This is my attempt to reconcile the many conflicting Scriptures and doctrines re: man’s salvation.
Note-1: Throughout Scripture, God has desired man to co-operate in His endeavors on earth.
Note-2: God has somewhat hidden several negative truths that are extremely unpopular.
Scripture references are available for everything below, unless it is IMO and marked with (*).
BAC means “born-again Christian”.
• God created angels and humans to have free will … He had no desire to be worshipped by robots.
• Adam and Eve were created to have perfect fellowship with God, but Satan deceived them
into disobeying God (i.e. sinning), and they were banished from the Garden of Eden
and were given a sin nature, which they passed down to all humans (except One).
• One of God’s Laws: Sin results in both physical and spiritual death (separation from God forever).
Thus, man was not suitable to spend eternity with God, and would be separated from Him in hell.
• But, God decided to extend mercy and grace (God’s unmerited favor) to some of the human race.
He desired (for His glory), through His mercy and grace, to bless (i.e. rescue) some people.
• First, God desired to prove to everyone forever that man is totally incapable of pleasing Him.
He chose the smallest and weakest nation, Israel, to be His specially-pampered “chosen people”.
They would actually play the role of man’s representatives before God, but they failed miserably.
• Next, God designed a plan of salvation that would be “foolishness” to the normal human being.
He decided that His justice would be satisfied, if a sinless man died for the sins of the human race.
His Messiah-Redeemer-Savior would be God Himself, and He would live on earth in a man’s body.
God’s Spirit would perform a miracle and play the role of “father” of this Messiah, called Jesus Christ.
This God-Man would be “without sin”, and therefore could pay the penalty of death for man’s sins.
• God had His reasons for who He would choose to embrace His “foolish” gospel message.
He sees no time ... He sees everything … all the way from the beginning of history to the very end.
He would elect some people from ALL of the world’s tribes, ethnic groups, nations, countries, etc.
• Salvation is through God’s grace and is NOT through any of man’s good works. Because of his sin
nature, man has always been spiritually blind and deaf and totally incapable of accepting God’s truth.
God gives some people a spiritual revelation, which is His free gift of grace-faith-salvation. However,
man has the free-will choice to accept or reject this revelation, and this is called “prevenient grace”.
• Those who initially believe-trust in Jesus and His gospel are given the Holy Spirit to be inside of them.
These are BACs, and it is never promised that this grace-faith-salvation will remain forever until the end
of their lives. Only to the faithful “elect” of God are some NT verses of guaranteed salvation given (*).
The famous “easy-believism” verses are simply to catch the simple fishes. However, one who truly
believes (unto obedience and full sanctification) is part of God’s “elect” and will gain eternal life.
• BACs are sanctified (set apart) for further refinement (they still have their sin nature to deal with).
They embark on their sanctification process where the Holy Spirit tries to sanctify them unto holiness.
Only with the help of the Holy Spirit can BACs be victorious over sin, and actually be overcomers.
BACs have the free-will choice to co-operate (or not) with the Holy Spirit’s attempts to sanctify them (*).
• The many warnings/threats to the churches are NOT to get God’s elect “in line” … because
then they would be out-and-out lies or deceptions. Note that 3 of the more mild warnings say
that those BACs who are truly righteous in God’s eyes actually practice righteousness. Because
of all of the many dozens of warning/threats, some BACs do actually fall away from the faith (*).
Therefore, not all BACs are part of God’s elect (*).
• Any person at death who has a habitual sin (e.g. unforgiveness, lying, etc.) is shut out of heaven.
But, one may still repent and believe and trust in Jesus and His gospel, even on his death-bed (*).
However, 2 passages say that once a BAC goes back into a sin lifestyle, he can never return to the faith.
Note-1: Throughout Scripture, God has desired man to co-operate in His endeavors on earth.
Note-2: God has somewhat hidden several negative truths that are extremely unpopular.
Scripture references are available for everything below, unless it is IMO and marked with (*).
BAC means “born-again Christian”.
• God created angels and humans to have free will … He had no desire to be worshipped by robots.
• Adam and Eve were created to have perfect fellowship with God, but Satan deceived them
into disobeying God (i.e. sinning), and they were banished from the Garden of Eden
and were given a sin nature, which they passed down to all humans (except One).
• One of God’s Laws: Sin results in both physical and spiritual death (separation from God forever).
Thus, man was not suitable to spend eternity with God, and would be separated from Him in hell.
• But, God decided to extend mercy and grace (God’s unmerited favor) to some of the human race.
He desired (for His glory), through His mercy and grace, to bless (i.e. rescue) some people.
• First, God desired to prove to everyone forever that man is totally incapable of pleasing Him.
He chose the smallest and weakest nation, Israel, to be His specially-pampered “chosen people”.
They would actually play the role of man’s representatives before God, but they failed miserably.
• Next, God designed a plan of salvation that would be “foolishness” to the normal human being.
He decided that His justice would be satisfied, if a sinless man died for the sins of the human race.
His Messiah-Redeemer-Savior would be God Himself, and He would live on earth in a man’s body.
God’s Spirit would perform a miracle and play the role of “father” of this Messiah, called Jesus Christ.
This God-Man would be “without sin”, and therefore could pay the penalty of death for man’s sins.
• God had His reasons for who He would choose to embrace His “foolish” gospel message.
He sees no time ... He sees everything … all the way from the beginning of history to the very end.
He would elect some people from ALL of the world’s tribes, ethnic groups, nations, countries, etc.
• Salvation is through God’s grace and is NOT through any of man’s good works. Because of his sin
nature, man has always been spiritually blind and deaf and totally incapable of accepting God’s truth.
God gives some people a spiritual revelation, which is His free gift of grace-faith-salvation. However,
man has the free-will choice to accept or reject this revelation, and this is called “prevenient grace”.
• Those who initially believe-trust in Jesus and His gospel are given the Holy Spirit to be inside of them.
These are BACs, and it is never promised that this grace-faith-salvation will remain forever until the end
of their lives. Only to the faithful “elect” of God are some NT verses of guaranteed salvation given (*).
The famous “easy-believism” verses are simply to catch the simple fishes. However, one who truly
believes (unto obedience and full sanctification) is part of God’s “elect” and will gain eternal life.
• BACs are sanctified (set apart) for further refinement (they still have their sin nature to deal with).
They embark on their sanctification process where the Holy Spirit tries to sanctify them unto holiness.
Only with the help of the Holy Spirit can BACs be victorious over sin, and actually be overcomers.
BACs have the free-will choice to co-operate (or not) with the Holy Spirit’s attempts to sanctify them (*).
• The many warnings/threats to the churches are NOT to get God’s elect “in line” … because
then they would be out-and-out lies or deceptions. Note that 3 of the more mild warnings say
that those BACs who are truly righteous in God’s eyes actually practice righteousness. Because
of all of the many dozens of warning/threats, some BACs do actually fall away from the faith (*).
Therefore, not all BACs are part of God’s elect (*).
• Any person at death who has a habitual sin (e.g. unforgiveness, lying, etc.) is shut out of heaven.
But, one may still repent and believe and trust in Jesus and His gospel, even on his death-bed (*).
However, 2 passages say that once a BAC goes back into a sin lifestyle, he can never return to the faith.