Dr. Michael Heiser Thoughts on "Once Saved Always Saved"
Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:36 pm
Heiser's thoughts on the constant debate over whether a true Believer / follower of Christ can "fall away" / lose their salvation. Really interesting the way he breaks it down. Whether I agree with everything he writes - well, I don't - but Mike always makes you think about your position on Bible topics.
https://drmsh.com/election-salvation-un ... -security/
Personally, I think it's interesting what Hebrews 3:12 seems to say is THE reason people fall away from their, at least apparent, faith: "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God." It would seem that an ALREADY unbelieving heart PRECEDES and leads to the falling away. But as Heiser says, only God knows the human heart - so we can't really know. And yet we DO know that, clearly, one must have, at some point, come to a committed faith (not just mere belief) in Christ to be saved.
So, why do Christians endlessly debate a matter we can't possibly know the truth of - as to whether any specific person, whom appeared TO US to be saved (actually WAS), but subsequently abandoned their faith? Our problem is, we have no way of ACCURATELY knowing the prior status and mind of the heart of a person who has "walked away." And so this makes the entire debate pretty ridiculous, because we are missing key info (the ability to see a person's heart) that would allow us to draw a definitive proof concerning a given person.
I also think 1 John 2:19 reveals that truly saved persons (and ETERNALLY so) will not walk away from Christ: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for IF they had been OF us, they WOULD have CONTINUED with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us."
https://drmsh.com/election-salvation-un ... -security/
Personally, I think it's interesting what Hebrews 3:12 seems to say is THE reason people fall away from their, at least apparent, faith: "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God." It would seem that an ALREADY unbelieving heart PRECEDES and leads to the falling away. But as Heiser says, only God knows the human heart - so we can't really know. And yet we DO know that, clearly, one must have, at some point, come to a committed faith (not just mere belief) in Christ to be saved.
So, why do Christians endlessly debate a matter we can't possibly know the truth of - as to whether any specific person, whom appeared TO US to be saved (actually WAS), but subsequently abandoned their faith? Our problem is, we have no way of ACCURATELY knowing the prior status and mind of the heart of a person who has "walked away." And so this makes the entire debate pretty ridiculous, because we are missing key info (the ability to see a person's heart) that would allow us to draw a definitive proof concerning a given person.
I also think 1 John 2:19 reveals that truly saved persons (and ETERNALLY so) will not walk away from Christ: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for IF they had been OF us, they WOULD have CONTINUED with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us."