What causes you to doubt your salvation?

[DorkiusMaximus]

Odd question, but I often struggle with doubting my salvation.

I know our works will not suffice, but our trust upon Christ will. I struggle with wondering if my trust is even enough. Or if I'm relying on my amount of trust rather than Christ. Which is weird but I'm a worrisome person.

How do you handle your doubts?

 

[football5680]

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, (Philippians 2:12)

Have faith in God and strive to avoid sinning. Salvation is a process and like Jesus said only those who endure to the end will be saved. We should never be completely relaxed because this mindset could lead to sin. Constantly think about your salvation and what you must do to obtain it. Grow in your knowledge of the bible, understand what the bible defines as a sin and then try to put yourself in a position where you won't be tempted if possible.

It is counterproductive to think you are saved and are guaranteed to go to heaven so if you have doubt then it means you actually care about this. I believe that I will go to heaven but I know that it is not guaranteed. I have confidence in what God promised to us and I know what I must do.

 

[SleepinGood]

Mark 16:16 "whoever believes and is baptized will be saved."

Why do we (me included) continue to think there needs to be any more than these for us to live eternally?

 

[saved24]

I have heard a lot of people doubt their salvation. I never have. I asked Jesus into my heart, my life, and I live Him, so I know I am saved.

If you love Jesus serve Him to the best of your ability, obey Him. No one is perfect, but with God's help we can do what is pleasing to the Lord.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8 & 9

 

[cerette]

Don't focus on your trust or lack thereof. The focus is Christ. He has died for you. He doesn't change that fact over time, so you know that He is truly and always The Savior.
Next time you doubt if you're saved, you can ask yourself "has Christ still really died for the sins of the world, or has that changed?" If you believe He has, then you can trust His promises of forgiveness of sins and life eternal.

 

[ezeric]

doubt and unbelief are two different things.

Doubt is of the mind.
Unbelief is of the heart.

One is natural, the other is willful pride.

Everyone has doubts, but we only have doubts when we are looking at our own ability (or lack of it). When we start to believe and trust what JESUS said and did, our doubts go away.

Unbelief on the other hand is a blatant denial and a willful rejection.

Doubt comes from trying, and from being in the battle.
Unbelief comes from NOT -trying and never entering the battle.

You are in the battle, and that is a good thing!
The doubts are only you looking at yourself - and not seeing/trusting what JESUS said.

-eric

the-exchanged-life.blogspot.com

 

[DiscipleHeLovesToo]

Odd question, but I often struggle with doubting my salvation.

I know our works will not suffice, but our trust upon Christ will. I struggle with wondering if my trust is even enough. Or if I'm relying on my amount of trust rather than Christ. Which is weird but I'm a worrisome person.

How do you handle your doubts?

i remind myself that nothing on the outside of my Bible can change what's in it - God's unchanging promises.

 

[Mediaeval]

Thomas Erskine of Linlathen (1788-1870) put it this way in his The Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel:

"Now, if a man really looks to his faith in anything as the ground of his pardon or hope before God, he is as much nourishing the spirit of independence, and as much walking in that spirit, as if he trusted in his obedience….And he can scarcely avoid falling into this error in some measure, if he thinks there is no pardon for him until he believes. For if the pardon does not exist until he believes, and immediately exists when he believes, surely his belief has something to do in making it. It is in vain to tell him that faith does not make it, but only receives it….If my faith only receives it, it must have been in existence before my faith. The only idea that I can attach to the expression, receiving the pardon by faith, is that of believing in the pardon; but in order to this, the pardon must have been a real pardon before. If the gospel as it stands in the Bible, actually includes my pardon, then it is clear, that when I believe the gospel, I shall also believe my pardon as a part of it, and thus my faith will receive the pardon. But if the gospel in itself does not contain my pardon, how can my belief of the gospel be a receiving of pardon?"

 

[thatforumguy77]

Odd question, but I often struggle with doubting my salvation.

I know our works will not suffice, but our trust upon Christ will. I struggle with wondering if my trust is even enough. Or if I'm relying on my amount of trust rather than Christ. Which is weird but I'm a worrisome person.

How do you handle your doubts?

I am by nature a logical person. So at first, my doubts in the Bible came from my struggles to unite logic with the biblical truths written within it. However, this changed when I was regenerated in Christ.

Now, I believe not because of proofs, but only through ONE PROOF: the evidence I see in my life. No logic could have given me a change so profound. No logical science could have changed a person so completely and longlastingly. If there is proof that there is God, then you can find it in a person COMPLETE and CHANGED.

When the anchor of my faith is the Christ living in me and changing me, I become certain that I and my faith and Christ will never be separated by any waves of doubt. No matter how strong.

 

[moerunamida]

I don't doubt that I am saved. I can either choose to believe I am saved or not, and I choose to believe. Worry not.

Matthew 6 25-27
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

 

[tturt]

We're to take every thought captive (II Cor 10:5) and renew our minds with His Word (Rom 12:2) such as John 3:16.

 

[Billy Bayou]

In my view of this I doubt my salvation due to the enemy trying to convince me that I am not worthy, Christ is not faithful to fulfill His promise, I haven't "done" enough, I still sin too much and a whole bunch of lies the Satan tries to sell me. This is not healthy.

On the other hand, I am fearful of not being saved due to my fear of God and the moment when I will stand before Him and answer for all my actions on earth. This is healthy.

