INTRODUCTION I do not believe in Calvinism or Arminism. I believe in "Saved, Except for Blasphemy/Grieving of the Spirit". "Except for Blasphemy/Grieving of the Spirit" removes the loophole for those whom think they have "A License to Sin". This theology is based on: And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby all of you are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Eph 4:30) Note that there is no interpretation or twisting of the scripture. This doctrine comes directly from the bible. ----- Being a Christian does not mean you have no RESPONSIBILITY. Salvation is conditional on you living right before God. It is vital that you be RESPONSIBLE and live correctly before God. More precisely, it is important that you make a "Commitment to Jesus". That is, a commitment to - walk with an active faith, - live a life of repentance, and - obey the Lord. A "Commitment to Jesus" is NOT the same as a commitment to a church, ministry, program, etc. Although a "Commitment to Jesus" may involves helping a church, ministry, program, etc. There is a partial truth in "Once Saved, Always Saved". A Christian do not have to go through life worrying about losing salvation. If that person is willing to make a genuine "Commitment to Jesus", being responsible and living a genuine Christian life, then that person can be sure of eternal life. Salvation is conditional security based on your commitment to Jesus. I.e., "Once Saved" + "Commitment to Jesus" = "Always Saved" ----- There are many troubling passages about Christians losing their salvations. Of how much greater punishment, suppose all of you, shall he be thought worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and has done despite unto the Spirit of grace? (Heb 10:29) The expression, "he was sanctified". The author is referring to Christians. Christians can mess up their salvation, and if they do, they will have a harder time than non-Christians. For if all of you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if all of you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Mt 6:14-15) Not every one that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. (Mt 7:21) Know all of you not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor 6:9-10) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, worldy jealousies, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal 5:19-21) Nowhere in the bible does it says that Christians are exempted from the above verses. It is FALSE to says that these verses only apply to unbelievers. In fact, Christians are held more accountable because they know what the bible says. Heaven won't be filled with unrepentance SINNERS. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemes against the Holy Spirit it shall not be forgiven. (Lk 12:10) Nowhere in the bible it says that Christians can not blaspheme the Spirit. Calling the works of God as by the devil is NOT the only way to blaspheme the Holy Spirit (see Col 3:8, 1 Tim 6:1, Titus 2:5, Acts 26:11, 1 Tim 1:19-20). When a believer SINS, the Holy Spirit comes and convicts about what was done wrong. It is the believer's RESPONSIBILITY to respond to the Holy Spirit and repent. For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. (Heb 10:26-27) When a believer INTENTIONALLY and WILLFULLY ignores the convictions of the Holy Spirit and rationalizes, then that person starts to harden oneself against the Holy Spirit. Eternal life is conditional on not grieving the Holy Spirit. If you know you are SINNING, repent. And if you know something is wrong, don't do it. In Leviticus chapter 4, which I won't cite, the SIN offerings were described for four cases where the Israelites SINNED by IGNORANCE. The Lord expects His people to SIN by IGNORANCE. There is a difference between SINNING IGNORANCELY/ ACCIDENTALLY and INTENTIONALLY/WILLFULLY. And there is a difference between living a life of repentance and INTENTIONALLY/WILLFULLY ignoring the convictions of the Holy Spirit. Put your place in the Father God's position for a minute. Would He approves of a person ridden with SINS because once time long ago that person did something right? It is like saying parents will let their child inherit their monies despite of the child's cheating, cursing, disrespect, and stealing, because once time long ago, that child did something right for them. It is absurd! The least Christians can do is behave. SINS separate us from God and Christians shouldn't be abusing the fact that Jesus paid the price for our SINS with his precious blood. For someone, who is committed to walking right with the Lord, that is, - walk with an active faith, - live a life of repentance, and - obey the Lord, that person can ensure one's salvation. But someone, who is abusing the grace of God and INTENTIONALLY/WILLFULLY ignores the Holy Spirit's convictions, is NOT promised salvation. Again, be a RESPONSIBLE Christian. ----- He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him. (Jn 3:36) Believe and other postfix forms of believe are a translation of the Greek word, pisteou. In the KJV bible, pisteou is used as: - believe - commit unto - commit to (one's) trust - be committed unto - be put in trust with - be commit to one's trust believer Making a lip confession of professing Jesus as Savior and doing nothing else will NOT guarantee eternal life. Jesus is to be ruler of your entire life, not just at the church. And he is to be your Lord, not just Savior. It is NOT a question of what you did in the past. The real question is "are you committing yourself to the Lord RIGHT NOW? The Greek word, pisteou, is also used in many other eternal life verses such as Jn 3:15-16, Jn 3:36, Jn 5:24, Jn 6:40, Jn 6:47, Jn 11:26, Jn 20:13, Acts 13:48, Eph 1:13, 1 Tim 1:16, 1 Jn 5:10, and 1 Jn 5:13. ----- DISCLAIMER: I haven't figure all of this out, so please do NOT believe that the next few paragraphs are part of my permament theology. There is a truth in the "Once Saved, Always Saved" part, but it is NOT complete. Imagine a line with Hades on one side and Heaven on the other side. Add a point in the middle representing the crossover