EDENgate said:
I'm curious. Where does it say we can be unregenerate and all the work God did in making us reborn in him is step by step undone if we disappoint?
Thanks.
Read Ephesians 2 and notice all the times it says "in Christ" or "in the Lord." We have life if we remain in Him; otherwise, we don't.
The challenge for you is to find verses that clearly show that a sealed believer (in Christ, per Eph 1;13,14) can be unsealed.
The popular myth of regeneration says when we're born again we're "zapped" and are changed into an immortal being and it can never be reversed.
Why are you calling the Bible a myth? That's exactly what the Bible teaches. Not that it uses silly words like "zapped". However, the Bible DOES teach that those who are in Christ are NEW CREATURES/NEW CREATION. So there's that. Which you seem to discount.
2 Cor 5:17. As for becoming an "immortal being", that doesn't occur until the resurrection.
But if that's case, why do we still sin? Why would we still need Christ?
We still sin because we STILL have our human nature, which is the sinful nature that Paul wrote about at length. Romans 6,7,8. And Gal 5. We don't lose the sinful human nature until we die.
So, why do we need Christ? He is the vine, and we are the branches. If you want to bear fruit for Him, you MUST abide in Him. That isn't about salvation, since Jesus was speaking to saved disciples when He told them about abiding in Him. He was referring to being IN fellowship with Him. Think of fellowship as being in harmony with Him. On the same page.
In a marriage, unless there is harmony between the spouses, there is no fellowship. Fellowship = harmony.
You want harmony with your Savior? Then be IN fellowship with Him. How do you get in fellowship with Him? 1 John 1:9 is the answer.
If we remain in Christ we have life; we don't have life of ourselves.
you do not understand what I am saying. You cannot separate yourself from Christ, even if you don't believe Eph 1:13,14, where Paul described that "having believed" the believer is sealed with the Holy Spirit. I DARE you to try to break that seal. And there are no verses that say you can.
It's like being in a lifeboat (Christ) in the middle of the ocean; so long as we remain in the boat we're safe. If we go jump out and try to swim on our our own we've lost our safety and will perish.
And you don't believe John 5:24 and 10:28 either.
Why don't you believe what Jesus SAID?
One sin or one momentary lapse of faith won't disqualify you. It has to be a conscious, willful, and ongoing decision on our part to abandon Christ. God is patient, not wanting any to perish. He'll bend over backward to bring us back, but if we persist in rebellion we will sign our own death sentence.
And you don't have any verses to back up your unbiblical claims.
"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins," Hebrews 10:26
For context, read Heb 10:18 first.