Thelogical Issues
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Thelogical Issues
CAN A BELIEVER LOSE HIS SALVATION?
Let me start off by saying that, concerning the issue of eternal security, there are only 2 valid scriptural points of view. One possible view is that a genuine Christian can NEVER lose his salvation. The other possible view is that a genuine Christian MAY lose his salvation, but if he does, he can NEVER get it back. Those are the only possible views on the subject. The bible does not allow for any other view. The belief that someone can lose his salvation, come back to Christ, lose it again, then come back again; is categorically unscriptural and doctrinally false. Let's examine what the Bible has to say. Eternal security is the belief that a genuine Christian can never be lost. They were predestined to be saved, and hence how could they eventually be lost if God predestined them to salvation? There are different versions of this. Some hold that if someone falls away, it is testament to the fact that they were never saved. Others say that if a genuine Christian falls away, it is only temporary and he/she will eventually come back. Still others say that it does not matter if they backslide, God will take them to heaven
anyway, kicking and screaming and the works. Free will on the other hand holds that believers are responsible for the decisions they make and may choose to stop being saved.
Very few people hold solely to one and discard totally the other. The truth is some combination of both free will and predestination. But what is that combination? Calvinists are those who hold more strongly to predestination than free will. e.g. A Calvinist may say that a believer is
predestined to be saved, and in the fullness of time, God so strongly influenced his free will that he had to respond in the affirmative. Some call this irresistible grace. An obvious objection is that if God could do that for one person, why can't he do it for all, since he wishes all to be saved? And if he didn't do it for a particular person, why is he then...
- Submitted by: jhasminfuentes
- Date Submitted: 10/22/2009 03:02 AM
- Category: Book Reports
- Words: 2348
- Pages: 10
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