Can We Lose Our Salvation?

"Do you believe in 'once saved always saved?'" I can't tell you how many times I have been asked this question. Once Saved Always Saved is a belief that once you accept Christ, it is impossible to fall away. Your "saved" forever regardless of how you live or what you believe. This has led to a popular question; can a Christian lose his/her salvation?

To me, it seems like a rather ridiculous question. I mean, sure it's possible. If a Christian were to completely renounce Christ, reject the Gospel, reject the Word, and deny God, then yeah, they could lose their salvation. But who in their right mind would do that? The question just seems way too theoretical for me with almost no practical value to warrant such a debate.

Now, I have noticed when I respond this way people say, "well, what I mean is can you lose your salvation by sinning?" In other words, how much sin is too much sin before you stop being saved? That's a very dangerous question. The moment you begin to answer that question, you are automatically talking about a works based, performance based Gospel.

There's no way around it. If there is an affirmative answer to the question" how much sin is too much sin before you lose your salvation?" then our salvation is dependant if only by a small portion, on our own goodness. We know that salvation by works is the greatest heresy in the New Testament. We know that claiming to made right with God by our own goodness is harshly condemned ins scripture. That's why this is such a dangerous question.

What people really want to know is, can a person get saved, go and live their life how they want too, and still be saved. I think this is another ridiculous question. There's no merit to it because no Born Again Christian is going to accept Christ, then go out and just live it up, party like rock star and sin like heathen... Now I know that raised some major doubt eyebrows and I'm sure many of you wonder whether I live in the real world, but let me explain.

When you are born again, there is a change that takes place. You receive a new heart with new desires. Your going to want to live for Christ. It's just part of your new identity. Sure, you may do some things you shouldn't do, get involved in things you shouldn't get involved in, even go down a road that you shouldn't go down.... maybe two or three times. But at the end of your life, the sum of who you are, is a person perusing Christ. Despite your failures and wanderings, you never said, "Forget it, I'm done. Forget God, forget Christ, forget the Word. I reject it all want nothing to do with it."

That's what  I mean. No human being, is going accept Christ as the savior then immediately Turin around and say, "Okay, got that over with. Now let's ditch this stupid Jesus stuff and go live it up!" If someone ever did, they clearly never were saved to begin with and therefore couldn't lose their salvation since they never had it to begin with.

Like I said, it's a ridiculous question. Can a Christian lose his/her salvation? Sure... in theory, but why would they?

"Pro-Life", and Supporting Capital Punishment

If your confused by the title of this blog then we have something in common. I have always been in favor of the death penalty. I really don't know why, I just always have been. I figured it was a just thing. You know, a life for a life. I'm also very pro life. As I get older I am seeing more and more, a contradiction between being pro-life, and supporting capital punishment.

Now when I say that I am pro-life, I mean very pro-life. I consider abortion murder, believe it should be outlawed, and put the death of these unborn children on the same level of the holocaust. I make no apologies for that. My reasoning behind this extreme conviction? Pardon my language but, because their human freaking beings!

It's sad that I have to elaborate further than that statement but I will. All humans, regardless of their stage in life, are sacred creatures created in the image of the Living God. We have been given an eternal mind and spirit just like our creator. Each and every human being, regardless of how insignificant or lowly we think they are, has been called and chosen by God for a special divine purpose. As you can see, being pro-life, goes much further than opposing abortion. It is treating all human life as sacred with sanctity and reverence.... Which brings me to the death penalty.

I understand from a financial sociological standpoint the reasoning for capital punishment. These criminals are a very real danger to society. Killing them would insure without a doubt that they will never endanger anyone again. I suppose life sentences would do that too, but that would also drain our resources and tax payer dollars. There's just one problem with that logic.... A human being is not A number. People are not cells on a spreadsheet. They are not lines on a budget sheet, gears in a machine, or logistical variables. You cannot use the, "it saves money" argument when talking about a person's life.

A person who has a family. A person who has a mother that will fall to the floor in horrific cries as her son is put to death. A person who has children. We have the right to end that life? Who are we? Some may say, what about self defense and war? Any rational person will understand the huge difference between killing some because we think we should, and killing someone because they are trying to kill us.

Still there is the question, what about the mother, children, spouse, and family of the person that was murdered? Killing the murderer will not bring the murdered back, nor will it take away the pain. You cannot expect a clean, neat, well planned execution of one life to equate as an adequate trade for the gruesome murder of another.

I must digress. The purpose of this blog was not to argue for or against capital punishment. It was to ask a question to the pro life crowd... Take a hard look at your convictions. If your really so pro-life, how do you wrestle with the apparent contradiction of treating all human life as sacred, while supporting the execution of another sacred, divinely called human being, bearing the image of God Almighty?

The "church": Christianity's Greatest Persecutor

Persecution is a way of life for the Christian. Across the globe, Christians face oppression. Many are killed for their faith. This should not surprise us considering Christianity was started by a man who was persecuted and killed Himself. It's only natural that His followers would receive the same fate. Jesus Himself warned us that we would be persecuted for our faith. But it wasn't the "world" that Jesus warned us about. It was the religious people.

He told His disciples that their persecutors would "drag you into synagogues" not secular courts. Even at His own trial, the crowd yelling" Crucify Him!" was not nonbelievers, it was the Jews, the Sanhedrin. The religious establishment. When the apostles first started their ministry who were the main persecutors?

The religious establishment. Yes, the Romans stepped in, but only to keep the peace. They could care less about some new Jewish sect. It was the religious crowd in the book of Acts that persecuted the Christians. Today we know them as "the church crowd". The religious establishment.

A good litmus test to reveal who's in the church crowd is to start reaching out to the lost. Start bringing the "outsiders" in the sanctuary, and those who are part of the religious establishment will take their masks off. Jesus called it the "yeast of the Pharisees". Throughout history they have been the greatest persecutors of Christians. They persecuted the Apostolic Church who preached salvation to the Gentiles when others said only the Jews can be saved.

They persecuted the reformers who preached salvation by grace and not by woks in the 1500's. They persecuted the Pentecostals who preached the power of the Spirit not tradition and dogma in the 1900's. And now they are persecuting the church that is branching out of the systems and institutions of religion as a living breathing community of life change.

They tolerate single moms so long as they don't bring up the "single" part of their motherhood. They like young people, just don't ask provoking questions or color outside the lines. The occasional recovering addicts are motivational, just don't bring too many or you will scare away they big tithers. Prostitutes and strippers should be brought care packages and tracts not brought into "The House of God".

They love Gay people, just stop being gay... How about you stop being straight! Then there are the poor... They have their place, so long as they are not "repeat offenders" on the benevolence list and are actively enrolled in a Dave Ramsey class.

Now I know this is not a reflection of the whole Church. I will even agree that it may not even reflect the majority of the Church. It is a reflection of the establishment. That's why I  put the word "church" in quotation marks in the title. God's true Church has always sought the lost. She has always been a reflection of mercy and grace. Let's be the remnant not the establishment.