Papa Zoom
CF Ambassador
hello JLB, dirtfarmer here
The question that you have asked is an oxymoron. An oxymoron is a combination of contradictory words like "cruel kindness". there is no such "animal". Cruel and kindness doesn't go together. It is impossible for a "born again" Christian to become "un-born again", or depart from the faith. Christians are kept by the power of God unto "the day of redemption". There is no one that has that ability.
Another example of an oxymoron is: "Can God create a rock so heavy that he can't lift it". God is all powerful, therefore there is nothing that he can't do.
I agree with this idea. Here's the problem I have with the OP (I voted no by the way)
Can a born again Christian reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and still be saved.
No. Because you aren't born again if you ever reject Jesus as Lord and Savior. You were a tare among the wheat. A goat among the sheep. You were a fake.
I voted no because it's impossible to be born from above and then walk away. A person who walks away was never born from above.
My position on eternal security combines arguments from both OSAS and OSNAS. Both positions have truth and error in them. The real truth is in the middle.
God saves and God keeps.
Truly saved people are changed inside out by the Power of the Spirit of God.
This change is manifest in words and deeds.
Fruit always follows in a true believers life.
1 Corinthians 13 'Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous;
love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly;
it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; ............................ '
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 https://www.bible.com/bible/100/1CO.13.4-8
'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. gentleness, self-control;
against such things there is no law.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. '
Galatians 5:22-26 https://www.bible.com/bible/100/GAL.5.22-26
The Spirit will generate fruit in the lives of TRUE believers. Marginal believers or those who are on fire but their flame burns out are not regenerated. Do people walk away from faith? Yes. But they were never among us to begin with.
Must we endure to the end? Yes and we will because He who began a good work in you IS ABLE to complete it! And He will!
Philippians 1:6 (NASB)
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:13 (NASB)
for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Colossians 1:10 (NASB)
so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every goodwork and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Ephesians 2:10 (NASB)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Jude 1:24 (NASB)
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy,
I know there are plenty of verses that seem to indicate one can "lose" salvation. But you can't have Jesus keeping you from stumbling and then you also stumble at the same time. God saves. God keeps. We are HIS workmanship. Not our own. In our own strength, we will fail. In HIM, we cannot fail. God is at work in us. It is HIS work that keeps us and that prompts us unto obedience and good works.
God loves a broken and contrite heart:
Psalms 51:17 (NASB)
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
David was a murderer, adulterer, liar, and a host of other things. But he was a man after God's own heart. Why? When confronted with his sin, he was broken over it and confessed with a repentant heart.
Matthew 7:17 (NASB)
So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
Good trees are those truly saved. Bad trees are the unsaved. Many unsaved go to church each week but they are bad trees - goats - tares!
If God changes your heart, your heart will be truly changed. And no one (not even yourself) can snatch you out of His Holy Hands!