Once saved? (Jesus, salvation, grace, doctrine, churches)

[Charity]

Rheff it doesn't bother me to discuss my beliefs with you or anyone...I will try and answer as best I can.....My grandmother was Catholic, my grandfather was a Baptist. I was in the Freewill Bap. when I was a teen....So I've pretty much been around it all...Oh yeah! dated a LDS when I was a teen also..........

[trinity2359]

To put 'once saved, always saved' in Catholic terms, one who is OSAS is incapable of commiting a mortal sin after his/her conversion - they have a one-way ticket to heaven which cannot be derailed. If they do commit a mortal sin afterwards, then the conversion wasn't true. The trick is to know the difference

[ChristineES]

I take it like this-- Once I was born into my family, I was a part of my family. No matter what I do, even if I abandoned my family (I didn't do that)I will still be a part of that family. The same thing can be said of this-- once you are born again into God's family, you are always a part of that family, too.

[ChristineES]

The thing is that if someone doesn't believe in God, then how can he or she blaspheme Him (or Her)? It doesn't seem possible. (I am not saying it isn't possible, that I just can't imagine that it is).

[rheff78]

But my question still stands. YOu can be apart of the "family" but not be saved. I mean, I can call myself Christian and say I was saved and then do whatever I wanted? I can still be a christian and do bad things. Being saved I guess makes no sense to me. To me it seems like kind of a cope out. I don't really have to be repentent because I am already saved. See what I mean?

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by rheff78

Fellow christians, I ask this because I am curious and I don't want to start spouting off things I don't understand (God knows people do that with me all the time). For those that believe in being saved. I don't quite get it. Does that mean if you have been saved, you are saved for ever? I guess I'm asking, do you no longer have to repent for your sins because you are saved? I only ask because obviously Catholics don't believe in being saved. Just a little help, the concept is lost to me. Peace.

LDS belief is similar to Catholic belief regarding what it means to be saved, if I understand the Catholic belief correctly. We never speak of salvation in the present tense. In other words, the question, "Are you saved?" makes little sense to a Mormon. We believe that Jesus Christ came to earth to offer salvation to all. But the Bible says that "he that endureth until the end shall be saved." The end hasn't come yet.

[Fish-Hunter]

Originally Posted by mball1297

I know this is for Christians, but I have one question if you wouldn't mind. Are you talking about a different form of being saved than dying and going to Heaven? Sorry, I was just curious, not trying to argue.

As a Reformed Christian (Calvinist), I do not believe in the man-made teaching of "Once Saved always Saved". I do believe in "Perseverance of the Saints". It is a biblical position and not to be confused with contemporary OSAS.

Monergism :: Perseverance of Saints - Click for self study


The perseverance of the saints means that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God’s power and will persevere as Christians until the end of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the end have been truly born again.
Wayne Grudem from Systematic Theology (pg. 788)

If our religion be of our own getting or making, it will perish; and the sooner it goes, the better; but if our religion is a matter of God's giving, we know that He shall never take back what He gives, and that, if He has commenced to work in us by His grace, He will never leave it unfinished.
C.H. Spurgeon

For non-reformed theologies..."at the end of the day, the security of the believer finally rests with the believer. For those in the opposite camp [Reformed], the security of the believer finally rests with God -- and that, I suggest, rightly taught, draws the believer back to God himself, to trust in God, to a renewed faith that is of a piece with trusting him in the first place."
D.A. Carson

When we speak of “once saved, always saved,” we are not taking into account the full scope of salvation. We have been saved (justification), was are being saved (sanctified), and we will one day be saved (glorified). You cannot claim to have been “saved” (justified) unless you are being sanctified. Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord.
Michael Horton from Putting the Amazing Back into Grace (pg. 171)

[Ringer]

The problem I seem to have with anything but "once saved, always saved" is that we can never be sure of our position or status within the Kingdom. It really is pretty frightening to think that there's a chance when I die that I'm expecting to see God in all of his glory only to be sadly mistaken and I'm elsewhere. That's no a problem for those who don't believe in Hell or even the fact that you aren't there for eternity but I happen to believe in Hell's existence and that it is eternal. I don't think that as Christians it's healthy to be dwelling on our eternal security. There are way too many important things to be doing on earth to constantly be worrying about such things. Jesus was our sacrifice, He gave us the way to be in a relationship with God the Father through Him. We are now in the family and as He promised, He will perfect us to that we can be holy, too.

But, I also think that our works are not in vein and that there will be a believer's pay day, so to speak. We are not called to be lax in our works once we receive the gift of salvation but to bear much fruit. Many people will ask me, "Well, what about if Ted Bundy accepted Jesus in his last year of life? How is it fair that he gets to go to Heaven?" And my answer is usually, look, nobody deserves Heaven and by you saying that Ted Bundy doesn't deserve Heaven you are essentially saying that somehow you are better and that you deserve it over Ted. And that isn't the case. The Bible makes it clear that NOBODY seeks God in their own nature and we were all destined for the same place.

A long-winded answer but wanted to make my stance clear. Lets spend our energies doing things for the Kingdom and out of love. Not out of fear that our eternal salvation depends on them.

[Scott C.]

The Evangelical view on this subject has always confused me and I have tried to understand it. I believe some Evangelicals would accept the following statement:

"While works do not save us, a lack of works indicates that we are not saved." Some also believe "once saved, always saved", but would say that if a person falls away from Christ, after allegedly being saved, it means they never were saved in the first place. This view allows one to hold to the "once saved, always saved" idea, while recognizing that someone can't be saved who does not have good works. In this view, the works do not save, but are evidence of salvation. If one does not endure to the end, it means he must have never been saved in the first place or he would have endured to the end.

It is true that to an LDS that the question "are you saved?" does not have a lot of meaning, since life is not over. But, I have a personal idea on the subject. If someone asks me if I am saved, I would answer as follows:

I believe that if I died at this moment, I would go to heaven because:
1. I have received the saving ordinance of baptism.
2. I have accepted the atonement of Christ.
3. I believe that I am keeping my end of the baptismal covenant and therefore know that I have a remission of sins.

But, there is no guarantee that if you ask me the same question in a year, that I can answer the same way. If I fall away and stop trying to keep my baptismal covenant, God will no longer keep his end of the agreement to retain the remission of my sins and allow me to enter his presence.