Fallen from Grace.......explain please

[Photini]

If you loved God then would you not want to spend eternity with God? If you are in hell then I submit you would miss out on this. I would think that one who truly loves the Lord should definitely care about their destination.

I read a beautiful saying somewhere....I believe it is attributed to Elder Paisios of Mt. Athos. He said that perfect love could not suffer another soul to burn in Hell. He said that if when one with this love (he called it philotimo) was approached by the Lord and told that there was no more room in heaven, that this person would not be disturbed, but would be joyful that so many were found worthy. Their joy would be his joy also. It is that perfect love that we should strive for, because even in the worst and darkest place, the light of Christ would shine in our hearts.

It is good to care about our destination, but it is more important now for us to examine ourselves and make sure we are on the road that leads there.

 

[Benedicta00]

Losing salvation is a scary thought. When do you know though? I mean is death the only thing that reveals if you've messed up more than is allowed?

There is no limit on mercy. The limit is when we say we had enough and don't want it.

Well we are given salvation as a inheritance, not a event of a guarantee. You lose it when you tell God to take a hike; you don’t want Him or need His mercy and you would sin all over given the chance.

We can’t know our heart and soul the way God does, this is why He gave us the Church and the sacraments to give us the graces we need to aspire to Him. The graces that come from confession actually make up for our half hearted repentance. The Jews had the law, they knew what to do and what not to do and it was all in vain because of original sin and the fallen man, but we now have grace and that covers our imperfections.

Paul says we have the hope of salvation and hope is a virtue that we can not acquire on our own, it is a gift and we have to exercise the three theological virtues, faith, hope, and love and then we can be secure in knowing that Jesus is our savior when we put all our trust in Him. We need faith in Him, we need to have hope in His promise and we need to have love of God and then we can know confidently that we will not be put to shame.

 

[Benedicta00]

Because salvation is the main focus of almost every sermon where I used to attend Church (j/k) you tend to use a lot of time pondering the issue. You'll frequently get preachers that will say things like...."Do you know that you know, that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know, that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know, that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know that you know you will go to Heaven when you die?" I'm like hell...after that I don't even know what planet I'm on and what my name is much less if I'm going to Heaven or not. This kind of garbage is what started my breakdown in belief of "being saved" although I doubted the concept always. I've spent waaaaaaay more time on it than I should.....made it an idol even....I think. Obsessed with it would be no exageration. Anyhow now that I don't believe it that no longer is an issue.

Wow, you just confirmed what always thought, and that is OSAS and faith alone is drummed into a person’s head like brain washing because deep down, these beliefs go against our core. We know better by lived experience that these beliefs are not true.

And I second Rising Sun. Yes we should not want to do anything that would cost us heaven but our drive to be there should be love, not wanting to go. We must live like we are there, loving God perfectly, this should be our whole goal in life, to love God more.

Death then should be just a passing from this life to the next.