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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Can I come home again, or apostate? | Luke 15:24 | GJH | 60883 | ||
Please, I want to know if I was a believer when a teenager, and over the years became a unbeliever, and now believes again, can I come home again? Had been a Catholic, met Jesus on retreat as teenager, over years became convinced that all religion wasn't real. Would argue with believers that Jesus was no more than a myth. Now have come to be convinced that Jesus is the Christ. Would like to be forgiven, but concerned about the references in Heb 6:4-8 and Heb 10 about not being able to come back. Is that true? If people actually did commit this unpardonable sin, do they spend the rest of their lives regretting it, only to be filled with a " fearful expectation of judgement? I'm desperate for an answer. Please help. If this isn't the place to ask such questions, I'm sorry. |
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2 | Can I come home again, or apostate? | Luke 15:24 | Pemican | 61005 | ||
GJH, I would just like to add to the many good comments about your question and concern. First, once a person believes in Christ he cannot lose his salvation. There are many promises in Scripture that verify that one need only believe in Christ for eternal life. The work of salvation is the work of God not of men. There is nothing any man can do to undo the perfect work of salvation, which God accomplished through Christ. When you believed in Christ as a teenager, you were eternally and irrevocably saved. This does not mean that from the point salvation on we always do and say the right thing. On the contrary, we all do and say many wrong things because we all have a sin nature. And, as newly saved individuals we have a great deal to learn about the Bible, about sin, and about the Christian way of life. Many people have doubts, go off in the wrong direction, even deny Christ, but they cannot lose their salvation once they have believed. What we can lose is eternal rewards in Heaven. Every believer will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be evaluated, not for salvation, which is a settled issue, but for eternal rewards. A few thoughts on the passage Hebrews 6:4-6, which I hope you find helpful. This passage has been a source of much controversy and there have been many interpretations of its' meaning. I offer the following interpretation which is quite different from the impression you have of it. 1. The passage Heb 5:11 - 6:12 is a parentheses. Paul breaks off from his discussion of the high priesthood of Christ to reprimand believers for being "dull of hearing" (5:11) and concludes his reprimand in 6:12 with the same word but translated as "sluggish". So read this passage as a unit of thought, an interruption from the main discourse. 2. Paul is anxious for these sluggish believers to move on to spiritual maturity and leave behind the basic teachings (6:1). 3. Then in 6:4 he discusses a special group of Jewish believers, (yes they are saved), who have gone back to the practice of animal sacrifices in the temple. This is what is being referred to in 6:6 when it says "they again crucify to themselves the Son God and put Him to open shame." This is something they were continuing to do as if the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross was not good enough. This is the great shame they are committing. What an insult to Christ! Sacrificing animals was only a foreshadowing, a teaching aid to instruct man in the need for God's solution. The one sacrifice that was acceptable to God, His only begotten Son, had been made on the cross for the sins of the whole world, once for all. 4. You can understand Paul's frustration at this point in the main discussion where he is proving the superiority of Christ as High Priest. So many proofs! And yet this group of believers in their ignorance, (dull of hearing), and by their actions are putting Christ to public shame in the temple. 5. The word "repentance" in 6:6 simply means to change ones mind. People often read something super spiritual into this word, but it just mean to change your mind. It was impossible to get these believers to change their minds about their error as long as they continued to sacrifice animals. 6. Verses 6:7 and 6:8 concerns divine discipline to these believers whose production is worthless. This is discipline not the loss of salvation. Remember, as children of God we come under His personal disciplinary attention, but we are always his children. 7. Paul concludes the parentheses with encouragement to continue to the goal of "inheriting the promises" (6:12). Inheritance refers to rewards for good production in contrast to the shameful and worthless production previously discussed. In His Grace, Pemican |
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3 | Who wrote Hebrews? | Luke 15:24 | retxar | 61008 | ||
Some good thoughts here Permican! I was curios tho. You seem very confident that these words are written by Paul here in Hebrews. Most Bible scholars these days think that Hebrews was not written by Paul. I myself lean toward Paul, for as good a reason as any, because my Bible says “The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews”! I am not overly concerned, because I believe it is Gods WORD whoever wrote it, but would like to hear any thoughts on why you think Paul is the author? Thanks, retxar |
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4 | Who wrote Hebrews? | Luke 15:24 | prayon | 61023 | ||
answered above | ||||||