I have struggled with this for many, many, many, many months. But now the Holy Spirit told me something. I am going to back this up with scripture too. The Bible is clear that you cannot be a homosexual, adulterer or murderer and go to heaven. I believe that too. The Bible is clear that those who practice sin and have no conviction of the Holy Spirit were never saved. Biblical repentance is a change of mind and heart as well as a turning from sin to the Lord.
Yet, too often in the last months I have drifted into the Calvinist doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints. This doctrine is missunderstood. It does not simply mean that a born again Christian will never perish. But also that if he falls back, he was never saved, which is actually the same thing as loss of salvation, just with a different emphasis. Of course, the Bible tells us those born of God will overcome (1 John 5:4). Yet, a Christian can be totally sure that he is saved now. Overall the TULIP gives less assurance than conditional security, because those who believe in conditional security believe you can know you have chosen God, so overall Arminianism indeed is way closer to the truth than Calvinism. Some Arminians believe in eternal security, some don't.
Yet, what does 1 John 2:19 talk about? Does it really mean that if a saint falls back into doubt and unbelief (2 Timothy 2:13), that would proof he was never saved? I believe a Christian has a free will to commit any sin, but if he does, God will chastise him and so a Christian does not practice sin like the unbelievers do.
Yet, too often in the last months I have drifted into the Calvinist doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints. This doctrine is missunderstood. It does not simply mean that a born again Christian will never perish. But also that if he falls back, he was never saved, which is actually the same thing as loss of salvation, just with a different emphasis. Of course, the Bible tells us those born of God will overcome (1 John 5:4). Yet, a Christian can be totally sure that he is saved now. Overall the TULIP gives less assurance than conditional security, because those who believe in conditional security believe you can know you have chosen God, so overall Arminianism indeed is way closer to the truth than Calvinism. Some Arminians believe in eternal security, some don't.
Yet, what does 1 John 2:19 talk about? Does it really mean that if a saint falls back into doubt and unbelief (2 Timothy 2:13), that would proof he was never saved? I believe a Christian has a free will to commit any sin, but if he does, God will chastise him and so a Christian does not practice sin like the unbelievers do.
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