Once Saved Always Saved: Fact or Fiction?

[The Pondering Mind]

I grew up in a United Reformed church, and I the foundation of what I believe rests in Calvinism.

I currently attend a Baptist church, where a portion of the church is Armenian, and another portion is

 

[gigman7]

Can you be "unborn again"?

Also, on the day you were saved, did God know everything you would not do right in the future, every sin you would commit later, and all the days you were not showing your "faith by your works" after you were saved THAT DAY?
Did God not know all about your future GOOD WORKS and future BAD BEHAVIOR the day he saved you?
Did he save you >anyway<, KNOWING you, knowing what you would not do, as well as what you would do, later?
Yet he saved you anyway.........knowing....

Study all that for a while.

VERY well put!

 

[prayingforpentecost]

The once saved always saved doctrine is a false doctrine that is not biblically sound

Now to clarify my statement I believe that you can be saved and stay saved but it's by your choice God WILL NOT make anyone go to heaven he is a perfect gentleman and will not force his will upon anyone

There is some Calvinist that say that if you have been saved God will make you go to heaven even if he (God) has to drag you by the hair of your head now does that really sound like the God we read about in the Bible ? I think not

 

[Admiral_Kang]

If your salvation is based in any way on the works of the flesh - good or bad - then Christ did not need to die. It's as simple as that.

Obviously, then, I believe that once saved, is always saved.

It simply must be.

If our salvation depends *in any way* on us; on our flesh – and in that I include behaviour, belief, anything we can *do* or *think* that will somehow negate our salvation – then what right do we have to rejoice in our salvation?

Because if there is any way we can lose our salvation by something we do or think, then it’s a shaky salvation indeed. And we would have no cause to rejoice in such a salvation.

But, praise God, its *He* who is in charge of your salvation! From the moment you accepted Him, it became His responsibility to look after your interests in the salvation stakes.

It’s up to Him to transform you, up to Him to lead you; all you need to do is to follow and obey. The trips and falls you suffer on the way will never, can never, make you lose your salvation. Would you send your toddler son off to be punished for stumbling as he learns to walk? I think not….how much more, then, will Father God be gracious and patient with His children?

“Amazing love, immense and free | For O, my God, it found out me!” – Charles Wesley

 

[Ronnie Tanner]

Hi HannahElizaW,

Below is a paper provided by the Lord which will answer your questions regarding "Once Saved, Always Saved".

Read: Once Saved Always Saved?

 

[gigman7]

The once saved always saved doctrine is a false doctrine that is not biblically sound

Now to clarify my statement I believe that you can be saved and stay saved but it's by your choice God WILL NOT make anyone go to heaven he is a perfect gentleman and will not force his will upon anyone

There is some Calvinist that say that if you have been saved God will make you go to heaven even if he (God) has to drag you by the hair of your head now does that really sound like the God we read about in the Bible ? I think not

If you decide you "do not want to go to heaven" then you were not saved to begin with.

 

[JLB777]

"Then how can you do anything to lose it?"

Stop believing is how to lose your salvation.

Jesus taught us the truth -

12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.


...believe and be saved.

Believe = Saved

...believe for a while

Believe for a while = saved for awhile.


JLB

 

[gigman7]

Hi HannahElizaW,

Below is a paper provided by the Lord which will answer your questions regarding "Once Saved, Always Saved".

Read: Once Saved Always Saved?

The person who wrote this clearly does not know what they are talking about.

 

[xxwunderkindxx]

What about Hebrews 10:26-31
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge his people." It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

If you believe Paul wrote Hebrews, notice how he includes himself in the warning " if "we" go on sinning"

Hebrews 6:4-6New International Version (NIV)
4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Also Peter speaks of the dog that returns to it's vomit. It would have been better for that person to not have known the way than to forsake the holy commandment given to him. You also have passages which talk about how people in the church where trying to bring in a false doctrine of grace as a license to sin. I've been struggling with these passages for the past 3 months. Anybody who is in sin and knows it, REPENT, and ask God Jehovah to forgive, make your paths strait, and keep you in His hand. It's not worth the terror of believing you lost your salvation. True saving faith as opposed to intellectual faith, is going to make you want to walk in obedience. Also, the scripture where Paul warns believers to work out their salvation in trembling and fear, he talks about the branches being removed from the vine for not producing fruit. I pray every day it's not too late to repent for myself. Don't chance sin, sin is nothing more than an illusion. NOTHING in this life matters but a relationship with God through Christ!

I'm revealing my selfishness when I say the illusion of sin isn't worth the thought that you could have lost your salvation. Take the time to think about the good that God does in everything, the sacrifice Christ made. Also take the time to fear what the Lord can and will do to those who disobey Him. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I've said that phrase I don't know how many times but have never truly lived it. Everything in this world, the music, TV, material possessions, hobbies, the list goes on. Everything in our culture, the pride of life, is going to try to distract you from seeking God the way he demands and deserves to be seeked. Question everything you watch, listen to, purchase, read, the company you keep and ask if any of it brings glory to God. This life is over too quickly, and how we live effects eternity.

 

[gigman7]

Hi HannahElizaW,

Below is a paper provided by the Lord which will answer your questions regarding "Once Saved, Always Saved".

Read: Once Saved Always Saved?

The person who wrote this clearly does not know what they are talking about.

 

[Admiral_Kang]

Hi HannahElizaW,

Below is a paper provided by the Lord which will answer your questions regarding "Once Saved, Always Saved".

Read: Once Saved Always Saved?

