Can a Christian lose their salvation

C Johnson

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I searched this online (bad idea for someone like me who constantly overthinks) and come to the conclusion im not as saved as i thought I was. A lot of my sins i haven't disclosed, meaning I've hid behind the cover of Gods grace. I sinned? Ask forgiveness. Sinned against or harmed someone? Ask forgiveness. Stole, lied or cheated (even in my current relationship) ask forgiveness. Some sins such as cursing, watching inappropriate content, talking behind peoples backs I've done without even thinking.

That said, I read an article today and it totally messed up my day because if salvation is that easy to lose, why do it? Is it as easy as asking for forgiveness of the sins mentioned above? Some of which i still struggle with? I don't know. Really frustrated today bouncing these thoughts around in my head.
 

RaymondG

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No, it is not possible to lose salvation. But it is very possible to believe you have salvation when you do not..... Not all who cry Lord Lord, will enter in. There are but a few who will.....
 
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Southernscotty

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Friend you will not lose your salvation, however you can lose many of God's wonderful blessings and rewards by staying and/or continuing in sin. Repent and turn away today by confessing your sins and asking Jesus to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.
 
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Dave-W

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Yes it is possible.
Just very difficult.
however you can lose many of God's wonderful blessings and rewards by staying and/or continuing in sin. Repent and turn away today by confessing your sins and asking Jesus to cleanse you of all unrighteousness.
This I completely agree with.
 
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crossnote

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Philippians 1:6 NKJV
[6] being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

Romans 5:8-9 NKJV
[8] But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.
 
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Richard T

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You will find Christians on both sides of this. The devil loves to have someone doubt too. Some will put you in fear and that can work to an extent but it can also drive you away from God especially if there is no grace mixed in that message. In my life, the most useful message to combat sin is to be taught the grace of God, that concentrating on what He has already done and your position in Christ, will help free up your thinking and give you victory. By all means I encourage you to quit testing the patience of God, but you can't stop sinning on your own, and I am doubtful that fear of losing your salvation will get you over to walking in the spirit.
 
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Gregory Thompson

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I searched this online (bad idea for someone like me who constantly overthinks) and come to the conclusion im not as saved as i thought I was. A lot of my sins i haven't disclosed, meaning I've hid behind the cover of Gods grace. I sinned? Ask forgiveness. Sinned against or harmed someone? Ask forgiveness. Stole, lied or cheated (even in my current relationship) ask forgiveness. Some sins such as cursing, watching inappropriate content, talking behind peoples backs I've done without even thinking.

That said, I read an article today and it totally messed up my day because if salvation is that easy to lose, why do it? Is it as easy as asking for forgiveness of the sins mentioned above? Some of which i still struggle with? I don't know. Really frustrated today bouncing these thoughts around in my head.
For this question, I live in this question in response: Did Jesus Christ die for nothing?
 
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RaymondG

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I think the devil would also have us be confident in sin.....knowing that we have the grace to cover it.

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?"

There are many who will say yes we can continuing in sin and have grace cover it.

But Im not sure that this is what is being relayed in scripture...
 
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rockytopva

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4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. - Hebrews 6

13 Furthermore the Lord spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven: and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. - Deuteronomy 9

19 And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
20 The Lord will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.- Deuteronomy 29

The secret to not having one name blotted out of the book of life....

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. - Revelation 3:9
 
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com7fy8

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The Bible does say to examine ourselves about if we are in the faith. I think this can mean there are people who have done what did not really get them saved.

To me, Hebrews 12:4-14 guarantees how our Heavenly Father succeeds in correcting whoever is really His child.

So, make sure you have trusted in Jesus. Have you come to personally know and trust Jesus? In His love, we have this. And His love does not have us only using and betraying people;
Ask forgiveness. Stole, lied or cheated (even in my current relationship) ask forgiveness.
cheating > betraying > betraying is not an act of love

Please pray for God to change you to appreciate being a person who can be trusted because of how you have become a loving person. Being able to truly love should be motivating enough for you.

And using women in inappropriate content is not loving them. We need to personally care for and pray with hope for any person, at all. Jesus died on the cross with hope for any evil person, at all; so if you are a child of God, this can help you to be motivated to get more real in His love with hope not only for yourself but for any person, at all > love "hopes all things" (in 1 Corinthians 13:7).

We all need this, by the way, to grow more in this. So, there is no need for you to guilt-trip yourself, but care for us, too, in your prayer.

There are many who will say yes we can continuing in sin and have grace cover it.

But Im not sure that this is what is being relayed in scripture...
Like I offer > scripture says our Father corrects His children > Hebrews 12:4-14. Plus, we all are "called in one body" (Colossians 3:15) to be personally ruled by God in His own peace. This is how sharing our Father is with us who are His children.

So, do not settle for less. And as God has mercy on you to change you out of anti-love things, you now have generous mercy with hope for any and all others, since God has proven Himself in you.
 
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rockytopva

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I worked with three ladies in my factory making samples. These ladies were all Baptist, cheerful, decent, and I would not doubt if they were to tell me they were eternally saved, especially as I don't see it in their character. And this was also true of the old people in the Baptist church I was brought up in.

And then my generation came along.

In the Baptist church I was brought up in we had a large youth group and all the adults thought of them as angels and good saved Christians. That was until someone busted them in one of their dope smoking parties. I also met a lady who is in her fifties as well as I. This lady was Baptist, single, never married, and I thought we were the perfect fit... But the more that woman talked... Come to find out that she sees nothing wrong with the party or sex scene. I finally, after enduring much talk on carnality, said to her, "You know I don't believe you can do those things and get to heaven." Almost immediately she replies, "Are you trying to threaten my salvation?"

