Excuse you.. Nobody made me the expert. It just doesn't make sense to have to get saved over and over again. Jesus didn't hang on the cross more than once, OBVIOUSLY.. We ALL live in sin, yes even as Christians.
And (most of) we repent of those sins. Obviously a believer is saved, and saved ONCE. Not a ten million time deal. Repentance is the key to being and remaining saved. Like I said, I believe we will be given one last chance to repent at the final judgment. We all "have left the protective arms of Jesus" at one time or another. It's called stumbling off the path. But He stands there patiently, and waits for us to return to Him.
And indeed, who BELIEVES in Him shall not perish. I don't take anything lightly. Ask anyone on this site..
Hi Ladybug,
I think you misunderstand what loss of salvation is. You don't lose your salvation every time you sin. Did someone here say that? Certainly I didn't.
When I say that we need to stay in the protecting arms of Jesus I mean exactly for the reason that we DO sin and He is there to protect us. We "put Him on" for our protection.
Galatians 3:27 and Romans 13:14 speak to this. If we keep Jesus, God will see His Son and not us. Jesus is our protection.
Galatians 3:27
"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have CLOTHED yourselves with Christ." NASB
It's in abandoning this protection that salvation is lost. It's when we grieve the Holy Spirit by denying the Holy Spirit and by denying God and His Son.
We don't get saved and lose salvation and then get salvation and lose salvation, etc. by sinning. This is a silly concept.
You're correct in saying that repentance is the key. We repent, ask forgiveness and continue. Even if we died before we asked forgiveness, we would still be saved by our Lord.
About the one last chance... This is off topic. But let me ask you this, WHO WOULD NOT accept salvation at that point???!!! He'd have to be the biggest idiot on earth to have God standing before him and he turns God down to go to hell !
What about Hebrews 9:27?
"...It is appointed for man to die once and after this c omes judgment." NASB
I do believe that YOU also said that if a person stops believing in God, he would no longer be saved. If I've understood this correctly, then I'd have to say that we agree.
Fran