Faith is the substance of things hoped for & the evidence of things not seen. By Faith the elders obtained a good report from God.
It’s not Faith IF it’s not Faith. Meaning…Hope & Faith both have their doubts. Why? Because hope is not yet fulfilled. Once you understand the nature of Hope and that there is fear involved because it’s part of the human condition…accept it.
God created the human condition with it’s fear. Without fear the human race would not survive. Furthermore without fear many would not seek God at all.
Knowing the nature of Hope being mingled with the human condition is a reality best understood by the heart. God looks upon the heart not upon traditions of men.
In comes the greatest of spiritual gifts. Hope, Faith & Love. Be glad for your doubts because doubt is part of Hope and part of Faith.
The problem is this- Rather than accept Faith and Hope for what they are men try to interject the religion of doctrine to quell natural fear of death. This “once saved always saved” obsession is the humans attempt at quelling natural fear instead of facing fear, confessing it, bringing it to God at face value so He will then fix our heart.
OSAS takes fear of damnation out of the realm of God’s solutions where it can be fixed if confessed and puts it into the realm of the human intellect as solution to fear. You will never fix your own heart by doctrines of intellect labelled “grace” or any doctrine for that matter.
Why convince others of OSAS? That’s easy…all suffer from emotional insecurity, the beast assured us of that from birth. When our breathren agree with what we teach them that means its true according to consenses. But that is not the measuring stick for Truth. What I have found is that majority consenses concerning spiritual matters is usually error. “Everyone agrees with me, so I must be correct”). Not.
If they disagree with OSAS the heart says “that means I am wrong” and that’s too scary, that takes you back to your original fear of death, so you must convince them all of OSAS then you will have peace. Then you will be safe from Hell???? Right? Because, again your heart has established that If the majority agrees then its TRUE! Eeek!
Can you look? Dare you look? Self Love comes to those who realize that fear is natural, God given, and to express fear exposes it to the light where it diminishes. To hide fear under a blanket of flesh causes it to gain power over our mind. And in time that fear can twist and thwart Truth to the point of great deception.
If this all sounds very foreign to you and even crazy then perhaps you don’t know your own heart. Perhaps the fear =evil, shaming is too cemented.
It’s the reactions to fear that make or break a man’s character.
Or maybe I AM wrong. Perhaps I am the only one who has fear & obsesses to convince others for my own sake of validation to quell fear. Granted my obsession with convincing others of anything is clearly grounded in my need for validation and the unavoidable, from birth, beast system programing that screams (social programing rule 63) Majority = Truth.
Sidenote. Reprogramming from the system. Rule 62-Don’t take yourself so darn seriously!
Good rule but not always applicable.
Perhaps I am wrong. But I think we humans are very much alike being spoon fed by the beast system’s relentless programing from birth stamped with the “I am bad & wrong”. A lie of course.
Go before God. Confess lack of trust and ask to get help trusting God and for faith to be strengthened. Toss the book- its an idol. Seeking God in Truth and transparency is how fear is quelled.
But don’t expect Faith to morph into something it is not. Don’t expect “Hope” to morph into something it’s not. These two are eternal gifts etched in Love. They are fashioned to grow trust in God where doubt once dwelled.
In this age of Grace & while Faith in God is our Way to salvation, there will exist NO DOCUMENTED CERTIFICATE OF SALVATION. Nor some fearless convincment that results in an absolute “knowing” of one’s emmenate rapture & knowing of standardized salvivic transferance to the mind & heart. Hope & Faith are neither technical or intellectual. Doctrines are sand where faith is concerned. Faith is a matter of the heart and an awareness that supercedes intellect by spiritual leaps and bounds.
If there were some intellectual fearless knowing of rapture then Hope would not exist and Faith would not BE Faith Chelsea Bedell.
Faith is a challenge for a reason. Once we see the nature of Faith and Hope trusting God isn’t so scary. And fear loses power over us once we embrace it as part of the human condition.
Can Men Lose Salvation?
Possibly men can lose their salvation. Both sides of the coin are true OSAS & Great works of Faith follows Faith.
Free will is for all. We have free will to reject God. This isn’t to stop believing, God forbid. But rather men have the right to choose the Dark Lord as their eternity.
Ask God to save you from yourself and help you understand the Faith and Hope in your own heart for THAT is where your salvation lies NOT IN THE CORRUPT BOOKS with its doctrines of demons changing with the wind day by day.
Truth is the solution for fear, go to God with it. But first you must be able to see your own heart and finally have peace with fear being a part of you. Hiding fear is lethal.