SAVED, AS
LONG AS YOU CONTINUE TO BELIEVE 1
The key word here is “continue.”
This
reminds me of the story of the boy who, as long as he hung onto the tail of the
tiger would be safe, but as soon as he would let go he knew he’d be eaten.
The New Testament does not say
that if you stray away from God that you can return to God by doing Teshuvah.
The author of Hebrews wrote:
"For
it is impossible
for those who were once
enlightened, and
have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to
renew them again unto
repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open
shame." (Hebrews 6:4-6)
These
verses essentially say that a believer in Jesus, if he falls away from the
faith of believing in Jesus, loses his salvation and that it is impossible to
repent again. This only goes to show that "the 'eternal life' offered by
Jesus was only eternal as long as a person believed in him. Evidently it was
only temporary 'eternal life' that Jesus had to offer."
Don't
forget that Christians claim the New Testament is the "word of God unto
salvation." Many maintain that it is inerrant,
infallible. So, there you have it from the horses mouth (Christian horse
that is) -- "it is impossible, once you stop believing
in Jesus...to renew them again unto repentance."
Does
Christianity mean what it says; does it say what it means? Yes, because once
you deny Jesus, especially the Trinity, according to Hebrew 6, you
are no longer a Christian. Seems as if xianity follows what was screamed
during the
Footnote:
1. Based
on Shmuel Golding; The Light of Reason,
volume 4, page 32