Me personally? I think I've come to the point, spiritually, where I could not neglect or abuse my salvation to the point of losing it. But part of that maturing is now humbly acknowledging that there are potential trials and sufferings that I may not stand up very well under. When I first got saved I felt bullet proof.
Not that Christ is somehow insufficient, but that I may be tested to the point of exposing a greater love for self than for Christ and the forgiveness of sins I have received. Can't conceive of that right now--and I have surely been tested--but, as I say, all that testing has shown me I need to be humble, not arrogant, about my salvation and my standing in Christ.
It's about whether or not a person will continue in their faith in the forgiveness of God and love for him. I know a person very close to me who had the gift of tongues (I don't) and who 15 years into their salvation decided to take a break from the Christian faith because of the demands of the faith and unbelief. That was 13 years ago. As of two years ago they've not come back. I've been hoping and praying they'll come back, and maybe they have, but we have not talked about it, so I don't know if they did or not. Spiritual discussions were not ending well so I stopped talking to them about it.
Thank you both for responding sincerely and honestly,
...so what I see you both saying, please don't get angry, is
you are eternally secure, but maybe not others, so
you personally believe in OSAS for yourselves, but
not for others.
The reason I asked the question is because I was saved in a denomination that believed that after a person was born again they could lose their salvation, ...again, I don't want to debate doctrine, ...I want to talk about the
results of that doctrine, as a young dumb and stupid baby child of God I made all of the common newbie mistakes, pastor worship, denomination worship, we were the only ones that had the truth, all during my two and a half years there, ...I never had any assurance of my salvation, I also was in charge of the youth and most of them were scared and without assurance of their salvation, ...why, because we knew and understood the undescribable horror and terror and finality of the Lake of Fire, we never had peace, we had occasional moments when we were distracted and didn't think about it, but no real peace like the Word promises,
...now I hope you understand the reason I asked my question and I also hope you understand my saying you don't
personally believe you can lose your salvation, so may I humbly and in the love of Christ ask you to please reconsider talking about a person losing their salvation if you don't believe it
personally for yourselves, it can do great damage and destroy someone's faith.
In His Love