This question was recently set before me, and I found it very interresting as I answered it...so I thought I would propose it to all of you! Dont forget to comment...but also cast your vote!

I believe that if we are truely a christian than we can never truly lose our salvation. We may choose for whatever reason to follow a different path and keep thoughts of our salvation in the back of our mind. God finds a way to bring us back to him, we just have to be able to hear him. Our salvation isn't lost we are."He has covered me with clothes of salvation and wrapped me with a coat of goodness, like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding, like a bride dressed in jewels" Isa. 61:10

I remember reading that any who falls away, was never one to begin with. Did I get that right?

Well I have a hard time putting a solid yes or no to this one. I voted yes because I know that I have seen people completely fall away. Marilyn Manson was once a Catholic, as I read it in an interview, but now everything he does defies morality and conviction. Having said that, I cannot see his heart or hear what he says to God in the stillness and quiet of the night when all the lights are out and the voices of his supporters have faded. Maybe he still talks to God. I believe that God LOVES each one of His children and seeks them and their love- even when they have fallen away. I don't think he gives up until the last breath is drawn. This is just what I feel in my spirit. I'll have to study it more because The Scripture has the final word.

There are scriptures that are debated as to whether or not they are saying that. They talk about your name being blotted out from the book of life. If a person wasn't a Christian, would their name have been there?

Here is why I believe that you can fall away and be headed to hell after loving and serving Christ. I did it. There is no doubt about it. When I was young and all the way until I was sixteen, I knew of my love and devotion to Christ and wanted nothing more than to serve Him. However, after my parents divorce, I went buck wild and drifted as far away as possible from God without being in hell. There was even a point that I told God that I would never talk to Him again because I was so lost that I couldn't dig my way back out and I just couldn't try anymore. I wept myself to sleep and the next day, God delivered me!

I now have a relationship with Him that I never dreamed possible and it only grows stronger by the day!!!! Praise Jesus! No doubt about it... He found me twice!

Looking at issues such as the Lukewarm church spoken of in Laodicea...

Quote:

Revelation 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth

...it said that God would Spue such people from his mouth! So these people who still believed they had found salvation...did they truly have it? Were they actually ever saved, or just going off emotions in the begining?...Can we loose salvation; as we can turn on God, loose interest in God, Grieve the Holy Spirit...I would have to say...it is possible. But, would very much question their said salvation in the first place; were they truly saved to begin with?

Mo, were you actualy "giving all to God" before that night you fell to your knees in submission to him? Or were you going through the motions? Please understand...I am not saying you were not origionally saved, but when your honest why were you a Christian before...why were you a Christian after? And if you were truly saved to begin with; maybe you turned your back on God, but he never did on you...because you were his? And he Orchestrated your breakdown...What do you think?

Mo, My experience is similar to yours. I do not know if during my wandering I “ lost” my salvation or if I was a forgiven sinner or if I was never really saved. I have an opinion about it but what is important is what the scriptures says. I believe based on the scripture that you cannot accidentally lose your salvation. I think the survey needs an additional option. Can you willfully give up your salvation? No one can take you out of Gods hand.


Jn 10:28-29 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

It appears for the following scriptures that you can willfully remove yourself from Gods hand, and scriptures others have already mentioned.


Heb 6:1- Heb 6:6 Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit. For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Wow! Herugrim and KingsKid, I have never looked at it that way. So let me ask both of you this. When I was living that life and had certainly back slidden, I was doing some major bad things. Would you then say that I still would have entered the Kingdom of Heaven and have been one of the ones that did so with hell's flames lapping at my feet?

You were obviously in a state of rebellion to God. Gods grace is not limited to when you are “good”. My opinion is that you were probably saved and that God was completing the work in you that he had already started. Look where you are today. Would you be in the same place had you not worked out some of your rebellion during your time of disobedience? Would you have the same appreciation for the new life in Christ that you have now? I know I would not. I do not believe It was Gods perfect will for me to do what I did when wandering but in my case it was a necessary step to get my attention.

kingskid, I now understand just why Dad loved talking theology with you so much when we were children. You and Herugrim have blessed my heart with your words today and helped me to heal in an area that needed healing. There are tears in my eyes even now as I see clearer how God works. How truly great our God is! Thank you!

