Bav wrote:Then STOP providing the straw man for me.
I'm not providing the attack, Bav. I've set forth a position and you have twisted it to say something that it does not say.
Bav wrote:Insist all you wish, OSAS says that even if I or anyone should fall away and stay away they are saved...that is what OSAS is! That is what all Calvary Chapel (and you apparently) people that I meet tell me. They tell me the same thing. Whomever God justifies is justified forever. This is correct as long as the faith is followed by works that prove the faith.
Yes, OSAS says that you can fall away and still be saved. I totally agree. I believe it to the fullest. It does NOT give the Christian the license to sin, which is what you keep on asserting. I have already said dozens of times that there are consequences--eternal consequences at that--for a Christian who remains in sin. However, I reject the notion that the consequence is the loss of salvation. It is utterly ridiculous. It turns faith into a work, and therefore salvation becomes earned, and therefore it is NOT grace.
As to James 2:18-26, this passage presents absolutely NO problem for OSAS. It is not faith that saves, Bav. It is GRACE that saves THROUGH faith. But, faith in what? What kind of faith? It is a faith
that works that saves. The best you can do here, Bav, is argue for a works based salvation out of this passage. It does NOT argue that one can LOSE his salvation. Are you going to tell me that you also believe in salvation by works? Because, if so, then you can't believe the Bible is innerant based on Eph. 2:8-10.
So, I challenge you to present me with a single passage that says a person can LOSE their salvation. You can't do it, because it's not in the Bible, because it is not a biblical position. Justification is a declaration of God. God never declared Adam righteous. He did declare me righteous the moment I confessed my sins and accepted the resurrected Jesus Christ as my Lord, Savior, and God. He justified ALL my sins. I have said this a million times, Bav, and no one has answered me yet: how can God condemn me to Hell if ALL of my sins have been justified? That would mean that, before God, I am
completely innocent of all sin. There is no charge to level against me. What, then, is the justification? Rev. 3:5 makes it clear that only those whose names are blotted out of the book of life will be cast into Hell (c.f. Rev. 20:15). Sin is what blots a person from the Book. If all of my sins have been forgiven, what blots me out, Bav? Even if I turn away, is this not a sin? And has this not been forgiven? Then how does it blot me out, Bav? And if it does not blot me out, and if I am therefore in the book of life, then does God lie in Rev. 20:15? Are there those in the Book of Life who can be thrown into Hell, Bav? What, then, is the book of life? Can God be mistaken? Can He be wrong? Can His judgement be overturned (which is
exactly what would happen if God's declaration of righteousness is stripped from me based on the changing of my fickle mind)?
OSAS teaches that once a person is
justified, they are justified for all time. We can lose our inheritance. We can bring to a halt the
process of sanctification. But, justification is a work of God. It is a declaration of God, and, as God has said, His Word stands forever. It cannot be undone.