How many times can a person be a "Prodigal Son" ??

Hammster said:

We had a free grace guy here at one time. His whole theology was based on belief, and if you believed at any one time in your life, you were saved. And it was irrelevant whether or not you ever showed fruit. So no, it not really a misrepresentation.

O.B.N.C.

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I am free grace. So i need not to know, what some else stated as were free grace theology, to know what it is.
And the poster i replied to and you also do not understand what free grace believes. You proved that by your comment. Stating the previous poster, was not incorrect in their statements about free grace.

Hammster said:

I guess what we can take from this is that free grace theology isn’t a well-documented theology.

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What do you mean by well documented?

Hammster said:

We had a member on here that for years posted about free grace theology (see above link). With a wave of a hand, taylor just dismissed it. Probably without too much thought, I can link to a dozen sources for Reformed Theology. I can link to a site that has over 800 Puritan works that are free. Where do I go for anything comparable for free grace?

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You want free grace it really is not that complicated, just like God's free gift of Eternal Life.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

But that is why i can see most can not understand it, for it is lacking of, man created requirements, like what most denomination promote.

johnjanuary1984 said:

I'm going to get drunk, smoke weed , gave pre marital sex,,. And God will reward me with eternal life regardless????? Yeah Who!!!! It's party time !!!

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Some would say you never repented in the first place. That you USED the message of the gospel as a license to sin. We're you really saved if that was your plan?

What seems to keep getting missed when it comes to "free grace" or similar. Really what's known as monergism. Is it's about God being 100% in control and and the saved person now in 0% control. Does that give one have a license to sin? Only if God were to actually issue such a license. Once one is sealed by the Holy Spirit, they're stuck with the Holy Spirit being part of them now. Convicting them. "What about MY free will and MY power of autonomy, MY being in control?!". You gave that up when you made a pact with God through Jesus Christ.

That's how monergism works as I understand it.

What about apostates? Have you noticed that they constantly talk about God? That they're constantly wrestling with thier decisions? That they don't seem to have a moment of peace away from God?

I think this passage is a sealer for me on this subject.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factionsand envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. - Galatians 5:16-21 Bible Gateway passage: Galatians 5:16-21 - New International Version

Just a couple of things of note:

1. Note where Paul says the flesh is a war with the spirit and that we are NOT to do whatever we want.

2. All those things he mentions are things if the flesh and the key to this is to LIVE like this. Are we living like this?

3. Then Paul says he has warned them before. Warned who? Why the believers of course. The church. Why is he warning them if nothing is going to happen to them. What did he warn them? That they will NOT inherit the kingdom of God.

It's not a matter of stumbling and falling now and then. We ALL do that. It's a matter of living like that.

johnjanuary1984 said:

Does Jesus sacrifice give people a license to sin ?

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No

johnjanuary1984 said:

So I can get drunk every day, smoke weed everyday, watch inappropriate content everyday, live a promiscuous life , curse and swear every day, take God's name in vain every day, and even worship false gods everyday , and I will STILL end up in heaven when I die, just because I acknowledged Jesus is a Savior????

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Acknowledging Jesus is A Saviour implies that he is one of many; for other people if they want him.
Acknowledging that he is MY Saviour means believing that he loved me so much that he gave his life so that I could be reconciled to God, be forgiven and become his child.

Faced with such amazing, awesome love, why would a person want to deliberately sin and rebel against him?

Hammster said:

No requirements? So you can sin freely after being saved?

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Why is it so hard to understand, the only condition God has given to receive His free gift of Eternal Life.

Here is a person (some 2000 years ago) asking the same question you are asking and that answer has not changed.
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

d taylor said:

Why is it so hard to understand, the only condition God has given to receive His free gift of Eternal Life.

Here is a person (some 2000 years ago) asking the same question you are asking and that answer has not changed.
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

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I think you misunderstand the question. Jesus taught and so do the apostles that repentance and belief are all that is required to receive salvation. It is the gift of God not of works lest anyone would boast. We cannot earn salvation. In that you are correct.

