FREE WILL

Many Baptists will claim "once saved, always saved." The idea that once you are baptised into the family of Christ, He'll never leave you. Thus, if you fall away, God will forgive you and you are still assured a place in eternity. Even a blatant rejection of Christ would be seen as just bad behavior, and you'd still be saved.

However, we are told we have free will. If "once saved, always saved" were true, then if we made the conscience decision to leave the body of Christ, we would have lost free will. He won't depart us (nothing we could do couldn't be forgiven by Him), but we could depart Him -- but it would have to be a deliberate, willing act, hardening our heart. Even the angels have free-will, and some fell. However, since our "sin" was brought to us, rather than created by us, God has allowed a plan of salvation for us, not to the angels who've fallen.

We are told that we can return to a life of deliberate and defiant sin, and that we will be seen as unrighteous. The Christians who sin and confess and repent will be given salvation; they do not have to be perfect. Sinners are more than happy to point out downfalls to a Christian, but don't want their own actions to be discussed... they say they are being "judged." Christians don't have the authority to make judgement, but they do have the responsibility to provide warning. Nonetheless, why would a non-accepting sinner be concerned with the opinion of the Christian? However, if what a Christian warns about strikes a nerve, then you're hearing a knock on the door of your heart... the person on the otherside will remove that feeling completely and will help deal with the problem, rather than burying it deeper and covering it was calouses. Christ came to forgive, not to judge. Judgement comes later, after we all have been given the change for forgiveness.


Summary on Once Saved, Always Saved Position


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