ETERNAL SECURITY: HOW WILL IT IMPACT YOUNG BELIEVERS?

How will the 'Once Saved, Always Saved’ (OSAS) belief influence the mindset and lifestyle of young believers?

When a leader embraces and preaches OSAS, I hope he understands the full implications of this belief on young believers. The message he is imparting to young believers is that whatever moral decisions Christians make after being saved do not matter at all—since they will finally be saved, no matter what happens. They can willfully live in sin, deny God or commit apostasy and heaven will welcome them with open arms when they leave this earth. Whatever they do or don’t do is not going to affect their eternal destiny. In other words, they need not be accountable or responsible for their actions.

Would feeding them with this kind of ‘feel good’ teaching be likely to produce young believers who strive for excellence, demonstrate exemplary moral conduct and pursue a habit of in-depth, systematic Bible study?

How would the leader respond when the young believer says, “I won’t be coming to church from now on because, according to your teaching, I will still be saved; so why bother? I’d rather sleep in on Sunday and then go for an extended brunch.”

                                                                      

Would God be truly fair when he admits through the pearly gates of heaven—without any discrimination—the faithful believer and the unrepentant believer?

If examinations do not grade us according to our maturity and level of understanding of the course material, then what incentive is there to study hard? If everyone scores an ‘A’, even the one who hands up a blank sheet, then why bother to prepare well for an examination? So what is the point of keeping God’s laws since, according to OSAS, an unrepentant believer also gets to enjoy heaven’s rewards?

Let me end by sharing about how gardeners take care of a small garden patch. Isn’t it a laborious backbreaking task to keep the weeds, like lallang, from spoiling the beautiful patch of green?

The “default mode” is that young believers are prone to sin by virtue of man’s inherent sinful nature—just as weeds simply flourish even if we do not plant them. If we teach the liberal OSAS premise, wouldn’t it be likely to accelerate the growth of weeds (sin)? If, according to OSAS, whatever they do or don’t do is not going to affect their eternal destiny, is there much “incentive” for young believers to live holy lives? (There are many older, mature OSAS adherents who live responsibly).

At this juncture, I want to interject by saying we cannot strive in our flesh to be holy. Rather, holiness is attained through seeking God, submitting to Him and availing ourselves of the power of the Holy Spirit.   

To conclude, let me reiterate: “When a leader embraces and preaches OSAS, I hope he understands the full implications of this belief on young believers.” After having considered the points above, if he still thinks it is the correct thing to do, he is at liberty to do so.

What is seriously wrong with OSAS is that it overemphasises God’s grace, love and mercy and downplays His justice and righteousness, which hold us accountable for our moral choices. This belief also overlooks or ignores huge swathes of the New Testament in order to accommodate its liberal slant.

Assurance of salvation is a promise of God (Romans 8:38-39, John 3:16, John 1:12, 1 John 5:12). But let’s not take God for granted—willfully live in sin, deny God or commit apostasy—and insist on the validity of the ‘feel good' teaching, eternal security or OSAS. http://bit.ly/1yXkool

                                                                      

"The OSAS assumption is the cause of dryness in our churches. It has spread so fast like bush fire. Teaching about repentance and holiness has not been given the emphasis it rightly deserves. Sugar-coated gospel dominates most church services today. Weeds in the churches have grown to become bushes. How God wants brave men and women to slash the weeds with the true gospel of the kingdom" (Isaiah 6:8-10).

         - Peter Wanyonyi

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EXTERNAL LINK

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One of the best links to the perplexing issue of once saved, always saved (OSAS).

http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/eternal-security.htm