It's a shame the Lord can't spell or use correct grammar, otherwise we might have listened a bit better. After three terrific gaffes, I just stopped reading.

Credibility fail. Big time.

 

[Crowns&Laurels]

The most traditional brand of OSAS is the least popular one: That if you fail to persevere, you were never saved to begin with. Therefore, the once saved, always saved are exactly that. But needless to say, it's not so liberating as the more popular version which basically states that once one believes in Christ even for a vestige of their life or is baptized is saved eternally.

 

[jimbohank]

Anytime anyone asks this question or says that you can lose your salvation, I ask them what did you do to earn your salvation? Of coarse any true Christian will say they did nothing to earn it. So, I ask, "Then how can you do anything to lose it?"

If we could lose our salvation, we would all go to hell since we sin almost every moment of every day. And that's assuming that you believe that all sins are the same, which I believe they are.

Actually, they did do something, they chose to accept the free gift of salvation. So if we can choose to accept it can we then choose to deny it as well? Does one supersede another? Ultimately it comes down to a person's heart and their relationship with Him. To assume all who go to church are saved would deny scripture, especially since the church is not a building or a pastor or a tithing or offering but our own heart. Once the Vail was torn, Christ became the temple and Christ in us becomes the temple when we sincerely lay down our life, pick up our cross and follow Him. Of course, this doesn't happen over night but may take a life time. The true blessing, though, comes in the journey. I like what you said above, that we sin every moment and that God sees all sin the same. We all fall short of His glory, thus why a temple was needed for Him to be with us. That changed once He walked with us as a man through Yashuah, Jesus Christ. He showed and explained how we should walk in righteousness, though we could never do it perfectly. I thank Him every day that He did it for me so I don't have to even though I do my best to try and will always fail.

 

[gigman7]

Stop believing is how to lose your salvation.

Jesus taught us the truth -

12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.


...believe and be saved.

Believe = Saved

...believe for a while

Believe for a while = saved for awhile.


JLB

Salvation is more than just believing. I got saved because I believed, but now that I have been saved, I KNOW I am saved. If I believe I will have children when I get married, then get married and have children, it doesn't matter if I stop believing that I had them or not, I still have children.

 

[JLB777]

It is Fact, because if you would turn away from God and reject him, You never knew him. the Bible is not saying you can lose your salvation, because if you abandoned God, you were never saved to begin with.

No scripture!

 

[JLB777]

If you decide you "do not want to go to heaven" then you were not saved to begin with.

No scripture!

 

[gigman7]

Actually, they did do something, they chose to accept the free gift of salvation. So if we can choose to accept it can we then choose to deny it as well? Does one supersede another? Ultimately it comes down to a person's heart and their relationship with Him. To assume all who go to church are saved would deny scripture, especially since the church is not a building or a pastor or a tithing or offering but our own heart. Once the Vail was torn, Christ became the temple and Christ in us becomes the temple when we sincerely lay down our life, pick up our cross and follow Him. Of course, this doesn't happen over night but may take a life time. The true blessing, though, comes in the journey. I like what you said above, that we sin every moment and that God sees all sin the same. We all fall short of His glory, thus why a temple was needed for Him to be with us. That changed once He walked with us as a man through Yashuah, Jesus Christ. He showed and explained how we should walk in righteousness, though we could never do it perfectly. I thank Him every day that He did it for me so I don't have to even though I do my best to try and will always fail.

Then you were never saved to start with. If you were truly "saved", you will not decide later to not be saved. You will always have to experience of being saved and the promise from God that he is with you always.

Also, no, they did not do anything to earn the salvation.

 

[JLB777]

Salvation is more than just believing. I got saved because I believed, but now that I have been saved, I KNOW I am saved. If I believe I will have children when I get married, then get married and have children, it doesn't matter if I stop believing that I had them or not, I still have children.

So you disagree with Jesus?

Maybe believe to Jesus means more than what believe means today.

Believe means commit, trust, obey.

Unbelief is disobedience.

Read what Jesus said... lest they should believe and be saved.


JLB

 

[JLB777]

Then you were never saved to start with. If you were truly "saved", you will not decide later to not be saved. You will always have to experience of being saved and the promise from God that he is with you always.

No scripture, only man's opinion.


JLB

 

[HatGuy]

I've found two ways that have helped me (at least start) to make sense of this conversation.

1. What do you mean by "salvation"?

The bible doesn't use "salvation" or "saved" very technically, so we can often be guilty of reading a very technical view into a scripture where it can mean something else. This is typically where the conversation breaks down. Arminians tend to view "salvation" as including sanctifications, whereas Calvinists tend to view it as only referring to justification. Catholics do speak of "initial" justification and then being "justified" in the same sense as Protestants speak of sanctification.

So here is where I think there may be an answer. You can't lose your salvation if you are referring to initial justification, but you can lose your salvation if you are referring to your sanctification (or as Catholics might say, final justification.) Once justified, always justified. Once sanctified, not always sanctified. This leads me to...

(2) Scriptures that talk of losing something are referring to a loss of "inheritance" - something more God wants to give us over and above initial justification. This inheritance includes your sanctification, ie. Living a holy life and enjoying your union with Christ, and having a fuller union with Christ. You can lose the close union with Christ that God wants to give you. You can also lose your ministry and all the rewards of God. You lose your FULL salvation but cannot lose your initial salvation/justification.

This view honestly makes sense of all the warnings in scripture. Hebrews 6, for example, is in the context of inheritance (the whole book is - it's about being an heir with Christ).