That is one big hard topic. I do believe that we can walk away from our salvation

the bible also states that GOD is married to the backslider i myself backslid in the past and only because HES merciful did HE take me back under HIS wings kinda makes you wonder how we can sometimes be arrogant enough to hold grudges or to constantly keep hurts in rememberance when HE has chosen to forgive and forget our sins against HIM once we repent

whats your opinion canuck once saved always saved or not?

I DELETED GODLY2'S REPLY FOR THIS REASON... THE FINAL STATEMENT THAT WAS MADE BY GODLY2 'IF YOU DO FALL AWAY YOU WERE NEVER SAVED AT ALL.' SO THEN IN THE CASE OF JUDAS AND PETER. JESUS SAID, HAVE I NOT CHOSEN YOU THE TWELVE, BUT ONE OF YOU IS A DEVIL. PETER DENIED JESUS THREE TIMES. JUDAS BETRAYED JESUS ONCE. I AM NOT GOING TO GO INTO GREAT DETAIL ON THIS SUBJECT BUT YOU CAN LOSE YOUR ETERNAL INHERITANCE IN CHRIST!!!! HEBREWS 6:4-8

The Inheritance Was Esau's. It Was His Birthright. But He Sold It For Pleasure. And When He Sought It Even With Tears-He Could Not Obtain It Back-For He Could Bring About No Change Of Mind! Yes You Can Lose Your Salvation! You Harden Your Heart In Disbelief! Hebrews 3:7-19

GOD bless canuck a relationship with the LORD should be taken serious and excercised on every day to be obedient to HIS bidding

It is a shame that Godly2's reply was deleted. I would have liked to have read what he said.

Canuck,to quote you, you opened the thread with ''Many opinions on this subject because Gods Word seems to contradict itself on this subject.'' I couldn't disagree more. God is not the author of confusion, and His Word does not contradict itself. Rather, it is us who lack understanding.

Can a man lose his salvation? Let us reason...

To answer the question, you first need to have a clear understanding of what salvation is, and whether or not you have it. This is critical to understand, because as you know, you cannot lose something you never had to begin with.

Now to begin, how do you know you are saved? Well firstly the epistle of 1 John outlines several tests for the reader to check whether he or she is saved. You can read about those tests in detail here.

But to get back to the question, can a man lose his salvation, let me give you a scenario.

Lets say I am driving home from a church meeting at 10pm and I see a teenage boy on a street corner selling drugs. I happen to recognize him as my neighbour's son. Now I can take the boy to his father and tell the father to punish him. Thats one option. But the right thing to do is actually to take the boy to the father and tell the father that he is a useless father for letting his son run loose like that.

What I am saying is, God is not a useless Father. He will discipline His children, and I can tell you that if you truly are His child, He will not allow you to stray too far off the path. And when you do stray from the path, God disciplines us and we are convicted by the Spirit and brought to repentance. This is a sign that we are His children.

Lets back it up with Scripture:

Phillipians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

If God begins a good work in you; if God starts to work in your life and changes you and saves you, He will continue to do so until the very end.

1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

If you think you are saved but you are walking in sin daily, the Word says that you are not God's child, you are not saved.

1 John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

A truly remarkable verse. If you are born of God (saved, born again, received salvation), you cannot sin. Its that simple. Give a lost man a thousand dollar paid night out in a strip club and he will go wild. But give a born again Christian the same gift and he will recoil in horror. He will not be able to bring himself to even enter the doors. Because he is restrained by the Holy Spirit and cannot bring himself to sin against God.

Now what am I saying? I am not saying a born again Christian who has received salvation will be perfect in all his ways and completely incapable of sinning at all. I am saying that if you have received Salvation and are saved, then:

1. God will continue to work in your life until Jesus Returns. God does not fail. He will complete that good work.

2. This will be evidenced by the fact that you are disciplined by God, and by the fact that when you do sin, or start to lose your way, the Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin and you repent. Because God disciplines His children

3. When you begin to slide in to sin, your conscience will be ed and you will not be able to continue in that sin because of the discipline of the Father.

Therefore I am telling you today that if you truly are saved and have received Salvation, you cannot lose it. The Bible backs me up on this. If you fall into sin, continuous sin, then it is a sign to you that you never received salvation to start with because God has not disciplined you and kept you in His ways.

