My last blog post (Can A Christian Fall From Grace?) got a fairly underwhelming response (the sound of crickets, mostly). One person did say that it was too long and too abstract. He told me (in so many words) that "once saved, always saved" and predestination were relatively minor issues in the overall scope of Christianity. His response could be summed up as "what's the big deal?" My response was "anything that concerns the fate of your immortal soul is a big deal". Setting that aside for a moment, what else makes this such a big deal?
Once saved, always saved and predestination are dangerous because they produce a skewed perspective. The impact of sin is minimized if we think our salvation is guaranteed. It becomes all too easy to say "Oops, I sinned; oh well, God's got it covered" every time we do something wrong, no matter how bad. The consequences of our actions become a minor inconvenience rather than a wake up call to choose a different path. Sin affects everything - not just us but the people around us, as well as our relationship with God. God expects us to make an honest effort and provides grace when we stumble. Grace is not a spiritual "license to kill", i.e. it's not an excuse to live any way we please. Once saved, always saved sounds great because it's easy - all you have to do is believe and you've got a permanent "get out of hell free" card. As the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true. An additional problem with predestination is that it causes us to lose hope. After all, what's the point of living a certain way if our salvation (or lack thereof) is carved in stone and cannot be changed?
The free will that God gave us is our real hope. If our life is corrupted by sin we can choose a different path. Our salvation is not guaranteed or predetermined from birth - it rests on the choices we make. We can choose to follow God's plan for salvation (as outlined in the New Testament) or we can ignore it. Either way, the choice is ours (as well as the consequences).
