That may be the case, but make no mistake there is but ONE correct message concerning salvation (the gospel) not two....one of the groups above is in error.......
I believe covenant relationship best defines the nearly to good to be true Gospel and it's truth lies between reformed Covenant Theology and Wesleyan Arminianism Covenant theology......especially in regards to the doctrine of Apostasy....
The truth is a single coin with 2 sides....many here have tried to attempt to state what it is, but the OSAS crowd does not want discussion they want to be right...
God has and always will be a covenant God...The remedy is the free gift of Jesus Christ and him crucified, buried and risen....and the gift's eternal security is based on free choice to remain in covenant relationship or not....Jesus said in John 17.3 to KNOW him and Father are eternal life....
[SUP]3 [/SUP]This is eternal life, that they may
know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
If God kept me against my wishes and my belief it would make God a man that would lie....it also means that Satan and 1/3 of the angels would have never fell<<<<<<<<<<<<that single fact should prove to OSAS people the fallacy of part of their entire message....The central theme to any creation of God is that they are given free choice to believe or not and at any time....Calvin got this wrong and so infected much of the body with the leaven of eternal security.....
To know God and Jesus Christ is more than mere faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross.....it is to become one with him....and his sacrifice....
When Jesus says I never knew you in Matt 7, it is the very same word he uses in John 17.3 and it means depart from me, because you were never one with me....
Many here pound their fists that they have faith given to them and know Jesus and Father and have zero to worry about.....that is certainly a correct, but only a one sided view of the coin of 2 parts......the other side asks.....Does Jesus and Father have faith in you and do they know you....
Nahum 1.7
The Lord is good,
A stronghold in the day of trouble,
And He knows those who take refuge in Him.
Someone posed this scenario to a group of us in Bible a study:
You have died and Jesus meets you at the gate of Paradise and asks why you belong. and why he should let you in.....Oh the answers that came out are much like some of the peeps on this thread...I am written in the book of life....he saved me...he did this, he passively worked in my life...a young minister schooled all of us....their answer?
"The fact he knows me is enough....."