Can a Christian Doubt Their Salvation?

[AsperNinja]

The pastor at the church I go to says that they cannot. I am not so sure about that. What do you guys think the Bible says about this?

 

[SaintJoeNow]

The pastor at the church I go to says that they cannot. I am not so sure about that. What do you guys think the Bible says about this?

of course a Christian can doubt their salvation. Sometimes when I am reminded by my own words, thoughts or actions how wicked of a sinner I am at heart, I think there's no way God is going to forgive me. That's when I remember that He loved me so much He gave His own blood to save me when He gave His Son to die in my place to cover my sins with His blood to save me from Hell. The only hope is that I am saved through faith in His blood. I cling to that thought and I know my sins are forgiven and I'm going to heaven. When I doubt that I'm saved, it's sin for me to doubt that what God did was enough to save even a wicked old sinner like me. What He did was enough, nothing I can do can help and there is nothing else He can do to save me. It's done. He did it for me. I'm saved.

I am crucified with Christ, He took my place and I go with him. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. He took my place in death so I can be with Him in His resurrection with my sins paid for by His own blood. He bought me with His blood, He owns me, He is my life, His life is eternal and He gave me eternal life.

Burried with him in the likeness of His death, and raised again in the likeness of His resurrection.

Denying myself, being made conformable to the image of His death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection.

Don't doubt. If you do doubt, remember that what He did is all that could be done to save you and it's enough. If you doubt, that does not mean you are not saved, it only means you are doubting and you need to stop doubting.

 

[Bluelion]

I question my salvation for 30 years, it was hell. Finally I heard what God had been saying all my life."my dear sweet child I love you and gave my life to buy you and you are now my son and heir to my kingdom. I will not lose you, for the price which you were bought was great. You are my beloved child and nothing will change that. Nothing in heaven nor earth nor the powers of hell will ever take you from my love." This is what God is saying to all His children. Take up your faith, be strong in the Lord and the power of His Might.

praying for you.
blu.

 

[AsperNinja]

I appreciate these comments. I have dealt with doubt in the past. Needless to say this sermon on Sunday morning was a tough one for me though I could feel God assuring me that I was saved. All I can do is trust that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins and my faith is what saves me. I know that I have a relationship with God and can tell that I am a new creation in Christ. I won't let another person put doubt into my mind. Why is it that some doubt while others don't? There was a buzzing silence in the congregation this morning during the alter call. I'm kind of thinking that a lot of people were thinking that they have doubted before though that's just my personal opinion. I can't read someone's mind but I'm thinking that a lot of Christians just claim to have never doubted though I know that some really don't.

 

[Bluelion]

I appreciate these comments. I have dealt with doubt in the past. Needless to say this sermon on Sunday morning was a tough one for me though I could feel God assuring me that I was saved. All I can do is trust that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins and my faith is what saves me. I know that I have a relationship with God and can tell that I am a new creation in Christ. I won't let another person put doubt into my mind. Why is it that some doubt while others don't? There was a buzzing silence in the congregation this morning during the alter call. I'm kind of thinking that a lot of people were thinking that they have doubted before though that's just my personal opinion. I can't read someone's mind but I'm thinking that a lot of Christians just claim to have never doubted though I know that some really don't.

Here is another view for you maybe those who don't doubt don't because they are not saved at all. I think it is natural for us to doubt. if you look at the prophets they all doubted. Questions those that stand before you with The word of God. Just because they have a degree or are ordained does not mean they are saved. I am not saying your pastor is not saved, but telling you must know God well enough to know when He is speaking through a person and when a person is from God.

Remember your pastor is not the Head of the Church the Head of the Church is Jesus.

What I am saying is if you put all your trust in your pastor you will be let down. Trust God who is always Faithful and will never Abandon you. Then your trust will be well placed.

 

[AsperNinja]

It seems that it's a common southern baptist belief that Christians cannot doubt their salvation. I hold nothing against my pastor for preaching this message even though I don't agree with it.

 

[dysert]

The pastor at the church I go to says that they cannot. I am not so sure about that. What do you guys think the Bible says about this?

