The problem with the "once saved always saved" concept; bringing home my point in the previous post; is the idea that some sort of mystical thing happened where we suddenly are saved without any obvious changes occurring. Cheap consumerism may be a human trait in acquiring something which we throw away a short time later. God redeemed us with intent for an eternal future in His Kingdom; and to purge us from our old ways to make us fitting and suitable to be in His presence now; and heaven later.
If someone doesn't see Christ in us then they aren't able through our lifestyle to hear His voice; and our words may not have effect either. There are some exceptions to that as even false preachers have seen genuine converts. Speaking His Word will have its effect but let's face it who here wants to see converts despite our actions as opposed to because of our Godly lives demonstrating Christ's love and in turn bringing the fear of God to them? This brings us to Balaam and the mad prophet who a donkey had to speak to to correct. God spoke through the High Priest who prophesied about one man dying for the nation ( John 11:50-51). Somehow even Pilate insisted that King of the Jews be written above the cross Jesus hung on.
Now to some acts of true converts.
Repentance. Going back to the James verse I quoted in an earlier post today; we can talk about hell until we are blue in the face; an in fact many who claim to have had an NDE or actually briefly perished and had what they said was a hell experience admittedly often try to forget; or it doesn't change them immediately from their sinful lifestyle; and they state they weren't saved at that point. Again it is the sin nature that is the root of the problem not just outer actions; only Christ can truly crucify the old nature. And only HE can show us how truly evil we are; and the love of Christ does that if it is AGAPE and truly from the Lord. We die but have NEW desires in Him.
The problem with the "once saved always saved" concept; bringing home my point in the previous post; is the idea that some sort of mystical thing happened where we suddenly are saved without any obvious changes occurring. Cheap consumerism may be a human trait in acquiring something which we throw away a short time later. God redeemed us with intent for an eternal future in His Kingdom; and to purge us from our old ways to make us fitting and suitable to be in His presence now; and heaven later.
If someone doesn't see Christ in us then they aren't able through our lifestyle to hear His voice; and our words may not have effect either. There are some exceptions to that as even false preachers have seen genuine converts. Speaking His Word will have its effect but let's face it who here wants to see converts despite our actions as opposed to because of our Godly lives demonstrating Christ's love and in turn bringing the fear of God to them? This brings us to Balaam and the mad prophet who a donkey had to speak to to correct. God spoke through the High Priest who prophesied about one man dying for the nation ( John 11:50-51). Somehow even Pilate insisted that King of the Jews be written above the cross Jesus hung on.
Now to some acts of true converts.
Repentance. Going back to the James verse I quoted in an earlier post today; we can talk about hell until we are blue in the face; an in fact many who claim to have had an NDE or actually briefly perished and had what they said was a hell experience admittedly often try to forget; or it doesn't change them immediately from their sinful lifestyle; and they state they weren't saved at that point. Again it is the sin nature that is the root of the problem not just outer actions; only Christ can truly crucify the old nature. And only HE can show us how truly evil we are; and the love of Christ does that if it is AGAPE and truly from the Lord. We die but have NEW desires in Him.
This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.
Note: Comment threads older than 2 months are automatically locked.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Posting comments is currently unavailable due to high demand on the server.
Please check back in an hour or more. Thank you for your patience!
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?