ETERNAL SECURITY

Safari · Subject: ETERNAL SECURITY Tue Feb 03, 2009 2:36 pm

This is a subject that even the most educated of Biblical scholars cannot agree on, so I'd like to hear some of you inputs.

For those who may not be familiar with "eternal security" it is the belief (or in some cases doctrine) that once salvation is obtained that it cannot be lost no matter how much one backslides. Another way to say it is "Once saved, always saved."

Here are somedirect observances from my life:

I was brought up NOT to believe in eternal security. Both my parents felt that way. One day. a few years before my mother died, I came upon her crying. When I pressed her for the reason she stated that I knew she didn't believe in eternal security, but she was praying that she was wrong for my sister's sake. Pretty soul wrenching discussion.

There is a woman in my church who grew up in this church, left an has now returned, but she WILL NOT re-join the church. She attends regularly with her mother, but refuses membership. Reason: Her view on eternal security differs from that of the denomination.

I'm not going to expound with the first dissertation on this subject, but my gut feeling is, "Why would anyone who has been saved even want to take a chance on the possibility of losing that salvation (even if you're positive that you CAN'T lose your salvation)?"

k_enn · Posts: 259 Join date: 2008-07-02

Safari wrote:

<snip>I'm not going to expound with the first dissertation on this subject, but my gut feeling is, "Why would anyone who has been saved even want to take a chance on the possibility of losing that salvation (even if you're positive that you CAN'T lose your salvation)?"

To answer the question with my thoughts, it is not that you want to take the chance. Rather, it is that the Evil One is leading you astray in the hope that you can lose your salvation. It done in small increments so that you don't know how far you have strayed.

Just so you know where I am coming from, I now believe in eternal security. Previously, I heard of it but was not sure. I grew up very active in a church which accepts the concept of eternal security (although it is not a major point of emphasis in its doctrine). When I went away to college, I slowly drifted away from Christ. Little things at first, such as not going to church because my denomination was not there. Later questioning the need for church altogether as long as you believe. Watching my beliefs drift slowly away from Christ over time. etc. By the late 1990s, I drifted pretty far away. The Evil One did a pretty good job.

Then, ten years ago, I was having a significant heart attack while I was going to work. I did not know for sure that it was a hear attack at the time, I just was feeling pretty bad. I pulled into a shopping center, went into McDonalds, ordered a drink and asked them to call an ambulance. The paramedics arrived within a couple of minutes, and I could see they were puzzled and a little freaked out (I learned later that they were unable to get a blood pressure reading on me at all at that time, and they couldn't figure out how I was still conscious). As I was being taken to the hospital, I realized that this was serious, and I might not come through. Suprisingly, my thoughts focused on my wife what would happen to her if I died. I did not think about myself if I died, because I *knew* that I had been saved and would go to heaven (even though I had not been active in church or the other trappings of Christianity). It was not an intellectual knowledge based on church doctrine, but it was *deep in the gut* knowledge that because I had accepted Christ in my earlier days I *was* saved and would go to heaven.

As I have said before, the heart attack was God's way of *smacking me upside the head with a 2 x 4" to get my attention back. It worked, I knew that I was still save and that He would be with there for me. He even helped me get involved with the church again, but that is another story. So, yes, I firmly believe in the concept or eternal security. Not just academically, or scripturally, but also by having felt it.

k_enn

XterraXtian · Subject: Re: ETERNAL SECURITY Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:57 pm

Sometimes I get nervous that there's something I'm missing....that I'm not 'doing right' to throw a monkey wrench in my Salvation. But I talk to people (people I believe actually KNOW the answers...even though I know no one actually DOES) and I always get the same answer....."HE KNOWS YOUR HEART".

Now....I believe this to be true through reading, talking to others, etc etc. And if it IS the case, I AM IN LIKE FLYNN.

I couldn't ever in a million years, with a dictionary and a thesaurus EVER verbalize my heart's desire for Him and to be who I am to be in Christ. If HE knows what's in there, then I have not one ounce of anxiety about my salvation. I just pray that everyone that tells me that is correct....as I am quite imperfect otherwise. But I'm working on it.

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XterraXtian · Subject: Re: ETERNAL SECURITY Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:37 pm

PS. I always had heard the only way to lose salvation is to go against the Holy Spirit.....

.....but I don't know what that means exactly scratch

What do they mean?

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k_enn · Posts: 259 Join date: 2008-07-02

XterraXtian wrote:

<snip> I just pray that everyone that tells me that is correct....as I am quite imperfect otherwise. But I'm working on it.

If one has to be perfect to get in there, I think the population would be *extremely* low.

k_enn