Once Saved Always Saved.htm

Once Saved Always Saved.

I attended a former church that had a doctrine of once saved always saved. Their belief was that once you were saved you were born into the family of God. They justify their beliefs by saying giving birth to you by your parents formed an unbreakable relationship that will last your lifetime. Once the birth took place nothing anyone could do would ever change that relationship. This church said that once you are born of God, nothing could be done to break the relationship of father and son. Once saved you became God’s son no matter what may happen.

Here on Earth, you can establish your own identity by the work you perform and those you choose to associate with. You can distance yourself from your parents and ignore them altogether, but regardless of what you do they will still be your mother and father. In a court of law, man has allowed children to divorce their parents, but even that does not break the genetic and biological ties that God has created.

It is evident in this church being saved relies solely on the relationship the member has with his or her Father in heaven. Yet in this church the need to repent is just as strong, and every Sunday you can hear the salvation message. Why do they preach about backsliding and the return to the life of sin when in their mind once saved always saved.

This church use the excuse that those found in sin was never saved in the first place. Once saved always saved is easy to say when you are one of the saved groups. However, the strong belief in this view certainly helps to elevate the church members above those who are lost. This doctrine tends to distance the believers from the lost rather then help them have a right relation with God. Can they really say for a fact that you were never saved in the first place when God makes the choice to save.

If there real need to preach about backsliding if you were saved in this church. Backsliding amounts to a personal failure and falling into sin. The Bible says that you are a slave (a possession) of those you obey so it is possible to flip back and forth making it hard just to know who is your Father. The bible also talks of apostasy or the deliberate abandoning of your faith in God. Apostasy is one of many doctrines that oppose the idea of once saved always saved.

Most people have heard the child that stands up to you and says, you can’t make me obey you, you’re not my father. Are the people who say no to God really saying I’m not going to obey God because he’s not my father? I don’t think so but I believe they are ignorant that you are slaves of the one you obey Romans 6:16. Through love one is compelled to obey their father. By nature man is rebellious of God, we are stiff necked, arrogant and prideful.

Jesus was speaking to the priests of his day but they only understood a part of what he was saying.

"We are not illegitimate children," they protested. "The only Father we have is God himself." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father , you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father , the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:41-44

These priest are like those who one day will stand before the judgement seat of Christ only to find out that their beliefs were unfounded.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' Matthew 7:21-23

God gave parents the right to correct their children still some children is more rebellious than others. The bible speaks of the responsibilities of the parent to a rebellious child and to keep the entire camp morally pure and holy in God’s site.

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, "This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard." Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid. Deuteronomy 21:18-21

Stoning the rebellious child seems a little harsh, but that is the way God deals with sin. Paul said, don’t you know that a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough? Evil starts as a seed and men are prone to peer pressure. When seed is planted in an environment such as the camp of God, that seed will grow and infect its environment. God is harsh on sin because it destroys the pure life he has worked for. Stoning may be harsh yet it is a part of Gods plan to eradicate sin when he returns.

The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. Matthew 13:41

From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. Revelations 16:21

Stoning may be God’s way to cleanse the camp of sin, but it is also an effective method of inflicting pain and punishment on those who refuse to serve God. Today as in the days the Bible, God has rebellious children. It is natural for children to obey, retain respect and then display love for their parents. Any correction makes the children know that their mother and father love them.

Children do things that their parents have not trained them to do. Parents will not love their children any less after several warnings go unheeded. However, parents will disown their children and sever all relations with them when their children show no intentions of ever obeying them. These parents have been hurt deeply and want nothing to do with that rebellious child.

However, God is different, it is not the person he hates but the sin he commits. God can not tolerate sin so anyone who causes sin and does evil is subject to his wrath. All sin is lawlessness and by obeying his own law God lives without sin. God is able to love you and still chastise you for sin. The chastisement of God shows love for his children but his law gives them absolutes to live by. If anything, the people going to hell are being chastised for the benefit of the children going to heaven.

Once saved you can give your birthright away or sell it for a mere pittance. The birthright is a right or entitlement given by virtue of birth, normally to the first son. However, the birthright could be taken away because of a serious offense against the father. To God that serious offence is sin. Jacob gave the rights of his first born to Joseph. Why, because Reuben went in and slept with his father's concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. Genesis 35:22 .

The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father's marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; 1 Chronicles 5:1

Israel was the chosen people of God. but they rejected God by turning to idols for refuge. You can be born again and backslide. Serving God is done with the heart, not from compulsion. Christ died once for all and his death on the cross atoned for the sins of man.

Once saved always saved, made sense the way this church told it. This doctrine has a lot of human logic that is not found within Gods word. The bible shows that you can know God and turn from him.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Revelations 2:4

People can drift apart when they do not see each other over long periods of time. Because being saved is a relationship with God you can drift from God for the same reasons. You can forsake your first love by being too busy to nurture a relationship with God. It is as easy as moving to another place that distances yourself from friends. Frequent communication with friends is the key ingredient to relationships.

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