First, you show me where the words, "can not lose your salvation" are.
Simple.
Because the scriptures tell us we will not have the Son or the Father or eternal life if we do not let what we first heard and believed abide in us.
This is not hard.
Really.
I don't need to find the specific words, "can't lose your salvation" in order to figure out that God's saints are not forsaken and are
preserved forever (Psalm 37:28) or Jesus' sheep are
given eternal life, will never perish or be snatched from His hand (John 10:27-28) or
those He justified, He also glorified (Romans 8:30) or that believers are
sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit until the redemption of the purchased possession/unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
No, actually I'm sounding like the church fathers immediately following the Apostles.
That sounds like exactly what a Roman Catholic would say. They quote the church fathers a lot in order to validate their doctrines, including false doctrines like infant baptism and transubstantiation. The writings of the church fathers are not infallible and they did not always agree with each other.
And yet it is argued by once saved always saved that falling away is the sign you were never really saved to begin with. Very confusing doctrine.
It's not confusing to me, but it's confusing for those who subscribe to self preservation (pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and keep yourself saved) instead of God's preservation.
The word not being firmly rooted being the cause of falling away, yes, Jesus says that happens.
But how and why does that have to equate to fake, not really believing?
That is what you have not explained.
Jesus said they believe for a little while. You say that was fake believing.....because it didn't last....because it was fake. That's called circular reasoning. You're defining believing for a little while as not believing at all when the scriptures do not do that. Calvinism does that.
I did explain it in post #115,712. -
https://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/not-by-works.146296/page-5786#post-4099072
Once again, unlike saving belief, shallow, temporary belief that has no root, produces no fruit and withers away is not rooted in a regenerate heart. How can
no depth of earth, no root, no moisture, no fruit, represent saving belief? *Also the same Greek word for believe "pisteuo" is used in James 2:19, in which we read that the demons believe"mental assent" that "there is one God," but they do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are not saved. (Acts 16:31)
John has portrayed people who "believe" (at least to some level) but are clearly not saved. There is a stage in the progress of belief in Jesus that "falls short of firmly rooted and established belief resulting in salvation." As we see in John 2:23-25, in which their belief was
superficial in nature and Jesus would not entrust/commit Himself to them.
Also, in John 8:31-59, where the Jews who were said to have "believed in him" turn out to be
slaves to sin, indifferent to the words of Jesus’, children of the devil, liars, accused Jesus of having a demon and were guilty of setting out to stone and kill the one they have professed to believe in. We can see at best, these Jews believed in Him (based on their own misconceptions and expectations) of Jesus, yet upon gaining further knowledge about Jesus through His words, we see they did not believe unto salvation and become children of God (John 1:12; 3:18) but were instead children of the devil.
That is the predetermined route for the one who believes. That's why the believer should keep on believing and not abandon such a hope as that.
It's not a difficult burden to keep on believing and it's not in our own power that we came to believe in the first place. If God did not draw us and enable us (John 6:44,65) we would never have come to believe in the first place.
By the way, this is another example of where Calvin had to invent a doctrine to keep the scriptures from negating his teachings. To avoid the conflict between his teaching and the Bible's
'many are called, few are chosen' he had to invent another type of calling that does make it without exception to the glorified state and which accommodates his misguided, and Biblically contradictory, interpretation of Romans 8:30 that says all called will with certainty be glorified. Meanwhile the other calling of God doesn't end up in glorification and so Paul is not talking about
that calling in Romans 8:30.
Matthew 22:14 -
Called (2282 - kletos) in Matthew 22:14 is talking about the general call of the gospel which goes out to all men every time the gospel is preached. We see here that many are called but few are chosen, so is this the same call in Romans 8:30? How could it be when this call results in justification and glorification for those who are called?
In the Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, we read <Adjective,
2822,kletos> "called, invited," is used, (a)
"of the call of the Gospel," Matt. 20:16; 22:14,
not there "an effectual call," as in the Epistles, Rom. 1:1,6,7; 8:28; 1 Cor. 1:2,24; Jude 1:1; Rev. 17:14; in Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2 the meaning is "saints by calling;" (b) of "an appointment to apostleship," Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1.
Called (2564 - kaleo) "different Greek word" in Romans 8:30 conveys the idea of an
effectual call and emphasizes God's sovereign work. God has invited us to join Him in eternity in incorruptible, sinless, glorified bodies. The aorist tense points to the fact that God effectively had called them into His kingdom and service in the past. As Greek scholar AT Robertson points out -
there is a distinction between the called (klhtoi) and the chosen (eklektoi) called out from the called. Of course, those who are justified and glorified are those who answer and abide. Romans 8:30 says ..whom He
called, these He also justified;
and whom He justified, these He also glorified. Paul did not say here that many were called but few were justified and glorified.
In the Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, we read - Verb, 2564, kaleo derived from the root kal---, whence Eng. "call" and "clamor" (see B and C, below), is used (a) with a personal object, "to call anyone, invite, summon," e.g., Matt. 20:8; 25:14; it is used particularly of the
Divine call to partake of the blessings of redemption, e.g., Rom. 8:30; 1 Cor. 1:9; 1 Thess. 2:12; Heb. 9:15; cp. B and C, below; (b) of nomenclature or vocation, "to call by a name, to name;" in the Passive Voice, "to be called by a name, to bear a name." Thus it suggests either vocation or destination; the context determines which, e.g., Rom. 9:25-26; "surname," in Acts 15:37, AV, is incorrect (RV, "was called").
That's right, so explain how my believing, if I do it, is equal to being justified by the law.
Believing is not equal to being justified by the law.
As I said, Calvinism says if you do anything toward salvation, even believing, then you are working to earn salvation, therefore, believing has to be a purely sovereign act of God in election that a person just wakes up one day doing. And since believing is a pure, sovereign act of God granted to you, you can't ever lose your salvation, nor stop believing. The premise is wrong, therefore, the conclusion is wrong.
I don't believe that God fatalistically causes you to believe as I already previously explained. God does not simply zap us with saving faith and we have no choice in the matter. To not lose salvation/stop believing is about God's preservation after we choose to believe the gospel and not fatalistic determination.
I think I said it earlier in this thread, you have to go to the root of the problem of once saved always saved and that's Calvin's erroneous understanding of election and predestination. But once the tentacles of his beliefs get in a person it's pretty hard to wrestle them loose from them. It's one of the most hardened indoctrinations that I see in people.
Apparently, Calvin and I do not share the same understanding of election and predestination, but you share the belief about losing salvation with false religions and cults that teach salvation by works. Indoctrination is a two way street.