Ok Fran,
I will ask forgiveness, and say it seems you misunderstood me, So although you did do what I said, it was out of ignorance, not out of anything else
I say this, because what you just described here is not even close to what I believe, or what I was even trying to say, It is the wrong context completely.
so here I will try to use an example, Remembering that faith means you have assurance that the one you are trusting can do what you are asking him or her to do.
Did you have faith in your father when you grew up? I did, I did for years, Then my father starting letting me down, I would trust him in an area and he would fail me, Eventually after so much of this, I lost faith in my father
My father did not take my faith away from me, He did not force me to keep having faith in him, he did not force me to lose faith in him, He just stopped being faithful.
That is the way we humans do things (maybe you do not? I do not know, you would be the first I ever met if you do not) We trust some one as long as they are trustworthy, As soon as they stop doing things which help us have faith in them, as soon as they stop being faithful to us, We lose faith in them, If they get to the the point they lose all trustworthiness, We lose all faith in them. (which in the case of salvation, I gather you and a few like you say this is how salvation can be lost)
Also.
Some people are trustworthy is some areas, yet are not very trustworthy in others. I may ask them to help in one area, because I know I can trust them, but other areas, I would not ask, because I do not trust them to get that job done.
Now. to God.
Is God trustworthy? Will he ever let us down? Is there any area he is not trustworthy in?
I can not think of any are where God can not do somethign that needs to be done, and he would do it right.
So why would I ever lose faith in God? Again, He is not human, he will not stop being a trustworthy God.
The only reason I can think of losing faith in God in this area, is if I become legalistic in my walk, And I look at myself, and I see I am not doing well. or I am in trouble, because I fail to live up. or I struggle with a certain sin and can not seem to break it, Or I have religious people attacking me, I have satan attacking me, so I may lose faith at this time and walk away, Not because I lost faith in God, but faith in myself.
Now. I first get saved, because I trust him to save me, from that point, I have to grow, while growing I have to learn to trust God in scary areas of my life, where I have yet to trust him in,, And when I do, Does he ever let me down? No.. SO I may never gain faith in a particular area of my life and continue to struggle in that area, but once i have it, What reason would I have to lose faith in that area?
Again, God does not let me down?
Again, Maybe you misunderstood me, I will give you that benefit. But God does not force people to stay in faith, He does not have to, He never gives anyone a reason to stop having faith in him
I hope you now understand where I was coming from.
God still promises to save me, It is not he that failed, it was me.
I will ask forgiveness, and say it seems you misunderstood me, So although you did do what I said, it was out of ignorance, not out of anything else
I say this, because what you just described here is not even close to what I believe, or what I was even trying to say, It is the wrong context completely.
so here I will try to use an example, Remembering that faith means you have assurance that the one you are trusting can do what you are asking him or her to do.
Did you have faith in your father when you grew up? I did, I did for years, Then my father starting letting me down, I would trust him in an area and he would fail me, Eventually after so much of this, I lost faith in my father
My father did not take my faith away from me, He did not force me to keep having faith in him, he did not force me to lose faith in him, He just stopped being faithful.
That is the way we humans do things (maybe you do not? I do not know, you would be the first I ever met if you do not) We trust some one as long as they are trustworthy, As soon as they stop doing things which help us have faith in them, as soon as they stop being faithful to us, We lose faith in them, If they get to the the point they lose all trustworthiness, We lose all faith in them. (which in the case of salvation, I gather you and a few like you say this is how salvation can be lost)
Also.
Some people are trustworthy is some areas, yet are not very trustworthy in others. I may ask them to help in one area, because I know I can trust them, but other areas, I would not ask, because I do not trust them to get that job done.
Now. to God.
Is God trustworthy? Will he ever let us down? Is there any area he is not trustworthy in?
I can not think of any are where God can not do somethign that needs to be done, and he would do it right.
So why would I ever lose faith in God? Again, He is not human, he will not stop being a trustworthy God.
The only reason I can think of losing faith in God in this area, is if I become legalistic in my walk, And I look at myself, and I see I am not doing well. or I am in trouble, because I fail to live up. or I struggle with a certain sin and can not seem to break it, Or I have religious people attacking me, I have satan attacking me, so I may lose faith at this time and walk away, Not because I lost faith in God, but faith in myself.
Now. I first get saved, because I trust him to save me, from that point, I have to grow, while growing I have to learn to trust God in scary areas of my life, where I have yet to trust him in,, And when I do, Does he ever let me down? No.. SO I may never gain faith in a particular area of my life and continue to struggle in that area, but once i have it, What reason would I have to lose faith in that area?
Again, God does not let me down?
Again, Maybe you misunderstood me, I will give you that benefit. But God does not force people to stay in faith, He does not have to, He never gives anyone a reason to stop having faith in him
I hope you now understand where I was coming from.
God still promises to save me, It is not he that failed, it was me.
I Always said that one has to ABANDON God to lose salvation.
If God does not give me a healing. And I really needed it. Could I lose faith that He will EVER give me a healing?
YES.
This does not mean I'm not saved. I may come to think that God will never heal me. But if I still believe in God, keep Him close to me, continue in my relationship with Him, why would I lose my salvation?
God knows our limits. He remains faithful to Himself, as 2 Timothy 2:13 states. His promise to save me will be kept for as long as I WANT IT to keep me.
I feel that God can let me down in some area, I could "feel" that He let me down. Even though I know the answer could be:
YES, NO, NOT NOW, but in my heart I may feel let down. But I still could love Him and continue on.
God can do anything, but He has to want to.
"Jesus can You take the time
to throw a drowning man a line
Peace On Earth"...
We don't Always get that line. It doesn't mean God doesn't love us. It just wasn't meant to be.
I do want to say that some do lose their faith totally and ABANDON God. This is loss of salvation.
You and I disagree that salvation can be lost.
Otherwise I'd say we pretty much agree.
But this is a VERY IMPORTANT aspect of Christianity.
Hope I've understood you.