Freedom~Sprite said in post #257:
John 10:27-29 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.
John 10:28-29 means that Christians will never spiritually perish so long as they remain in God's hand, and that no one outside of a Christian can ever take him or her out of God's hand. But John 10:28-29 does not mean that Christians are imprisoned in God's hand, that they cannot wrongly employ their free will to jump out of God's hand themselves, such as by committing apostasy, to the ultimate loss of their salvation (Hebrews 6:4-8, John 15:6; 2 Timothy 2:12). Also, John 10:28-29 is not contradicting that God Himself can in the end cast Christians out of His hand, that they can in the end lose their salvation, if they do not continue in His goodness (Romans 11:20-22), such as by wrongly employing their free will to commit a sin without repentance (Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46), or by becoming utterly lazy without repentance (Matthew 25:26,30, John 15:2a, Romans 2:6-8).
Also, John 10:28-29 does not mean that a Christian's will is kept in God's hand in the sense that a Christian cannot wrongly employ his will to the ultimate loss of his salvation. For any such "kept" will would be nothing but a destroyed will. It would make Christians like someone who has been lobotomized, strait-jacketed, drugged, and locked up in a cell. Thank God that He does not do that to Christians, but leaves them as free people with free will. And because He does, they themselves have to choose each and every day for the rest of their lives to deny themselves, to take up their crosses themselves, and to continue to follow Jesus Christ (Luke 9:23) to the end. And the Bible gives no assurance that every Christian will choose to do that (Hebrews 10:26-29, Hebrews 6:4-8, John 15:2a).
Freedom~Sprite said in post #257:
Romans 11:28 Regarding the gospel, they are enemies on your account; but regarding election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs. 29 For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. 30 Just as you who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience...
Romans 11:29 . . . the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
This means that God does not repent from His election of people to initial salvation, that is, their election (their choosing) by God to become Christians at some point during their lifetime (Romans 11:26-28, Acts 13:48b). But Christians still have to diligently do the right things in order to make their calling and election sure, to their ultimate salvation (2 Peter 1:10-11, Romans 2:6-8, Matthew 7:21).
Freedom~Sprite said in post #257:
Ephesians 1:3-5 Praise be to the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-
All non-Christians, whether elect or nonelect, are like people who do not even know that they are blind in both eyes. They can neither see any need to believe in Jesus Christ, nor see any need to repent from their sins. But when God miraculously grants elect people His gift of Christian faith (Ephesians 2:8, John 6:65; 1 Corinthians 3:5b, Romans 12:3b, Hebrews 12:2), and His miraculous gift of repentance (2 Timothy 2:25, Acts 11:18), it is like these people can suddenly see with both eyes.
Repentance and faith in Jesus Christ initially do not involve the will or any works, just as if a blind man who did not even know that he was blind were miraculously given sight by Jesus, both his eyes would miraculously see without his will or his works having to be involved. But miraculously giving a blind man his sight also does not take away his free will. So he can subsequently wrongly employ his free will to blind himself, such as by staring at the sun for too long.
In the same way, once repentance and faith in Jesus Christ are miraculously received by an elect person, he still has the same free will which he had before he got saved. And so he can ultimately lose his salvation if he, sometime subsequent to his initial repentance, wrongly employs his free will to return to doing something like committing a sin without repentance (2 Peter 2:20-22, Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46), or becoming utterly lazy without repentance (Matthew 25:26,30, John 15:2a, Romans 2:6-8), or committing apostasy (Hebrews 6:4-8, John 15:6; 2 Timothy 2:12).