Of all the young people I know growing up not a one of them shows any fruit of Christianity. The matters of eternal significance are the furthest thing from their carnal mind. I believe that the Lord also takes issues with this...

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. - Revelation 3:5

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. - Mark 13:13

This is my main gripe against Calvinism, and that is it gives people a false sense of eternal security. This is a race to be run and not a destination at some point of doctrinal sense.
 
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Richard T

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If you want o get into the fearful stuff this is where I think the line crosses for one that is truly saved. It all has to do with the sin unto death.
1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (KJV)
1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.
2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,
4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Rather than lose your salvation, God may take you early if one continues in gross sin. You may have to be warned publicly and kicked out of the church too. I am not trivializing sin, but this sin warranted extraordinary attention and did not result in loss of salvation. The sin unto death is described in

1 John 5:16 (KJV)

16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

Notice it is talking about a brother (Christian), so how does one know when the person us under the sin unto death? I have heard of a few ministers that went to pray and God told them no but this is highly uncommon and besides it would seem that one under the sin unto death would still be saved as the man in I Cor. by the way, most think the man in I Cor repented and was restored in II Cor 2:7
 
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Albion

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I searched this online (bad idea for someone like me who constantly overthinks) and come to the conclusion im not as saved as i thought I was. A lot of my sins i haven't disclosed, meaning I've hid behind the cover of Gods grace. I sinned? Ask forgiveness. Sinned against or harmed someone? Ask forgiveness. Stole, lied or cheated (even in my current relationship) ask forgiveness. Some sins such as cursing, watching inappropriate content, talking behind peoples backs I've done without even thinking. .
Do you perchance belong to one of those churches that thinks salvation is a process by which we constantly make acts of formal, itemized, repentance from certain sins, then are good to go until we sin again, but then must seek forgiveness for the next set of sins, all the while hoping that at the moment of death we will be in the "just repented" category rather than the "just sinned an before seeking absolution" category? That's what the post sounds like, and it would explain the reason for the consternation.
 
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Kenny'sID

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Of course we can lose salvation.

James 5:19-20 New International Version (NIV)
19 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins.

The whole point of the parable of the Prodigal Son was he left his father, went off into sin, repented and came back, and how happy his father was to accept him back.

The lost Sheep parable...lost means lost.

The Parable of the sower:

MATTHEW 13:18-23

"JESUS said to his disciples: 18“Hear then the parable of the sower. 19The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom without understanding it, and the Evil One comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. 20The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. 21But he has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away."

"Falls away" from what he "received"..salvation

Happens all the time, people chose sin over salvation, and the false doctrine of not being able to lose salvation alows the belever to do just that.

All sin is forgivable, but when we live it as a normal part of our lives, what is referred to as wilful sin, that's where the problem is. If it sin of temptation or out of ignorance, just ask forgiveness and move on, but the accepted as the norm, unrepentant sin as you seem to be saying to have in your life can and will cost us our salvation if we don/t repent.
 
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Jonaitis

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It is a terrible belief among Christians that God can turn his back in your Christian walk and say good-bye. Once you become God's children, you're treated as as one. If you stray, he will discipline and restore you "in the paths of righteousness" for his name's sake. He does not utterly forsake his children, what a wicked doctrine men teach that he does.

As Raymond said, there are people who think they are saved when they are not, and that phony profession eventually shows. But no child of God becomes no longer a child, what kind of parent and what sort of adoption is this that does? Christ doesn't cover and then draw back his blood.
 
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JohnB445

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It is a terrible belief among Christians that God can turn his back in your Christian walk and say good-bye. Once you become God's children, you're treated as as one. If you stray, he will discipline and restore you "in the paths of righteousness" for his name's sake. He does not utterly forsake his children, what a wicked doctrine men teach that he does.

As Raymond said, there are people who think they are saved when they are not, and that phony profession eventually shows. But no child of God becomes no longer a child, what kind of parent and what sort of adoption is this that does? Christ doesn't cover and then draw back his blood.

There is a claim out there that if you get saved, then later on deceived, you've lost your salvation.

I apostatized the very week I got saved, and I thought I was joining a Church.
 
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eleos1954

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I searched this online (bad idea for someone like me who constantly overthinks) and come to the conclusion im not as saved as i thought I was. A lot of my sins i haven't disclosed, meaning I've hid behind the cover of Gods grace. I sinned? Ask forgiveness. Sinned against or harmed someone? Ask forgiveness. Stole, lied or cheated (even in my current relationship) ask forgiveness. Some sins such as cursing, watching inappropriate content, talking behind peoples backs I've done without even thinking.

That said, I read an article today and it totally messed up my day because if salvation is that easy to lose, why do it? Is it as easy as asking for forgiveness of the sins mentioned above? Some of which i still struggle with? I don't know. Really frustrated today bouncing these thoughts around in my head.

If you have asked for forgiveness ... you have received forgiveness ... and He is quick to forgive.

1 John 1:9
King James Bible
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Pray and keep praying for His Holy Spirit to help you overcome the sins you are struggling with. "to cleanse you". This don't necessarily happen quickly. Keep asking for help. You are still going to mess up here and there throughout your lifetime ... and He understands this.

You have not lost your salvation .... you are struggling with sin .... we ALL have our struggles with sin throughout our lifetime here on earth.

1 John 1:8

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

Paul struggled with sin .... we all do. (go visit Romans Chapter 7)

Romans 7
New Living Translation
15 I don't really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don't do it. Instead, I do what I hate.

Romans 7

8If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. 9But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Keep asking .... he will do His work (cleansing process) in you and He WILL accomplish His work.

Philippians 1

New Living Translation
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

May the Lord help you to overcome and give you peace in Him knowing your salvation is secure. Amen

God Bless.
 
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