Modern Christian teaching has combined 2 doctrines and in the process has lost both of them.

The doctrine of security of the Salvation and Assurance of Salvation must not be confused. They are two different doctrines.

This is the truth: If you EXAMINE YOURSELF ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES (as exhorted to do so by Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:5) and have assurance of salvation, then you also have security of salvation. But if you have no security and lose your faith or backslide into continuous sin, then you have NOT lost your Salvation; you most likely never had Salvation to begin with.

God is not a derelict Father.

Brilliantly explained,nick :)

Glad it made sense to you iilmadme

Salvation Is Found in the Lord

The common heresy in the American and western church would have us falsely believe that salvation is obtained by believing in Jesus as Savior. Scripture teaches that salvation is obtained by believing in Jesus as Lord.3
Paul and Silas responded directly to the jailer's question. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved. They made it simple and clear.

When writing to the Roman church, Paul made the way of salvation equally clear:

If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.4
To confess with our mouth does not mean we are only to say Jesus is Lord. Rather, we're to speak out freely to all who will listen as a result of the deep conviction within us.5
We are to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord. Note the tense of the verb. It is present tense. He is now, today, my Lord.

Likewise, our personal confession isn't sufficient if we confess that Jesus once was our Lord. The requirement is that Jesus is our Lord.

We live in the present. The verb tense remains in the present. If we would be saved, Jesus must become, be, and continue to be, our personal Lord.


Receive Salvation through Our Lord

Paul made clear that salvation is in Jesus as Lord. He said, God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.6 The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.7
Paul said, We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord.8 Peter exhorted: In your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.9 Paul taught the purpose for Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection: For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.10


Receive Christ Jesus As Lord

No Scripture speaks of receiving Jesus as Savior, but Paul acknowledged that the Colossian church received Christ Jesus as Lord.11 Notice carefully. The brothers12 didn't receive Jesus as the Christ. No, they received Christ Jesus as Lord!13
The distinction is important. The Christ, who embodies the fulfillment of all prophecy, must be received as Lord the supreme ruler, the head of all. There is but one Lord Jesus Christ.14 There is no power or authority higher than the Lord of lords, the King of kings. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.15

God exalted Christ Jesus to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name.16 Every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.17

Scripture teaches that salvation is in the Son of God, in the Lord Jesus, and in the Christ. Is there a contradiction? Of course not. The Son of God is Jesus Christ our Lord.18 See how perfectly the Scripture fits together.

Christ Jesus must be received as Lord by all who would be saved. Let's state that more personally. You and I must receive Christ Jesus as our personal Lord in order to have eternal life!


Call on the Name of the Lord and Be Saved

The disciples met together in Jerusalem after Christ's ascension. Their fear following the crucifixion had been replaced with joy after Jesus' resurrection when they were reunited with him. Before he ascended into heaven, he instructed them: Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.19
Then it happened. First they heard the sound of a violent wind. The first thought was of an unexpected storm, but the sound was inside the room. They saw tongues of fire enter the room, separate and come to rest on each of them. They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages.

Outside, the sound was heard in much of Jerusalem. People came running to see the cause. They found the believers speaking in foreign tongues.

Many Jews from other countries were in the city. To their amazement they heard the disciples speaking in their native languages. Some thought they were drunk, but Peter explained this was not so, but the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel, in which God said, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.20

Then Peter, in the words of the prophet, explained to the assembled people, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.21 Peter explained to the crowd about Jesus, his ministry, the miracles, his death, and his resurrection. He concluded: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.

The crowd heard and understood. They were cut to the heart that they had killed their Messiah the Christ. They understood the power and authority given by God to his Son, the Lord Jesus. About three thousand became believers and were baptized that day.

Paul used the same words to instruct the Romans: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.22

* del edit

ray777 14.11.09 - 11:14pm
Amen Bro E... No other Name Under Heaven can we call on to be Saved Either... PTL * del edit
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e.1024 14.11.09 - 11:59pm
PTL!!!!! * del edit
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i think that once your saved, you are totally sold out to Christ bt there is a tym wen you will backslid bt you will still be saved by rededicating your life to him...