Yes, you can doubt your salvation. If this were not the case, 1 John 5:13 wouldn't have been written. I've been a Christian for decades but there was a period of time when I doubted. It about drove me nuts. I finally had to simply *decide* to believe. Either the Bible was trustworthy, or all bets were off. So I'm betting my life on the Bible, having decided that it is true, and that since I'm trusting in Jesus to save me He will.

 

[JM]

Christians are sinners and can or will doubt their salvation. The London Baptist Confession of 1689 reads:

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]Paragraph 2. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election,4 flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him,5 the oath of God,6 the abiding of his Spirit, and the seed of God within them,7 and the nature of the covenant of grace;8 from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]4 Rom. 8:30, 9:11,16[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]5 Rom. 5:9, 10; John 14:19[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]6 Heb. 6:17,18[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]7 1 John 3:9[/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica][SIZE=-1]8 Jer. 32:40[/SIZE][/FONT]

Yours in the Lord,

jm

 

[JLR1300]

In theory we shouldn't ever doubt, because faith means to trust. However, the reality is that from time to time doubts enter our minds. Why is that? I suppose it is just our sin nature. All we can do when that happens is just to remind ourselves of the promises of Christ and the Gospel.

It is also important to live and walk close to God as much as possible. Not because works earn salvation, but because when we sin our fellowship with God is hindered and it gives Satan an opportunity to accuse us and attack us and confuse our minds and steal our joy and our assurance.

Of course, the only way to draw close to God again, is to confess and forsake sin and remember the promises of forgiveness which God has given to his people. While it is true that the unsaved sinner is justified by faith alone, it is not true that Christians live the Christian life by faith alone. We have to put on the whole armor of God and fight the good fight... not to obtain salvation but to maintain the joy of salvation.

 

[SaintJoeNow]

Yes, you can doubt your salvation. If this were not the case, 1 John 5:13 wouldn't have been written. I've been a Christian for decades but there was a period of time when I doubted. It about drove me nuts. I finally had to simply *decide* to believe. Either the Bible was trustworthy, or all bets were off. So I'm betting my life on the Bible, having decided that it is true, and that since I'm trusting in Jesus to save me He will.

This is the key. You have to decide to believe. If the blood Jesus shed was not enough to pay for your sins for all eternity, nothing ever will be. If and when you have moments or times of doubt, you have once again decide to believe that what God did for you on the cross is good enough to save you and nothing else ever was, and nothing else ever will be.

Romans 3:24-26.....Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

It's through faith in His blood, what He did for us, He gave His life's blood as the payment for our sins and we our debt to God has been covered by His blood. This is the assurance we have, and we have to decide to believe it. When we fall into doubt or unbelief, if we have received Jesus Christ as our Savior, that doubt or unbelief is sin. The more you call that doubt and unbelief "sin" and repent of it and leave it behind by deciding to believe God and take Him at His Word and trust in what He did to save you from Hell, the less that doubt and unbelief will pop up in your thoughts and feelings to torment you with fears that you might really not be saved and might really be on your way to Hell.

We simply have to decide to believe God and take Him at His Word....quoting the above post from dysert: " Either the Bible was trustworthy, or all bets were off. So I'm betting my life on the Bible, having decided that it is true, and that since I'm trusting in Jesus to save me He will".

He not only will save you, He did save you. He will save anybody who will repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why we try to tell others about what God did for them so they can be saved.

 

[SaintJoeNow]

Be ye glad, oh, be ye glad!
Every debt that you ever had
Has been paid up in full
By the blood of the Lamb;
Be ye glad, oh be ye glad!

 

[SaintJoeNow]

I don't believe anybody here is saying your salvation depends on your perseverance in moving toward being saved, or anything like that, but I want to issue this caution because I have heard many "famous" leaders teaching "perseverance" as necessary for salvation, so that if you fail to persevere, the mansion Jesus prepared for you in heaven when you were saved supposedly gets torn down by angelic bulldozers or something to that effect. Then you need to get saved again before a mansion can be prepared in heaven again for you..and hopefully you will be persevering when your time in this world is over so that mansion wont be torn down before you get to see it.

Don't listen to people who say your salvation depends on your perseverance. If the blood of Christ was not enough to save you, nothing ever will be. People who claim their perseverance is proof of their salvation are trying to fool you and fool themselves with a self-deceptive self-righteousness. They may actually be saved, but to be trusting in their own works of "perseverance" to be saved is a mistake .

