Originally posted by DHK:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by BobRyan:
But when a believer becomes an unbeliever
This is an errant theology. Nowhere is all of Scripture does the Bible teach even the remotest possibility that a believer can become an unbeliever. That is just an impossibility.
DHK </font>[/QUOTE]Have you not read, "
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil,
unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." - Heb 3:12-13
and later,
"And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were
disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of
unbelief." (vs18-19)
He is warning "brothers" to take care or beware. Why? So they don't fall away from the living God. How would they do that? With an evil unbelieving heart.
Then he goes on and compares diobedience with unbelief. Did they believe in God? How could they not? They had seen the plagues, crossed through the Red Sea, being led by the cloud, and were eye witnesses to God's mighty works. Of course they believed in God, but they could not enter because of unbelief/disobedience.
Read what John 3:36 says, "Whoever
believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever
does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. - ESV
There are two different Greek words used, and the KJV translators did not do us any favors when they concealed this distinction by translating these two different words as "believeth".
John did not change his story from vs 16.
Heb 3 is in complete and perfect harmony with James 5:19-20, "My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins."
This is obviously talking about spiritual death.
What did Paul say, "Now I would remind you, brothers,of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--
unless you believed in vain." - I Cor 15:1-2
The Gospel will only save you "if you hold fast" otherwise, you have "believed in vain".
Peter says that it would be better to have never "escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" than to know it and turn back.- II Pet 2:20-21
Do all these clear passages have to be "explained away", or can they be accepted for what they say? I accept them.
Again, what could be easier or more broad than teaching anyone who believes is saved and can never be lost? That is contrary to the scriptures presented here and many others I have not touched on.
What nobody has done has explained how this belief could be made any more broad in light of Matt 7:21-23, where you have sincere believers in Jesus who will be lost. They were on the broad way that leads to destruction that he was just talking about.