That's his MO. Buries meaningful discussion in an elaborate edifice of many words, like the early church father Papias described the gnostics as “those who have so very much to say.”
Loss of salvation???
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That's his MO. Buries meaningful discussion in an elaborate edifice of many words, like the early church father Papias described the gnostics as “those who have so very much to say.”
He has certainly put in your hands the ability and responsibility to keep your vessel clean from the defilements of the world. Without holiness no one will see the lord.
You make it sound like a Christian can never walk away from Christ. If they do that then they are no longer in him and therefore not patakers of eternal life
There seems literally no requirement for compliance, obedience, integrity, loyalty, faithfulness, duty, responsibility, cooperation, abiding, endurance... in the system - let alone virtues like being developed in self-control. With a foundation of misinterpretation of what genuine faith is, at least the system can make sense logically.
One clarification in your statement, did you mean spirit or Spirit or a combination?
Interesting quote. Good for extrospection as well as (for me) introspection at times.
Sometimes many words are necessary, but I'm sure you've noticed in life that when we truly do understand something we can distill it's many and complex elements into its essence that can be expressed in simple terms.
Yes, over time with some self-awareness and honest reflection, I've come to learn how using many words can mask degrees of not understanding. What I've learned experientially on forums is how far we'll go to protect the mask.
Moses spoke of putting instruction in minds and in mouths - idiom for being able to clearly explain what we understand - what we've learned.
IMO, you have walked away from Christ. So, yes, I believe a believer can walk away.
Eternal life is just that....eternal life. If we think we can lose it, we are no longer partakers of eternal life. We cannot live as He wants us to live. Always striving to the goal of eternal life and all the while we possess it.
If we think we can lose eternal life, we do not understand the very basic concept of eternal life and are not partaking in it......Saved, yet as through fire.
Yours' is a gnostic teaching in essence. Valentinian gnostics also believed that what they had been given to them could never be taken away from them because they were spiritual by nature. In your terminology that is described as eternal life. The fact that you think I've walked away from Christ simply because I think someone can fall away from Christ is the essence of gnosis.
This comment is very similar to the Valentinian gnostic belief that Christians without gnosis, ie, the knowledge that they were saved because they were spiritual in nature (or have eternal life in your terminology) were required to do good works that they might attain to the intermediate habitation of heaven. If I remember correctly, you described two classes of saved people: an elite warrior class and a lesser class that cleans toilets and such. A totally gnostic concept. Or do I have you confused with someone else?
I don't know because I've not studied metaphysics. However, it does seem to be a tendency of human nature to believe that way based on how common that view is here, and in ancient times among the Christian gnostic thinkers,
Metaphysics refers to claims about a person’s state of being - for example, ‘once spiritual, always spiritual,’ or ‘a nature that cannot be undone.’ Both the Valentinian view and the eternal security view use this kind of metaphysical language, making them very similar.
It requires our effort for growth, not staying saved. We did nothing to get saved, we do nothing to stay saved.
If that is true, then explain how Christ can say He will lose none? Is our hand/will stronger than God's?