I have really enjoyed reading all of the discussion here. My opinion is that NO we can't lose our salvation; however scripture says we can terminate our agreement or our salvation with God.

2 Timothy 2:2-13 NCV
8 Remember Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, who is from the family of David. This is the Good News I preach,9 and I am suffering because of it to the point of being bound with chains like a criminal. But God's teaching is not in chains.10 So I patiently accept all these troubles so that those whom God has chosen can have the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. With that salvation comes glory that never ends.

11 This teaching is true:
If we died with him, we will also live with him.
12 If we accept suffering, we will also rule with him.
If we say we don't know him, he will say he doesn't know us.
13 If we are not faithful, he will still be faithful,
because he must be true to who he is.

In verse 12 we are told that if we say we don't know him, he will say he doesn't know us. In verse 13 we are told that if we are not faithful, he will still be faithful. Just as we take our vows with our spouses, "until death do us part", we enter into a covenant with our spouse. We also enter into a covenant with our Heavenly Father and he is faithful to us until the end. Just as we can divorce our spouse we have the free will to divorce God. God HATES divorce beause he can't stand the thought of us divorcing Him.

Just as kingskid said that "you were probably saved and that God was completing the work in you that he had already started" I believe God has a plan for all of us and he knows the troubles and rebellious times we are going to come upon. It is never his desire to live apart from us, but we do have a free will and there are those that choose to divorce God.

I have a part—a responsibility to respond, hence the first step of life-saving belief. And beyond that, I have the responsibility of remaining faithful to the end, exerting my free will to love God with all my heart, shown by obedience (John 14:21), and to stay in continuous fellowship with Him. The balance of grace and works appears to be a holy tension that cannot be separated. While He will not leave me or go back on His covenant with me (if we are faithless, he will remain faithful—2 Timothy 2:13), it appears that I can choose to end my agreement with Him (if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us—vs. 2:12).


So does God take back our salvation? Absolutely NOT Can we divorce God and give back the free gift that He gave us? I believe so.

Blessings,

Jared

After doing some research here are some points of interest I found:

Conditional promises: "So you must remain faithful to what you have been taught from the beginning. If you do, you will continue to live in fellowship with the Son and with the Father (1 John 2:24, emphasis mine)." And, "For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ (Hebrews 3:14)."

Esau traded his birthright: "Make sure that no one is immoral or godless like Esau. He traded his birthright as the oldest son for a single meal. And afterward, when he wanted his father's blessing, he was rejected. It was too late for repentance, even though he wept bitter tears." Hebrews 12:16-17

The son left his spiritual home: "We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found (Luke 15:24)." This famous passage about the prodigal son has some interesting Greek translations. The word for son is Hulos, which can mean literal offspring as well as a son of Abraham. And the words for dead (Nekros) and lost (Apollumi) carry the metaphor of spiritually dead and sentenced to hell. This son, not a foreigner or someone outside the family, rebelliously left his father's house and brought upon himself a condition of being spiritually dead. While this metaphor was spoken about God's son Israel in the big picture, it is also warning to individuals.

The Israelites forfeited the Promised Land: God made a promise to Israel, His "chosen son," of bringing them into the Promised Land, but all of His promises to them were conditional upon their faithfulness and obedience. Their stubborn unbelief and rebellion kept a whole generation out of the Promised Land—their ordained inheritance. As we look ahead to our "Promised Land" of eternal life, the implications seem clear.

Judas sold Jesus: Judas was one of Jesus' chosen twelve. He was completely one of the family members in the inner circle of trust. He walked with Jesus, ate with Jesus, traveled with Jesus, lived with Jesus, was chosen by Jesus. How could Judas not have believed in Jesus at least at one time? He saw all the miracles with his own eyes. Yet Judas sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver and sealed his fate.