 

[FaithfulPilgrim]

I have a similar issue. A couple of years ago, I was dabbling with Deism and made an official conversion from Christianity, but my time as a Deist was short lived as I felt guilty and returned to being a Christian.

As I look back, Jesus said that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unpardonable, but it never occurred to me when I became Deist. Deists are unitarian, but I never officially rejected trinitarianism either.

I hope it is not too late.

 

[Leet]

I would say that if someone is not "abiding in the vine," they can and probably should doubt their salvation. But then there are other people who doubt their salvation because of intense scruples and are perhaps still trying to "earn" salvation. Some people doubt they're saved because of mental illness. Learning to rest in God comes easier to some believers than others.

 

[actionsub]

It seems that it's a common southern baptist belief that Christians cannot doubt their salvation. I hold nothing against my pastor for preaching this message even though I don't agree with it.

Many Christians, even Baptists, who claim they don't doubt their salvation will lie about other things as well...at least that's what my Baptist pastor back in the day would say.

I've also heard countless Southern Baptist revival sermons that played on MAKING the people in the pew doubt their salvation in order to get them to walk the aisle.

So not that common.

 

[Bluelion]

I would say that if someone is not "abiding in the vine," they can and probably should doubt their salvation. But then there are other people who doubt their salvation because of intense scruples and are perhaps still trying to "earn" salvation. Some people doubt they're saved because of mental illness. Learning to rest in God comes easier to some believers than others.

you would think that to be true, however, history has shown that those who are not true children of God rarely question whether they are children of God or not. They are arrogant you could say. Look at the Pharisees they did not question there faith at all instead they told God He was wrong. Makes you think huh.

 

[AsperNinja]

I would say that if someone is not "abiding in the vine," they can and probably should doubt their salvation. But then there are other people who doubt their salvation because of intense scruples and are perhaps still trying to "earn" salvation. Some people doubt they're saved because of mental illness. Learning to rest in God comes easier to some believers than others.

Exactlymental illness can confuse your sense of reality.

My problem was that at one point I had backslidden. I was worried that I had apostisized. I believe that God disciplined me, as Hebrews states that he does with His children, which prevented me from falling completely away. I do believe in perseverance of the saints though not as Calvinists believe.

To add, I think that God keeps us or we would all fall away. Perseverance is not a work of man, in my opinion, but a result of God's grace and His faithfulness in keeping His covenant.

I just read Hebrews which gave me some insight into things.

 

[Grafted In]

I spent 35 years as a born again Christian fearing that I was not saved. The reason was because I had a spirit of unforgiveness. Unforgiveness separated me from God's blessings and I believe He allowed me to have doubt to keep me aware that I needed to forgive. I don't mean to say that He held back everything He had for me because He revealed Himself to me a number of times and even as I would look back on these I was in fear most of the time. I've written about this on a number of threads. About a year and a half ago He spoke faith to me through another person and that led to my becoming willing to forgive. This took place over a period of several weeks but He set me totally free from the sin of unforgiveness.
This miracle is not unlike how He set me totally free from cigarettes. He spoke to me through my wife when she told me one day that she did not think I needed cigarettes after I had asked her if she'd seen my pack that I thought I had left on the nightstand. In a split second He delivered me from a 5 pack a day smoking habit. I mean He set me FREE. I suffered no withdrawal, no cravings and no desire whatsoever. It was as though I had never smoked.

Yes, Christians.....tthis Christian doubted his salvation for 35 years.

 

[James Is Back]

For one that suffers from ROCD I tend to agree with Leet that those with mental conditions like ROCD will have doubts about their Salvation because it's called the doubting disease.

It's a very terrible mental condition especially one that is in a walk with God.

 

[Bluelion]

Exactlymental illness can confuse your sense of reality.

My problem was that at one point I had backslidden. I was worried that I had apostisized. I believe that God disciplined me, as Hebrews states that he does with His children, which prevented me from falling completely away. I do believe in perseverance of the saints though not as Calvinists believe.

To add, I think that God keeps us or we would all fall away. Perseverance is not a work of man, in my opinion, but a result of God's grace and His faithfulness in keeping His covenant.

I just read Hebrews which gave me some insight into things.

This is called eternal security for those of us not Calvinist.