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Do you believe that those who "fall from His grace" would be eternally commited to the Lake of Fire should they not repent?
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Indeed, we are God's children, He is our Father. We are already His, but just as children can reject/defy their earthly parents. In the parable of the "Prodigal Son", we are predestined to have the very best (eternal life), only through our rejection of what we are predestined for, can we lose it. God in His perfection, loves us so much, that should we fall from His grace, then repent, we are welcomed back and do receive eternal life, as that is what we were predestined for from creation.
Do you believe that those who "fall from His grace" would be eternally commited to the Lake of Fire should they not repent?
Yes, like the prodigal son, had he not sought repentance in humility, he would have be separated eternally from his Father. Scripture seems clear that those separated from the Father will be cast into the lake of fire.
So, then those who both the Father and Jesus Christ hold in their hands (cf. John 10:27-29) can be lost eternally if they sin and do not repent?
Well, we all sin. It's our faith in God which saves us. Rare, if not impossible it would be for any faithful Christian to die and have repented of each and every single sin they ever committed knowing and unknowingly; its through faith that we have the assurance that these sins are forgiven through the atonement won by Christ.
However, should we die having rejected faith, even though we are God's children, we have estranged ourselves from the family of the faithful and will not share in the "family" benefits; eternal salvation. This is the unpardonable sin, the sin against the Spirit mentioned in Scripture.
So, if I understand you correctly you are telling me that it is possible for someone to snatch a believer from the hands of God and Jesus Christ despite what Jesus explicitly states in John 10:27-29. Am I correct?
No, someone can not "snatch" a believer away; but a believer can renounce their faith through free will.
I don't follow whom you have in mind there. Maybe it doesn't matter.Would you rather go the route of not ever knowing if you're 'really saved'? That's how the Evangelicals see it.
They truly believed they were saved and showed fruits of salvation, just as much as you or I believe that we are saved, yet ultimately rejected the faith. Evangelicals say that they were never 'really saved'. One must wonder where the assurance of salvation lies when one can by all scriptural evidences have salvation in Christ for decades and then turn out to be 'not really saved' after all.
Would you rather go the route of not ever knowing if you're 'really saved'? That's how the Evangelicals see it.
Someone can believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior, pray, worship, repent of sins, grow in faith and resultant good works, then later decide to become a Buddhist or a Muslim or an Agnostic. We all know people like this, but I'll throw out Cat Stevens as an example.
They truly believed they were saved and showed fruits of salvation, just as much as you or I believe that we are saved, yet ultimately rejected the faith. Evangelicals say that they were never 'really saved'. One must wonder where the assurance of salvation lies when one can by all scriptural evidences have salvation in Christ for decades and then turn out to be 'not really saved' after all.
I find your use of the word "Evangelicals" to be curious. I hope that you understand that "Evangelical" is a standard term used for all Protestant churches, including the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Do you include yourself in this term?
I agree that it is God's job to divide the sheep from the goats, to decide which of all us sinners he is saving. However, my tent is probably a bit larger than yours since I believe that it is God who does the saving, and we are all equally wretched sinners, beggars before God.Ultimately, of course, it is God who determines one's salvation. What assurance one has comes from scripture. There are those (not myself) who believe that once a person makes a profession of salvation then he has a complete assurance of salvation regardless of any future sins on his part, including, as you mentioned, complete and willful rejection of the faith.
This sword cuts both ways. Many Lutherans, having been baptized as infants, rest calmly in that assurance of their salvation even though they may grow into determined sinners. Likewise, many Baptists (I will pick on them because they are credo-baptists and not paedo-baptists) rest calmly in the assurance that they are saved because they recited a prayer. Neither of these possesses actual faith in Jesus Christ, but, rather, a distorted faith either in baptism or in saying some words.
Before God saves us by gifting us with saving faith, our will is bound to our sinful flesh, but afterward we do have the ability to reject the gift once given and received. I find it scripturally inescapable that 1. God alone saves, and he will not let anyone take away his gift or wander away without being pursued and rescued, but also that 2. God allows us to reject his gift of saving faith if we decide to embrace unbelief.I think the reality is that the promise of Jesus Christ to never allow anyone or anything snatch His elect from His hands is true. To think otherwise would either make Him a liar or, at best, horridly deceived.
How do you know that it was a real faith? I don't know of any way that a bystander can judge the faith or alleged faith or the nature of the "faith" which someone else might lay claim to.So you believe that for the decades that they believed in Christ for their salvation, they weren't 'really saved'?
Do they confess faith in Christ alone for their salvation? Are they baptized for the forgiveness of sins?
Ok, what does your assurance of salvation depend on if not God's gift of Baptism? How do you demonstrate your faith in Christ if not by professing faith?
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