I think the 'going too far' that Lewis is referring to is going to far into willful, unrepentant sin in which the person does NOT ask God's forgiveness about. That person is in danger of being turned over to a reprobate mind. Which, once they are turned over, can not come back from (Hebrews 6:6 NASB). God is patient, but he does not contend with man forever.
If the repeat offender is repeatedly coming back to God in brokenness and humbleness of heart seeking God's forgiveness again and again, that is not the candidate for being turned over to a reprobate mind. They are safe in the grace of God. Venture away from his forgiveness and you venture away from the grace that protects and saves.
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Hi JB,
I agree to some point with what you are saying, but simply going in to a willing sin patern does not seem to be the same as the people in which this topic of reprobate mind was issued to. What I mean is, those people which were spoken of in the word had turned thier backs on God. Now what I mean is they on purpose with free willof thier own hearts, turned to worshiping things and not God. I mean it seems they took what God had placed before them and on purpose turned to do just the opposite of what God had spoken to them to do.
This is so far from getting caught up in a willfull sin and then geting turned over to a reprobate mind. From what I have learned is that the ones in which this happened to had ALREADY turned thier minds against God. This is not the same thing as simply doing sin, They wont listen to God or His ways and they make this known by thier words and actions.
Example.........A man gets so frusdtrated with his job and wild kids and his wife spends all his money faster then he makes it. She has friends that she hides and he knows it. He hits rock bottom and says screw it, God dont care and goes off to the bar. This goes on year after year and he does not read his bible or go to church. Just drinks and works and deals with his failing life the best he can.........Now would God say enough, no more chances........it's reprobate mind time for you.....Not Hardly
Now you take a man who turns away from God and gets into drinking and other sinful stuff but every time God tries to nudge him back, he says screw you and does just the opposite to despise God on purpose.
He then indulges in what ever God hates or hurts God on purpose for this reason and so forth....Yea then I believe after a set time, perhaps God would give the man over to his reprobate mind but this man CHOSE this way ON PURPOSE TO SPITE GOD and the man knew this or did it on purpose.....
The only unforgivable sin is to REJECT CHRIST...........
I have seen folks who have turned away from God and got caught up in a gay relationship and of course they ovoided places that CHRISTIANS would be and hid from God's nudging year after year after and then one day many years later, it happened....some born again spirit filled blood washed believer found them and heard thier story and befriended them and in short...........this person repented and is serving God with a heart truer thern most.
The bigest problem with this is as follows......TOO MANY CHRISITANS TRYING TO DO GODS JOB FOR HIM...
What I mean is this........Christians give up and turn away far before God does is so many cases because they believe they know all about His ways...It's sad but true......Christians need to love and forgive and plant seed and water that seed and stop judging who is a good canident to be saved and who is not.
Use this REPROBATE SCRIPTURE as a tool to judge YOUR OWN ACTIONS AND LIFE and nothing more....
Just my thoughts
Jim