Salvation.....can I let this one pass?

Question

Ive noticed many people saying they cannot lose their salvation. Hogwash! (pardon the phrase.) Are you going to tell me that you can go "get saved" and then go on a -tri-state murder spree for years, die, and then go to heaven? That is ridiculous.

Consider these verses:

Philippians 2:12 "Therefore, my beloved......work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

1 Cor. 9:27 "I pummel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified"

Why would Paul fear being "disqualified" if he could'nt lose his salvation?

The Catholic answer to "Are you saved?" is this:
"As the Bible says, I am already saved (Rom. 8:24, Eph. 2:5–8), but I’m also being saved (1 Cor. 1:8, 2 Cor. 2:15, Phil. 2:12), and I have the hope that I will be saved (Rom. 5:9–10, 1 Cor. 3:12–15). Like the apostle Paul I am working out my salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), with hopeful confidence in the promises of Christ (Rom. 5:2, 2 Tim. 2:11–13)

Source:
http://www.catholic.com/library/Assurance_of_Salvation.asp

Comments are welcome

Answer 1

Of course salvation can be lost, why else do we continue to work on our salvation?

And another thing. . . no one knows if he or she is saved until the moment of death, when they stand before God and HE says so.

***
CJ: How do YOU and your intimate knowledge of the will of God reconcile these, taken right out of the Bible:

1 Cor 9:27 ... after preaching ... I myself disqualified.
1 Cor 10:12 ... thinks that he stands ... lest he fall.
Phil 2:12 ... work out salvation with fear and trembling.
Heb 4:1 ... fear of failing to reach salvation.
1 Jn 5:16-17 ... some sins are mortal, some not.
Rom 11:21-22 ... spare branches, continue or be cut off.
Heb 6:4-8 ... believers can apostasize, be damned.
Heb 10:26-29 ... those sanctified who sin can still be damned.
2 Pet 2:20-21 ... righteous can fall.

Answer 2

I do not believe in "Once Saved, Always Saved."

Of course you can lose your salvation. It's not an automatic free pass. God does put some conditions on it. If you are saved and you go on a murderous spree, God is not going to like that behavior no matter how good of a Christian you have always been. Now, if you repent with your heart and mean it, YES you could regain what you lost. Just because Jesus died for us on the cross it does not mean we can just stop trying. We have to try to live a sovereign life.

Salvation is free, but it is costly to keep it. It is work & sacrifice. God gave it to us freely because his son paid for it. However we must maintain it.

Ezekiel 18:24: But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sins and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live?None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will DIE.'"


2 Timothy 2:11-12 If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us.


There are many examples in the Bible of this. People want to see God as an all loving God. He is loving and we are his children but God can HATE. God can also and does HATE our behavior. However, he will let us repent and he will forgive us. Amen to that!

Answer 3

If you consider mankind as being capable of full fellowship with God on his own, then I can't argue with you at all. If you can opt in, what's to prevent you from opting out. And you can find verses to support that position, & interpret the OSAS verses to your satisfaction. Yup, Philippians says it's all up to you, 1 Corinthians puts it all on our shoulders. If I'm going to successfully argue OSAS though, you must see mankind as totally depraved. You apparently do not, and we're stopped before we can even get started on this issue. And you also seem to follow the Catholic line of reasoning with avoiding Hell through a sufficiently holy life. OK, so you're Catholic. Reasonable theology, all the bases covered, I won't argue there either, you do not see the impossibility of meriting Heaven on your own and again we can't even get started on the issue of total depravity.

But neither will I answer the "shooting spree" question. It will simply fall on deaf ears. Enjoy Mass, we do share many things in common and I celebrate those.

Answer 4

Yea you have to go back to org language and isagogics to understand all that and I haven't the time to explain it.

But.... if Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the entire world and said, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved ..... (and it didn't say unless you sin this way or that way) and you don't believe it, then you are calling Gods word.... wrong.

You cannot add to the gospel and the scriptures you are quoting are not the gospel passages. Please do not take the scriptures out of context.

Fear and trembling..... work out your salvation (be very careful what it is you believe, do not add or subtract from the word of God) Paul taught many that he had to be "walking on eggshells with" believe you me, he had quite an ordeal in his teaching but he never says you would lose your salvation.
Once written in the book of life, always my friend.

Answer 5

I agree. Likewise, I disagree with the notion that one is "saved" in the sense that it is often touted.

Now, I do of course, believe in salvation, but it is not up to us to determine whom is saved or not saved. Only God can do that. This notion goes back to the protestant idea of predestination. The notion that only a select few were saved (protestants, of course).

I think it is possible that a christian may fall away just as much that an unbeliever could convert. It has more to do with a matter of choice, free-will. God does not force himself upon us, we must accept His will, His grace. We must freely choose to act in our own salvation.

Answer 6

The doctrines of several denominations warn us of this same thing.

So does the doctrine of the Churches of Christ, who are not a denomination.

It makes sense. Once saved we find that our names are written in the book of life, but if one falls away and turns to a life of unrepentant sin, they are doomed.

This does, however, make you wonder if those who fall into this cagegor were truly saved in the first place. Were they truly devoted to the Word of God, or were they only playing along, "just in case"?

Answer 7

the answer to the once saved always saved is yes, you can be saved, and do those horrible things and you will still be saved.

Paul writing in the new testiment points out that God will kill you for your sin. that is sometimes missed,but it can happen very suddenly.

your comment on 1 cor 9:27 is talking about making sure you are in Christ. If you are, you belong to him.

get out of line and he will kill you. and you will still be saved.

if you want specific verses, look at the bema judgement seat of Christ, 1cor 3, look at 1 john if you see your brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, the idea in this last one is that he is sinning like the married couple in the opening of the book of acts who the Holy Spirit killed for lying

sorry to burst your bubble,

Answer 8

You twisted all those verses. Not surprising. Catholics are not saved Christians anyway. They have a false gospel of works, and the twisting of God's Word that you put up above.

It is impossible to lose salvation. I am 100% sure that I will be in heaven when I die, because Jesus, who is God, died for my sins on the cross and rose again.

Answer 9

exactly. those people believing in "once saved, always saved" can be very dangerous people because they can always justify what they've done and would go to heaven regardless of injustice they did to their neighors.

Answer 10

This is why I hang out here...to watch Christian sects bash eachother each claiming the other to be deluded and false.

*munches popcorn*