Ah, but what if one does cease believing? What then?
Hello again Friend of, if someone stops believing, then Biblically, their claim of coming to saving faith in Christ at some point earlier in their lives should be regarded (sadly) as nothing more than that, a "claim".
Perhaps the principle proof that someone is a true believer is found in the fact that they persevere in the faith (albeit, imperfectly) until the end. Those who do not preserve (because they were not preserved in the faith by the Lord ..
e.g. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; Jude 24-25 cf Philippians 1:6; Hebrews 7:25), were ~
never~ saved, were ~
never~ true believers from the get-go, no matter what they may have claimed (and perhaps even believed) at some point in their lives ..
1 John 2:19). They
never knew Him .. e.g.
John 17:3, and He
never knew them ..
Matthew 7:22-23.
Also, it's important to take note that the "
I LOSE NOTHING" from John 6 is the Lord speaking to us from His perspective, not from ours, so unless you believe that He was exaggerating, or that He perhaps did not know what He was saying when He spoke those words, then it seems to me that the only thing left to think is that there truly are both
wheat AND tares in the church, some who truly are
sons of the Kingdom, and others who truly are
sons of the evil one (who were planted in the church by
the devil) and are not saved .. e.g.
Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43. (even though they may honestly believe that they are, as we just saw earlier in the Judgment scene ..
Matthew 7:22-23).
God bless you!
--David
1 John 2
19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.
.