Warning after Warning after Warning!

The Choice Is Ours

The continuing argument is that Christians do not have a choice as to whether or not they will continue to be Christians.

Thiessen quotes Boettner to prove his point.  Since it is a change in the inner nature, it is in a sphere in which man does not have control.  If this is true why do evangelicals, like Mr Thiessen, urge sinners to repent of their sins?  Since, according to him, in the inner nature, where the new birth happens, people have no control over the matter, in any case.  

We may as well not urge people to repent and turn to Christ because, according to this theory, Jehovah will work it out the way He wants to anyway.

People who believe in the free will of man must surely see the inconsistency of believing that a non-Christian can choose for himself, whether or not, to become a Christian, but that a Christian loses his free will at his conversion. 

The same people who insist that Christians have the choice in every matter of their spiritual life; whether to live for Christ or to live selfishly their entire life, do not give Christians the same volition as to their eternal well-being. This seems inconsistent and certainly anti-biblical!

For this reason, when I could no longer endure it, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter had tempted you, and our labour might be in vain. 1 Thes. 3:5. 

Paul calls them, brothers in Christ. 1:3.  Then he voices this concern, about the Thessalonians losing their faith.  If the loss of salvation is not possible, how could Paul possibly imagine that his labour would be in vain?  

Galatians 1:11 and 1 Thessalonians 1:3 tells us that Paul thinks of these men as his brothers in Christ.  If they were his brothers in Christ and if the doctrine of unconditional eternal security were true, his work could not possibly be in vain, because surely these men would someday be in heaven because of Paul’s labours. 

Even in this context, Paul throws in a warning and says, For we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. 

About 1 Thes. 3:5  Mr Smith writes, To what purpose are the warnings to believers in Scripture, if what is warned against is not possible in the first place? 

From The Apocalypse

In each of the following verses, the thought is, To him who overcomes.  

Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life. Rev. 2:10. 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. Rev. 2:7.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. Rev. 2:11.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it. Rev. 2:17. 

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Rev. 3:5.   Here the Lord very pointedly says that the overcomer’s name will not be blotted from the Book of Life.  From that statement, one must infer that a Christian's name can be blotted out of the book of life. 

Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God. Rev. 3:11. 

To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. Rev. 3:21. 

He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. Rev. 21:7.  Even our son-ship is said to be dependent on our overcoming. 

The conclusion one must arrive at is that eternal security is a conditional promise.  Unconditional Eternal security is a doctrine that fits into the much overused "if it feels good, preach it" category.