Okay, sorry guys for being gone so long. I'll let post suffice as a response to several of your posts collectively.
godrulz said:
Most OSAS are Calvinistic, since TULIP is interrelated and self-consistent, though wrong.
Most Open Theists and Arminians are non-OSAS. Clete, your position probably as something to do with Mid-Acts or your understanding of salvation as irreversible. In a nutshell, how do you support OSAS (I forgot if you already told us)?
It has to do with authority basically.
In a really tiny nutshell, when you are saved you are sealed with Holy Spirit. This seal was placed on you buy God Himself, not by you, or by your pastor or anyone else. It is God's seal, placed by God Himself because the one sealed met His specified criteria for receiving that seal, namely placing one’s faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here's the central point; we do not have the authority nor do we have the power to remove that seal. The Bible very explicitly states that we have been sealed until the day of redemption and I take the Bible at its word. God will not remove that seal until the day of redemption, period. Thus once you have been sealed you have an appointment with the Father, IN CHRIST! God CANNOT deny you because He cannot deny Himself, which is another thing that the Bible very explicitly states. In short, you cannot lose your salvation because you cannot box with God; your arms are way too short. Once you have placed your faith in Christ, it is no longer up to you but up to God. This is one reason it so ridiculous when Christians attempt to make a fellow believer feel guilty and to place them under law by making them believe that there is something more required of them. There cannot be, God is perfect and He has imputed His perfection to those who have the Holy Spirit living inside them. It's particularly tragic because placing oneself under the law, as a rule of life, is precisely the opposite of what one must do in order to live the life that they have been given the power to live in Christ. The moment you take hold of the law (rules and regulations) you abandon the power of Christ's resurrection, which is the only manner by which a holy life can be lived. You cannot serve two masters.
So, I don't care what deception Caledvwlch has allowed himself to believe. IF and I repeat IF he ever, even for a smallest of moments, ever called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that God raised Him from the dead, HE WILL BE SAVED! Every other single thing that ever happens in his life is irrelevant to the issue of his salvation. Now, granted, he may well make it by what the Bible calls the skin of his teeth, that is to say that all his works will likely have been burned up and he will suffer loss in that he will not receive the rewards he might otherwise have received, but that is a different issue altogether.
And finally, the Bible doesn't speak directly about what will transpire on the day of redemption when the seal of the Holy Spirit is removed. It is at least a possibility that Caledvwlch will be given a choice to make at that time. I personally doubt very much that God will require someone who hates Him to stick around and hang out in heaven forever if he does want to be there. But, of course, that is speculation; we'll have to wait and see on that point.
Resting in Him,
Clete