point between death and life. For example, when one becomes born-again, that person moves rightward passing from death to life. Consider a first believer who is trying to walk correctly with the Lord. If that person happens to be falling away by IGNORANCE, the Lord in his mercy will take that person home (to heaven) before that person passes from life to death. Now consider a second person who is INTENTIONALLY and WILLFULLY SINNING. The Lord loses his legal right to take that person home before reaching the death/life point and has no choice but to let that person crosses from life to death and wait for that person to repent. This is why there is a difference between SINNING IGNORANCELY/ACCIDENTALLY and INTENTIONALLY/WILLFULLY. If you know you are doing something wrong, repent and do what is right. And if you know something is wrong, don't do it. Not willing to correct yourself will only put you in a hot seat with the Lord and possibly wreck up your eternity. The good news is no matter how badly you SINNED, you can obtain forgiveness through the precious blood of Jesus shed on the cross. It is your responsibilities to repent when the Holy Spirit convicts you and to not abuse this wonderful grace. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. (Rom 6:1-2a) What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. (Rom 6:15) For the wages of sin is death; ... (Rom 6:23a) ----- I do believe in "blessed assurance" and "peace with God". However, if someone doesn't have it, I would inquiry about lifestyle, hidden SINS, etc. It is possible that the person doesn't have scripture knowledges concerning these feelings, but what happens if you encourage someone to manipulate these feelings when they are not supposed to have them? I consider this to be a spiritually deadly matter; to make someone thinks one is saved, but isn't. If someone is only PASSIVELY believing or INTENTIONALLY/WILLFULLY ignoring the Holy Spirit's convictions, that person is NOT guaranteed eternal life. Encourage that person to make a radical change in lifestyle by committing to the Lord including living a life of repentance. As this is done, the feelings, "blessed assurance" and "peace with God" will come naturally. Like other counseling problems, if someone does not have the "blessed assurance" and "peace with God" feelings, investigate the matter, not give a quick-fix solution. The lack of these feelings are like red flags. ----- It is also incorrect to believe that works have anything to do with our salvation. You can't pull out a few verses from Apostle James's epistle and just use it. Instead, you need to look at the whole letter. Apostle James was correcting those whom saw salvation as "Cheap Grace". In other words, he was correcting those whom merely acknowledge the Christian doctrine and do nothing else. Apostle Paul wrote a few verses that we are saved by faith alone. He was correcting those who thought they could enter heaven based on their works. For by grace are all of you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph 2:8-9) Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. (Rom 3:28) And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. (Rom 11:6) But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. (Gal 3:11) We believers are to always TRY to do faith works in appreciation of what Jesus done for us at Calvary and to see his salvation reaches the whole world. There is a subtle difference between doing faith works and TRYING to do faith works. - A person could claim to have done works in the past and dwell on it. We are to do faith works RIGHT NOW. It's not the past that counts (see Ezekiel 36:10-16 for more understandings). - A person could have received Jesus at deathbed. Thus, that person had no chance to do faith works. It is our altitude RIGHT NOW that counts. The Lord knows what is in our hearts. Faith works have nothing to do with our salvation. Rather, failure to do faith works could be a serious sin (case by case) and results in blaspheming the Spirit. The only thing Arminianism has in its favor is that Christians can and do fall away. Again, it is SINS that separates us from God. Jesus Christ needed to die on the cross for our SINS. It is our RESPONSIBILITIES not to abuse this precious grace by SINNING whatever we like. Again, there is big difference between SINNING ACCIDENTALLY/IGNORANCELY and INTENTIONALLY/ WILLFULLY. If you know you did something wrong, repent. If you know something is wrong, don't do it. And if the Holy Spirit convicts you of something wrong, don't INTENTIONALLY/ WILLFULLY ignore it. We all are imperfect and sin occasionally. The question is: do we goof once in awhile and live a life of repentance OR do we abuse the grace of God, INTENTIONALLY/WILLFULLY sin, and ignore the Holy Spirit's convictions? ----- Enter all of you in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leads to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it. (Mt 7:13-14) When Jesus said enter by the small gate and narrow way, he meant the gate is small and the way is narrow. Are you sure you are passing thru the small gate? Personally, I rather take a very conservative approach concerning eternity. Our earthy lives (a 100 years if we are lucky) are just a breathe compared with eternity (longer than trillions of trillions of trillions of years), so why bother to enjoy the pleasure of SINS for a moment time and gnash teeth in darkness and torment for a long time? It is better to repent of all SINS and reach heaven by a mile than to risk any chance of ending up in the wrong place. ----- I ask you to pray and fast about this issue. The question is not whether God is on my or your side, but whether we are on God's side. There are more important things to do such as saving lost souls and discipling new believers than to argue about theology. ********** All scriptures are from the Updated King James Version bible which can found at http://www.geocities.com/updatedkjv/ . This translation is public domain, but the author requests that credit goes to this translation in the form of "I love Jesus (UKJV)". © Copyright 2018