There is so much erroneous and unscriptural doctrine in this thread, only
@ViaCrucis seems to have a grasp on this topic, which is a shame, because in the past when debates on OSAS have occurred, we have seen a much more vigorous response from traditional Christians who base their faith on the Bible and the deposit of faith handed down from the Apostles.
So, contrary to those who have cited St. Paul the Apostle as the basis for OSAS, that is in fact eisegesis, because the same Apostle warned repeatedly about the dangers of falling away:
1 Corinthians 9:27 (RSV)
: “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
1 Corinthians 10:12: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”
Galatians 5:1: “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand fast, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
Galatians 5:4: “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”
Philippians 3:8-14: “Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
1 Timothy 4:1: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.”
The only actual doctrinal question is whether or not the Protestant concept of Conditional Security is valid. This idea we see in Luther, Melancthon, and Wesley. I can’t answer that question, but I also don’t think it to be particularly important, since the effect of Conditional Security and belief in the possibility of Apostasy, is the same.
Since the ways of God are inscrutable, and His mercy is arbitrary, for our Lord declares “I will have mercy on who I will have mercy,” I think it is always presumptuous for us to assume our own salvation.
Indeed, the early church did not, and this is why Prayer for the Dead is endorsed by the early church fathers, the Book of Tobit, which is accepted by several traditional Protestant churches as canonical and is read in the church, for example, in the Anglican tradition, and CS Lewis would all encourage us to do what our Eastern Orthodox brethren such as
@HTacianas ,
@prodromos and
@GreekOrthodox do, as well as our Oriental Orthodox brethren such as
@dzheremi @Pavel Mosko and others, and our Assyrian brethren, and our high church Anglican brethren, and our Roman Catholic brethren (who contrary to popular belief, profess correct doctrine in almost all cases; I disagree with them only insofar as I believe that all bishops should be equal, that in the antiquity the Bishop of Rome is clearly
Primus Inter Pares, and not
Primus Sine Paribus, and the reason for objecting to Papal Supremacy is the damage reckless Popes have done in the past, and a particularly reckless Pope is doing at present, but I digress. The important thing is that intercessionary prayer for the dead is important and efficacious; I don’t believe in Purgatory but rather in the Orthodox view that prayer for the dead can improve the soteriological outcome of the subject of the prayer, by asking God to have mercy, for example, on a dear friend of mine who was baptized as a Catholic but died as a Freemason and a Comparative Religionist.
So yes, like CS Lewis, I am going to pray for these people.
