@All, especially Dexmond.
An explanation of the post by skolastica above is necessary, please. The post was actually inadvertently made by me. I had registered a neighbour (skolastica) before yesterday and yesterday she was signed in before I made my post. My sincere apologies for any distress to anyone.

[Quote]
@5Solas
Will a person after been saved, but went back into sin, lets say into armed robbery but died in the sin be saved? If your answer is no, it means one can lose his/her salvation; if you say yes, it means you may not have considered the scripture that says nothing unclean shall enter. In conclusion, one can lose his/her salvation, if he draws back from following the Lord.
[/Quote]
@Dexmond
Appealing to sentiments rather than The Word, would do us no good, Dexmond. I suggest you go through the posts before joining the 'fray'. More on your post later.
By the way, your post, 'How They Became Christians!', was awesome.

@5Solas

Thanks for your commendation. 5Solas, the following scriptures clearly shows that a christian after receiving grace for holy living, may choose go back (backslide) to his former ways thereby losing his/her salvation. Such a backslider is still precious in Gods sight but will be given up to be punished for counting Gods grace as dung. Hear God weeping as it were for backslidden Israel in Hosea 11:8

"How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender". The Righteousness of God demands that sinners be punished, whether the sinner was once a born-again child of God or an unregenerated man/woman, but the mercy of God is demonstrated in his patience.



Revelation 2:5

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.


2 Peter 2:21

For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

Luke 9:62

Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”


Hebrews 10:26-29

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?


1 Timothy 5:15

For some have already strayed after Satan.


2 Timothy 2:12

If we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;


Revelation 21:8

But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”


1 Timothy 4:1

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,



John 15:6

If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.



Luke 17:32

Remember Lot's wife.


Hosea 14:4

I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.



Hosea 8:14

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds.


My beloved brother, I have furnished you with scriptural evidence that shows that a believer can backslide and the reaction of God to a backslider.

Thanks a lot for your response Dexmond. I am sorry I couldn’t respond earlier than now.

I could of course quote as many scriptures to support Calvinism (the belief that salvation cannot be lost).Indeed a lot of such scriptures have been quoted already. I would like you to refute Calvinism with such concepts as I listed in the original post.

Yes believers can lose salvation. Calvinism does not hold much weight; all in all God knows who is heaven bound, who is hell bound and may be even believers who will lose salvation if not He will not be al knowing; thats why it says:

"Elect according to the foreknowledge of God"
"knowing from the beginning who will betray Him" etc.

[Quote]
Yes believers can lose salvation. Calvinism does not hold much weight; ,  [/Quote]

@Bigbashiru

The above is contrary to everything you have ever  posted. What exactly is the problem? Do you have  a change of opinion , someone has a gun pointed at your head or your account has been compromised? Please clarify.

I used to think believers cannot lose salvation but after further research, I have been slightly persuaded otherwise. Look at the parable of the sower, that parable is referring to believers; ultimately God does what He wants with human beings.

Whilst Calvinism is very comforting,it may not be accurate after all. I agree certain believers will not lose salvation; others who fell on the "bad soil" may indeed lose.

I am basing my precept on the parable of the sower and also playing advocate here,

i believe we often miss the context in which we say God is all knowing. i know that might sound 'shocking heresy' to you so let me explain. Like when we say God can do anything(omnipotent), we should by growth in knowledge realise, in context, that He cannot sin, die or lie. Yet He can do all things, right?
In the same vein, we need to grow in knowledge of God to undertand His omniscience more, especially in line with the whole scripture, not some creed or partial bible quoting.

Image123
To be explicit, you are wrong.

"He cannot sin, die or lie"
God sends human beings earthquakes etc, this is unjust in the eyes of men but because God is God, it cannot constitute sin. And this is off topic kinda. God often sent the Israelites to wars He knew they might lose in some cases before a final victory.

To conclude, God knows everything for sure!

Bigbashir
To be explicit, lol, you don't understand what you typed.

Image123:

i believe we often miss the context in which we say God is all knowing. i know that might sound 'shocking heresy' to you so let me explain. Like when we say God can do anything(omnipotent), we should by growth in knowledge realise, in context, that He cannot sin, die or lie. Yet He can do all things, right?
In the same vein, we need to grow in knowledge of God to undertand His omniscience more, especially in line with the whole scripture, not some creed or partial bible quoting.

Why not enlighten us on the sense we can say He is not omniscient.

More on creeds later.

5solas
Do you agree with the unbolded part about omnipotence?

Image123:

i believe we often miss the context in which we say God is all knowing. i know that might sound 'shocking heresy' to you so let me explain. Like when we say God can do anything(omnipotent), we should by growth in knowledge realise, in context, that He cannot sin, die or lie. Yet He can do all things, right?
In the same vein, we need to grow in knowledge of God to undertand His omniscience more, especially in line with the whole scripture, not some creed or partial bible quoting.

Image123:

5solas
Do you agree with the unbolded part about omnipotence?

[Quote]
Numbers23:19
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Titus1:2
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
[/Quote]
No, I do not agree with the unbolded.I see in the verses above, reinforcements of the faithfulness of God. If you think they make Him less omnipotent or less omnipotent in some respect, as your post above seems to suggest, please tell us.

BigBashiru:

I used to think believers cannot lose salvation but after further research, I have been slightly persuaded otherwise. Look at the parable of the sower, that parable is referring to believers; ultimately God does what He wants with human beings.

Whilst Calvinism is very comforting,it may not be accurate after all. I agree certain believers will not lose salvation; others who fell on the "bad soil" may indeed lose.

I am basing my precept on the parable of the sower and also playing advocate here,

I had like to know how you came about Calvinism in the first place and if the other 4 points of Calvinism are still 'glorious'.
I had noticed in your post before now, some inaccuracies. One of them was your belief that Christ hated some of the disciples and you know I tried to show you it was not so. Another was your saying we were mere puppets (programmed robots) in God's hands, unfortunately I never got to reasoning with you on this. These two positions alone, show your leaning towards Hypercalvinism - a position which both Calvinists and Arminians (principal parties to this debate) abhor.

5solas:
Viaro,
Thanks a lot for your rejoinders and for the patience you exhibited in the course of posting them. I am 100% in agreement.

5solas, I have a huge request!

Can you recommend a true Reformed Church in both Lagos and Ibadan, which expressively preaches biblical Christianity and the five points of Grace. Especially a church that knows about the teachings of Christian teachers like John Piper, Tim Keller and RC Sproul.

I have friends who were saved over here in the UK, and who have now relocated back to Nigeria. However, they are finding it difficult to find churches which discuss and uphold reformed theology.

Thank you sooo much in advance bro!
Sola Gratia.

JahzaraAde:


5solas, I have a huge request!

Can you recommend a true Reformed Church in both Lagos and Ibadan, which expressively preaches biblical Christianity and the five points of Grace. Especially a church that knows about the teachings of Christian teachers like John Piper, Tim Keller and RC Sproul.

I have friends who were saved over here in the UK, and who have now relocated back to Nigeria. However, they are finding it difficult to find churches which discuss and uphold reformed theology.

Thank you sooo much in advance bro!
Sola Gratia.

So good to know you have such a high esteem for reformed teaching.
The Presbyterian Church is the only one I know of. Unfortunately , I don't live in the Lagos area and so don't know of any.