People CAN fall away from God, be it for a few weeks, months or even years. They can fall away AND STILL be saved. Now, before you attack me, I mean "fall away" in the sense that we may go entirely off our path with God. Been there, done that. I was, and AM, still saved.
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Just because someone falls off their path doesn't necessarily mean that they have stopped believing in God. I never stopped believing in Him, but was doing my own thing, instead of what GOD wanted me to do. It's a good thing that God is patient, and always waits for us on the path, to return to Him.
Now if someone doesn't believe in God, then obviously they won't be saved. They can't lose salvation because they never had it in the first place.
To those of you who believe that born-again, believing Christians don't or can't sin, that just is not true. One trip to the Family forum to read the adultery, divorce, porn or masturbation threads will prove it.
Hi Blue,
I don't know if you've been following along. I don't attack anybody. I just got tired of being attacked myself, that's all.
I read what you wrote twice.
By fall away, it seems like you're talking about sinning.
When Paul was speaking about falling away, he was NOT speaking about sinning.
We all sin and if we say we don't, we're lying. 1 John 1:10
When Paul was talking about falling away, he was talking about falling away from FAITH.
So, no matter how improbable it is, we CANNOT say that it's IMPOSSIBLE.
That's what I'm saying. It's not right to say that one cannot fall away if Paul says he can!!
I've listed many verses. They aren't accepted because we each like to believe what we believe.
The problem is that we can't each be right. One of us has to be wrong. So how to decide that?
First of al, every verse has to be exegeted correctly. This is not done here. I hear different persons explaining words away and biblical concepts away as if there is some mysterios aspect to it all.
The bible is simple and is meant for all to undersand. Not just those who know Greek, as I often hear that I don't understand because it means something diffefferent in the Greek. This is nonsense. This means that those of us who do not know it, can never undersand the bible!
Just look at this one verse...
Hebrews 3:12
See to it brothers, that none of you has a sinful UNBELIEVING heart that TURN AWAY from the living God....
versse 14: We have come to sahre in Christ IF WE HLD FIRMY TILL THE END, the confidence we had at first.
Paul is speaking to BROTHERS, not to unbelievers. Yet, I'll hear that they were not really saved. Thus also, setting themselves up as God, to know who is "really" saved an who isn't.
If PAUL says they are brothers, I MUST believe they are brothers. And Paul is telling them not to turn away from the living God.
So, like what happened to you. OK. But you said you NEVER STOPPED BELIEVING IN GOD.
And therein lies the catch.
We could sin, we could "go off the path", in your words, but we are to continue in our faith, we are to continue believing in God.
Belief and faith....................we are saved.
No belief, No faith............... we are not saved.
Blessings
Fran