The banished servant: "Who is a faithful, sensible servant, to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his household and feeding his family? If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. I assure you, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. But if the servant is evil and thinks, 'My master won't be back for a while,' and begins oppressing the other servants, partying, and getting drunk - well, the master will return unannounced and unexpected. He will tear the servant apart and banish him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth… (Matthew 24:45-51)."

Warnings: Solemn warnings about falling away pepper the Bible throughout, beginning in the law (Genesis through Deuteronomy), then the prophets (Isaiah through Malachi) and finally the New Testament. If it was not an option to walk away from God, why would the Bible need to post warnings? Warnings indicate there is something to be warned about. "Watch out, so that you do not lose the prize for which we have been working so hard. Be diligent so that you will receive your full reward. For if you wander beyond the teaching of Christ, you will not have fellowship with God (2 John 1:8-9)."

So here's the bottom line. If you have truly put your belief in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins in order to receive the free gift of eternal life, you now have a deliberate responsibility, Biblically speaking. You can't accidentally or easily "lose" your salvation, but I believe there is evidence that you can reject it by continuously ignoring God or refusing to obey Him. Like Esau, you can trade in your birthright as a child of God. He won't divorce you, but you can divorce Him. He won't disqualify you, but you will disqualify yourself by faithless rebellion and stiff-necked unbelief, as demonstrated by the way you willfully and consistently live your life.

So how can you and I know if we're saved for sure? "Remember that those who do good prove that they are God's children, and those who do evil prove that they do not know God (1 John 3:11)." It all comes down to how we exercise the miraculous mystery of our free will. And this free will is a beautiful picture of love in action. I can choose to receive because I am loved and desired. I can choose to respond because I love and desire.

txjared Well said, We cannot forget. The knowing in the following verse means an intimate relationship with him.


Mat 7:20-23 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

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Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God
I know I'm saved because my spirit bears witness with the Holy Spirit.

VERY well put Jared!

I'm glad you referenced the OT! That's what I do to determine the truth in the NT.

All those 'escorted' out of Egypt were saved from the 'bondage', yet very few entered the Promise!

(I was going to go there, but you did much better and included so much more than I was thinking on this. Thank you.)
WD

Herugrim, I can really Identify with your comment. I lived in a town for a while that the only viable church option was a church that taught “once saved always saved” I did not think that my difference of opinion about it really mattered, because my children who were youth group age were well grounded. The real problem I ran into was my foster kids who were all delinquent teens. We had always been able to lead them to Christ but during the time we attended there not one of them had a real conversion to Christ. They would see the lifestyle of the “Good” church kids and the hypocrisy would become their excuse. Once they became “Christians” There lifestyle didn’t change because after all they were saved anyway. We had to start attending out of town in order to return to effective ministry with our foster kids.

When I read the question, my first reaction was yes. But then I realized, our Salvation is always there and will always be there. It's us who turn our backs on our own Salvation. Sometimes we choose worldly things over Christ, and sometimes we choose to live our lives on a path away from Christ. Some of us will realize this before it's too late and find our ways back to Christ. Unfortunately, some did'nt have enough time, hopefully we can help lead others and eachother back to Christ before it's too late. Kingskid and Txjared quoted some good bible verses that confirm my belief. Thanks Guys!

If you believe that you can lose your salvation; it is because in some way you believe that your salvation depends upon you. This is nothing less than self- righteousness. You must repent of your self-righteousness, and trust in Christ alone to save you. ~ Rick Appleton

I found this on facebook. I believe it to be a true statement. If we can lose our salvation, what do we have to do to lose it? At what point does God draw the line? Can you get it back if you lose it? If you can lose your salvation on your own then by contrast that means you can gain it on your own. I believe God calls us, He saves us, He grants us repentance, grows us in sanctification and He keeps us. Grace would not be grace if we do something to earn it or keep it.

On a side note, what or who does God save us from?

Good stuff Bob.

This was a hot topic on this site a while back. Glad to see you on here!