 

[moerunamida]

Billie if you have repented of those actions, they are forgiven and forgotten in God's eyes

 

[tonyRebornInChrist]

Every time I sin knowingly I sometimes worry of my salvation. Then I recall the many scripture passages assuring us of our eternal security/salvation.

We our sealed from day 1 with the Holy Spirit of promise until the day of redemption!

Glory to our merciful and loving God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

[football5680]

Every time I sin knowingly I sometimes worry of my salvation. Then I recall the many scripture passages assuring us of our eternal security/salvation.

We our sealed from day 1 with the Holy Spirit of promise until the day of redemption!

Glory to our merciful and loving God the Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

Nope, Jesus said we must endure to the end to be saved, not get saved at one point in time and that's it. Saint Paul said work out your salvation with fear and trembling, not you were saved at one point in time so it doesn't matter what you do. True belief involves obedience and you must obey your entire life. You don't obey at one point in time and then after that you are saved forever. The bible is clear about this fact.

 

[tonyRebornInChrist]

Wrong football5680,

Nope, Jesus said we must endure to the end to be saved, not get saved at one point in time and that's it.

Jesus Christ was addressing the Jews, and the context was the time of Jacobs(Israel)trouble, otherwise known as the great tribulation.

True belief involves obedience and you must obey your entire life. You don't obey at one point in time and then after that you are saved forever. The bible is clear about this fact.

You are preaching a works based salvation false gospel, which does not apply to a NT Christian saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you come to the Lord as a repentant sinner you get sealed until the day of redemption (the rapture). After which the world enters into a different dispensation of faith+works in order to get saved.

Rightly divide that book or you'll end up making a complete mess of it!

2Tim 2:15

God Bless

 

[Near]

Odd question, but I often struggle with doubting my salvation.

I know our works will not suffice, but our trust upon Christ will. I struggle with wondering if my trust is even enough. Or if I'm relying on my amount of trust rather than Christ. Which is weird but I'm a worrisome person.

How do you handle your doubts?

We have to understand, merely "trusting" does not make one saved.

A person can tell it to himself "Jesus saved me. Jesus saved me"... But a real certainty comes from faithing, which includes trust that his will is better than ours, in which we humble ourselves, and submit to him. By doing so, we obey him, and don't sin. Moral purity is achieved, and we can really sing "Hallelujah, I am free Lord".

II Peter 1:5-11 NKJV

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

As the passage says, be diligent, and be praying too. Walk in the Spirit and never go back to your old ways. May God lead you in holiness.

 

[football5680]

Jesus Christ was addressing the Jews, and the context was the time of Jacobs(Israel)trouble, otherwise known as the great tribulation.

No, it applies to all times and all Christians. This false once saved always saved belief relies on circular reasoning which is a sign of a failed argument. What if somebody went through your whole born again process and then decided that they were an atheist and didn't believe anymore? Would you say they would go to heaven still? This would contradict Matthew 10:33 which is Jesus saying if you deny him, he will deny you. Therefore you must endure to the end and never deny Jesus through belief or mortal sin. The only answer you can have for this is that they were never saved in the first place and then I could just turn that around and ask you how do you know you are saved? The person who eventually denied God may have truly believed and then fell away. Jesus said this would happen in the parable of the Sower.

You are preaching a works based salvation false gospel, which does not apply to a NT Christian saved by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

No, I preach a true faith Gospel, not convenient Christianity.

You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. (James 2:24)

Faith without works is dead, works without faith are dead. True faith is represented through works. Superficially believing in something does not save anybody which Jesus made clear.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:21)

If you truly love Jesus you would follow his teachings and keep his commandments.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (John 14:15)

If you come to the Lord as a repentant sinner you get sealed until the day of redemption (the rapture). After which the world enters into a different dispensation of faith+works in order to get saved.

Show me this in the bible.

Rightly divide that book or you'll end up making a complete mess of it!

2Tim 2:15

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:15-16)

 

[aiki]

Nope, Jesus said we must endure to the end to be saved, not get saved at one point in time and that's it. Saint Paul said work out your salvation with fear and trembling, not you were saved at one point in time so it doesn't matter what you do.

Actually, the very next verse gives you a problem:

Philippians 2:13
13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

You can only work out what God has first worked in. As Paul explains in the above verse, God gives us both the desire and the ability to do His will and this is why it is possible to "work out" one's salvation. We work it out only because God has first worked it in us.

True belief involves obedience and you must obey your entire life. You don't obey at one point in time and then after that you are saved forever. The bible is clear about this fact.

Oh? The apostle John, who is the single greatest contributor to the New Testament, thinks differently:

1 John 5:12-13
12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Not will have eternal life or may have eternal life, but have eternal life - now, in the present.

Selah.

 

[aiki]

Odd question, but I often struggle with doubting my salvation.

I know our works will not suffice, but our trust upon Christ will. I struggle with wondering if my trust is even enough. Or if I'm relying on my amount of trust rather than Christ. Which is weird but I'm a worrisome person.

How do you handle your doubts?

My grandfather used to say that the best way to resolve doubts about one's salvation was simply to be obedient to God's commands. Don't be just a hearer of the Word but a doer also. When one is living in obedience to God, doubts about one's salvation soon wither and die. What is the first and greatest of God's commands? Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Do this and you will quickly grow confident in your salvation.

Selah.