But we can choose to live by the flesh even though we have the spirit. Paul talks about this at great length in Romans. That we have the flesh and the spirit in us at war. But the good news is we are no longer a slave to the flesh. We do not have to walk in the flesh. Everyday and every minute we have a choice that the unbeliever does not. But we can by our own choices to live after the flesh and not the spirit we have received. So no we cannot wilfully engage in walking after the flesh once we have received the spirit because we bring ourselves into enslavement again into sin and the flesh.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdhaeeds of the body, you will live.For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. - Romans 8:1-14 Bible Gateway passage: Romans 8:1-14 - New International Version

So we have an obligation to live after the spirit. Note that it is OUR OBLIGATION. It's not automatic. If you live after the flesh you will die. But those who are led by the spirit are the children of God. So our obligation is to live after the spirit and not after the flesh. This all happens AFTER belief and not before. Because before belief it is impossible to live after the spirit.

rjs330 said:

I think you misunderstand the question. Jesus taught and so do the apostles that repentance and belief are all that is required to receive salvation. It is the gift of God not of works lest anyone would boast. We cannot earn salvation. In that you are correct.

But we can choose to live by the flesh even though we have the spirit. Paul talks about this at great length in Romans. That we have the flesh and the spirit in us at war. But the good news is we are no longer a slave to the flesh. We do not have to walk in the flesh. Everyday and every minute we have a choice that the unbeliever does not. But we can by our own choices to live after the flesh and not the spirit we have received. So no we cannot wilfully engage in walking after the flesh once we have received the spirit because we bring ourselves into enslavement again into sin and the flesh.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdhaeeds of the body, you will live.For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. - Romans 8:1-14 Bible Gateway passage: Romans 8:1-14 - New International Version

So we have an obligation to live after the spirit. Note that it is OUR OBLIGATION. It's not automatic. If you live after the flesh you will die. But those who are led by the spirit are the children of God. So our obligation is to live after the spirit and not after the flesh. This all happens AFTER belief and not before. Because before belief it is impossible to live after the spirit.

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I did not misunderstand the question (so you can sin freely after being saved), i just did not answer to suit a reformed mind set. Which i am not worried about.

Repentance is not a condition by God to receive His free gift of Eternal Life.

Todays christians should just tear out The Gospel of John from their Bibles. No one believes what is written and taught in this book.

Hammster said:

You did misunderstand, then. According to a free grace proponent, you don’t have to live a life of holiness or repentance after you believe. Believing at some point in your life is all that matters. You’ve not shown that this isn’t the case.

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I posted two verses from John That fully state what free grace believes. Do you not understand these verses, if you did you would have not had to ask your sin question.

What more is there to say, free grace believes once a person believes in The Messiah for God's free gift of Eternal Life. Like the verse states from John they cross over from death to life.

You want to further discuss this, then post a verse stating a believer can cross back over from life to death because of sin.

Hammster said:

We had a member on here that for years posted about free grace theology (see above link). With a wave of a hand, taylor just dismissed it. Probably without too much thought, I can link to a dozen sources for Reformed Theology. I can link to a site that has over 800 Puritan works that are free. Where do I go for anything comparable for free grace?

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There's several well known theologians who are free grace proponents and there are numerous books written by them. Several websites. Numerous video lectures and debates. When I started exploring it, I found an abundance of good material on hand. I don't necessarily totally agree with it, but I understand it and it has good backing. Along the way though I decided it's all just simply Monergism vs Synergism. Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy have always taught Synergism. These days Protestant version of Synergism is often called Lordship Salvation.

Here's a good short explanation of Free Grace vs Lordship Salvation by Dr. Robert Wilken PhD,


In this short video Wilkin answers the question of "Will God Save People Who Live a Sinful Life?"

Hammster said:

No requirements?

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The requirement is believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he paid the penalty for their sins by dying on the cross, and that he rose from the dead.

Hammster said:

So you can sin freely after being saved?

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Yes.

All sins past, present, and future have been forgiven.

(According to Free Grace theology as I understand it.)