Can a person become a Christian (get "saved"), get "lost", and get saved again?

Question

Can "free will" be turned on and off like a light switch?

Consider this passage of Scripture:

Hebrews 6:4-6 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society



4It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, becauseto their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Answer 1

I believe that once a person exercises saving faith in Jesus Christ, he or she is forever in the family of God. God never kicks anyone our of his forever family. A number of Scripture passages support this view. For example, in 1 Corinthians 12:13 we are told that at the moment of salvation the Holy Spirit places us in the body of Christ. Once we are infused into the body of Christ, we are never excised from the body. In fact, Ephesians 1:12 and 4:30 indicate that at the moment of believing in Jesus Christ for salvation, we are permanently "sealed" by the Holy Spirit. At that point, we are God's everlasting property. That seal guarantees that we'll make it to heaven.
Moreover, we read in John 10:28-30 that it is the Father's purpose to keep us secure despite anything that might happen once we have trusted in Christ. Nothing can snatch us out of His hands. God's plans cannot be thwarted (Isaiah 14:24). Further, Romans 8:29-30 portrays an unbroken chain that spans from the predestination of believers to their glorification in heaven.
Another fact we need to keep in mind is that Christ regularly prays for each Christian (Hewbews 7:25). With Jesus interceding for us, we are sucure. (His prayers are always answered!)
Of course, the fact that a believer is secure in his salvation does not mean he is free to sin. If the Christian sins and remains in that sin, Scripture says that God will discipline him or her just as a father disciplines his children (see Hebrews 12:7-11).
Source(s):
The Complete Book of Bible Answers by Ron Rhodes

Answer 2

Hi Kidd, looking at the context of this passage. The writer of Hebrews is dealing with people growing up in the Lord. He talks about how some of them should be teachers by now. Also the write goes on to say it is "impossible" for for a person who has tasted the heavenly gift, became a partaker of the Holy Spirit, tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the age to come to be renewed again. Now all this stuff the writer is talking about is a person who has matured into a certain level and God and had a very close intimate walk with the Lord. If a person had such a walk with God and he decided to turn away from God, he would lose his soul. Why? Because once a person get so close to the Lord, it takes a huge amount of effort to shut God out and shut out His voice. You would have to work very hard. And what has to be understand is the closer you are to God the narrower the walk is. So, a person who is close to God if He decides to go back to the world it will cost him his life immediately, because he knew better. Of course, this is not in reference to someone who stumbles or back slides, but utterly forsakes the Lord. Compared to a younger Christian who is still trying to get his feet established. 2 Chron 15:2 says,"............If you seek Him, He will be found by you: but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you">

Answer 3

If you take John 15 at face value there are only 2 types of Christians. Those that are clean through the Word and those that are withered and the Father (Husbandman) removes them to be burned. Purged or burned. I hate using the term saved. To me you want to use it in the final sense of the meaning. Jesus told us to pray always that we would be worthy to escape the thing comming upon the earth. Salvation is sozo in greek. Maybe you could get a Strongs' and study the verses and meanings to give a clearer picture of this abused word. Pr. says a righteous man fall 7 times- Lets be conformed to the image of the Son like Rom 8 says!

Answer 4

Wow that is a great Question! God has given us all free will, and being a Christian is NOT easy by any means, it takes ALOT of studying the truth, and discipline of being obedient to God, and his Will. However I have had a long Jorney in my life, and with Christ. I have fallen and turned away from God thinking that he Deserted me, but he never did, Infact he was carrying me the whole time ;) Lets face it, this Flesh is sooooo week and the times that we live in today there is nothing but sin! But you have to rely on your heart to Guide you and once you are saved God is always there with you.

John 3:36
Whoever belives in teh Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the son will not see life, for Gods wrath remains on him.

what if you are "saved" then you reject God or Get "Lost" then you Die 10 min later? then what?

Answer 5

Can the created become greater than the Creator? NOT!!! If the God who created the Universe from nothing and also provided forgivness of Sin, and He DID, who or what gave us the power greater than Christs' work on the Cross to suddenly reject the price Christ paid for our Sins once we freely accepted it??? We were put here as a part of the Angelic Conflict and given Free Will to choose between God or Satan. Satans downfall is his Arrogance thinking he is better than God who created him. When we make the choice to Accept Christ, we are sealed for eternity as heirs with God working in us. (I Corinthians 3:16 / Romans 8: 14-17)

Answer 6

Kidd, We do not have time and space to fully answer this question. The terms,"lost" & "saved" are but moving in and out of levels of awareness. Once one has received shaktipat(baptized in spirit) from a "Christed Saint", they too undergo death to the sense of self separate from God and then having fulfilled the law are no longer subject to it, no longer a "sinner". this transformation (metamorphosis) may take up to three lifetimes."God dwells within you as you". At some point then one experiences the one death appointed unto man and the Atman or soul merges back into the allness of God from whence it came. Love Whistle Britches PS in revelation it states that "NONE" will be lost.

Answer 7

"Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."
Acts 15:10-11
God loves us and shows us enormous amounts of grace even though we don't deserve it. Let's say a person is saved, and then they sin. Do they "lose" their salvation? If so, how then would anyone be able to get to heaven? We would be living in constant fear of going to hell and miss the ways in which God shows us grace.
Being saved is not just a matter of believing: "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder." James 2:19 Neither is it just a matter of doing; "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23 Check out this link for more: http://www.crosswalk.com/whoIsJesus/1522135/
I certainly don't have all the answers, so I hope these links help.
here's another link
http://www.crosswalk.com/553638/

Answer 8

Sincere believers are sharply divided on this question.Some do believe that one can back slide. And be saved over and over again.
Others say that once saved always saved! One can back away from the church and even stop going to church and may engage in activities they once knew in their hearts were sinful but that small still voice tells them they are doing wrong. Most people have a yearning in their hearts for the comfort they had and return to their first beliefs, and return to God. So I am not sure if they are lost but rather they are being disobedient.And they ask the Lord back into their hearts because it works.

Answer 9

Without a doubt we all fall short of the glory of God. And like the prodigal son parable God is always willing and ready to welcome us back home. I believe that people can part from God, but that they can never really lose their salvation. Because once your saved your always saved even if you decide to get lost. I think people are still saved though the things they chose to do are not pleasing to God.

And I dont believe free will can be turned off, its always on. God allows us to do what we want, when we want, how we want (even though there are consequences to those actions).Everything in our life is a choice, our own choice. We can choose freely to follow God today or not. It's as simple as that. We always operate in free will.

Answer 10

hello kidd,
i mean no disrespect, but there is a huge difference between asking jesus to be your savior and " becoming enlightened ".
after years of disciplship and sincerely following jesus's teachings this may happen to some. but professing something by your mouth is far different than, as you have shared, sincerely understanding and knowing the nature and fruits of the spirit.

it is the difference between someone registering for a race and someone who is almost at the finish line

i will add though, if a person were to sincerely ask God into their lives, and begin to try as best they could to follow Jesus's teachings in daily life, and they were to die before they became " enlightened", then they would be saved. yet if they did not try, or were insincere, their words would mean nothing. these are just my thoughts i'm not trying to say what to believe, your question did provoke some good thoughts.