Eternal Security

[Paddington]

FWIW, I would give Luther a pass on that comment. I think that he believed that salvation is new life and not just a free pass. That would make his comment only figurative and dumb. Seems to me anyways.

Umm.....Has anybody else here ever wondered if a 7 year old whose parents believed in "decision salvation" and OSAS rejected the offer when presented by his parents? It would be funny. Maybe even sick funny. Because, it would never happen in a million years. And that is why people with that doctrine might as well add a new doctrine to their soteriology...."If your parents are saved, then you are saved."

[Katholikos]

[quote name='Paddington' post='1270667' date='May 10 2007, 09:21 PM']FWIW, I would give Luther a pass on that comment. I think that he believed that salvation is new life and not just a free pass. That would make his comment only figurative and dumb. Seems to me anyways.[/quote]

Regardless of what Luther may have meant when he wrote "Let your sins be strong," or what doctrines he himself may have held, the impact of his words cannot be dismissed, IMO. He ploughed the ground for OSAS. He was very rash in his statements, and very influential. The Nazi's in the 20th century latched on to what he had written about the Jews in the 16th, for example.

Thanks for sharing your POV.

Likos

[Groo the Wanderer]

How I explain it to my kiddos in a car analogy.

When yer little, yer parents take you everywhere in the car. You don't need yer own. When you get older you begin to need a car. Without it, you are idle and can go nowhere. But you can't afford to pay the price for a car - it's just too much. So yer parents buy you one.

They offer you the keys. Now you have a choice:
1. take the keys and accept the consequences
a. you have to clean it
b. you have to learn to drive it
c. you have to pay for insurance and gas
d. you have to get it fixed if it breaks
2. refuse the keys and stay miserable with no transportation

Funny thing about those keys. You can choose at any time to toss them back or drop them. Yer parents pick them up and hold them for you. You can take them back at any time, if you accept the responsibilities that go with it.

Question is...do you take the keys? do you keep them? if you drop them, do you pick them back up? In the end, you don't get to go to prom without a car...better choose wisely before time runs out.

Yeah, it's stretch and has some weak analogies in it, but it gets the point across. Salvation is bought and paid for us by Christ once and for all time. We could not pay the price, so He did. But salvation has responsibilities. Gotta life the life, gotta walk the talk, gotta learn the faith, gotta get back up when ya fall (and you will fall). You can also choose to refuse salvation, renounce it or toss it all away. But through Christ's infinite grace, it is still there waiting for you when you are ready to pick accept it again.

Hopefully when yer card is punched and it's yer turn to stand with Christ before the Father, yer holding the keys the Lord has given ya....

[jeffpugh]

Very insightful, Groo. I think it's simple enough to work under certain circumstances. It made sense to me.