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:

18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: (Hebrews 6:17-18)

Once you are saved, the devil knows he can't get your soul, but he can render you virtually USELESS for God, if he can keep you in a state of doubt about trusting God's Word...consider his first attack on the Word in the garden of Eden... "And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,..........?" (Genesis 3:1)

Answer 2

"Once saved, always saved" is not a true doctrine. I guess there is comfort in thinking you have nothing to worry about, and that is why that doctrine is so popular.

The danger of this doctrine is that people do not feel secure because they are "walking in the light", but they may feel secure even if they are not.

The Bible says, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

If you walk in the light, you have fellowship and cleansing, but what if you don't walk in the light?

The word "if: implies there is another option. If you stop walking in the light, you step out of fellowship with other believers and you step away from the cleansing blood.

Our comfort, therefore, comes from knowing where we are walking.

Also, John 5:13 says, "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God."

We know we are saved by these things written.

So we know we are saved, and we have the comfort and assurance of that knowledge, by what is written in the scriptures and by knowing if we are walking in the light of those things written. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves."

When you have done that, you can "know that you have eternal life" and you can have the comfort in that knowledge.

"Once saved, always saved" may offer false hope because it is not based on knowing you are saved by an examination of your life in light of the scriptures.

I am a member of the Church of Christ. You do not have to cling to a teaching such as "once saved..." to have the comfort you desire. True hope can be found in the sound doctrine in God's word!

Answer 3

Every person alive has his/her own 'thoughts' on things like 'sin and redemption' and yours are not 'the same' as your husbands, but you 'appreciate' the 'general attitude' that his 'religious beliefs' give him in his 'daily life.' I think that you should 'study' not just the 'beliefs of Southern Baptists' but of as many 'religions' as you can, including some 'non-Christian' ones, and use that 'study' to come up with your own 'good beliefs' that can give you a 'similar' 'good daily life' as your husband. The MORE you study religion, the more you'll learn that it's not the 'religion' that counts as much as 'what you do with what you are taught' ...

Answer 4

That is one that Baptist theology can't answer. Paul makes it clear in Galatians 5:4 that it IS POSSIBLE to "fall from grace."

Gal 5:4 Some of you are trying to be made right with God by obeying the law. You have been separated from Christ. You have fallen away from God’s grace.

Christ made it clear that faith ALONE was NOT SUFFICIENT:

Matthew 7:21-23 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do what my Father in heaven wants will enter. 22 “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord! Lord! Didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we drive out demons in your name? Didn’t we do many miracles in your name?’ 23 Then I will tell them clearly, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who do evil!’

... Clearly the passage is addressing BELIEVERS who were LOST. It is not based in "works" but it IS based in obedience. This is very clear from the teaching of Christ.

Please feel free to contact me directly and I'll try and help both you and your husband better understand the scriptures.

Answer 5

that is why i am spiritual but not religious it divides Gods people when there is no debate about the word of God,we are saved by grace but we must keep fellowship with God or there will be a barrier that will cause us to backslide i understand what your husband is saying but to lose fellowship with God would cause us to no longer be saved losing the intimacy that we must have with Him i hoped that helped some

Answer 6

If you believe in Jesus Christ, God the Son, as your Lord and Saviour, then you are forever saved, so it really would not matter if you believe you lose your salvation, except it could give you trouble in the future.

Consider the logic of this: If you can lose your salvation, then surely you will, for all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and salvation is by grace through faith and not by works. In other words, there is nothing that you can do to earn heaven. So if you become a Christian, you become one not by what you do, but by believing in Jesus Christ as God's Son. God saves you, you don't save you.

Consider God's Word...

He will never leave us, we shall not be moved:
Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Ps 16:8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Never plucked from God:
Joh 10:28-29 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

We can KNOW that we have eternal life:
1Jo 5:13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
1Jo 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

Once we are saved, we are sealed by God Himself. From then on, our salvation is not up to us (lest we all should perish), it is up to God. He purchased us, we are His. God is our earnest (part of a legal contract in which something is given as a promise of the remainder):
2Cor 5:5-8 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
2Cor 1:21-22 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
Eph 1:13-14 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

I know that because of the logic of "if you can lose your salvation, you will" that many people who believe you can lose your salvation question if they are saved. They have great difficulties figuring out if they are saved currently, or if they can even be saved. This can cause a great deal of worry, anxiety, stress, and worse.

It is much easier to just believe God. Many people do not like to be presented with the "God" or "not God" choice. So they try to circumnavigate around it by works and religion, anything but by going to God Himself. These people are very happy in the "you can lose you salvation" camp since they are never saved in the first place because they do not wish to commit. In other words, they do not want to put their faith and trust in God, and make God their God, they are too frightened or too uncomfortable. It is too great of a step for them.

Sometimes they can manage to believe God enough to become saved, but not enough to fully put their trust in Him and allow Him to truly have their life.

Perhaps this is why you cannot let go of you upbringings, you want your religion because you are more comfortable with it than with God. I suggest letting go of your upbringings just a little, and trusting God a little bit more, and see what happens. Maybe it just takes time. God is there for you and He is on your side, even cheering you on to Him. The choice is up to you.