Once Saved. Always Saved

Several years ago I spent the night with a friend. An acquaintance of his was there also. My friend's house had a small kitchen area with a small round table.  If you wanted to eat, it was the only place to sit. The other guest was already seated at the table when I walked over with my Cheerios and milk.  It was about 7:30 in the morning and I hadn't even had my first cup of coffee.

I was hardly seated when with not as much as "good morning" he looked at me  and asked, "Do you believe in 'once saved always saved'?"  My theology being what it was and my mind working the way it did, at least 10,000 responses flashed through my head in less than a second. Response 8,456 would have been "No." Response 8,457 would have been "Yes."But that's not what I said. Response #1 involved re-framing the question. There was no way for me to answer the question if we didn't agree on the question.  Responses 2 through 684 involved the realization that the two of us would never agree on the question.

I knew what he was asking.  He was asking the question that had been posed to me since I was a young child in a Southern Baptist church in south Alabama. I heard it quite often from the pulpit, especially when the hell-fire and brimstone evangelists rolled into town twice a year: "There are only two kinds of people in the world" they shouted, "those that are saved and those who are lost.  The saved will enjoy an eternity in Heaven with Jesus.  The lost will be tormented in a Devil's Hell for all eternity."  Or another way they were fond of expressing it, "The lost will 'split hell wide open'! " Even as a kid I imagined grabbing my right knee and splashing into hell with a can-opener, But it still was not a place I wanted to go.

This belief then led to the question "Once you are saved ( not bound for hell but bound for Heaven), can you be lost again (bound for hell)? Tens of thousands of good churches  split on this issue.  And thousands of new churches were formed upon the foundation of which way they fell. So I can assume that my breakfast mate's question was this, "Once you are saved and bound for Heaven, can you then somehow through sin or apostasy become lost and go to hell?"  So as I stated, I wish I had just said, "Yes" and let him talk.  After all he was not the least bit interested in my answer to his question; he only wanted to tell me the gospel truth about "eternal destiny."

So instead of answering his question I went with Response #1, to re-frame the question.  I said something like, "First of all I don't think of 'saved' and 'lost' as being about eternal destiny.  I think of being 'saved' as the quality of my life today.  So 'yes' I believe you can be 'saved' and 'lost' several times a day.  If I am living in forgiveness, grace, love, gratitude and spiritual abundance then I am being saved. If I am living my life with worry, regret, self-punishment, anger, unforgiveness and emotional distress then I am being lost. In this regard, I can be 'saved' one minute and 'lost' the next over and over again on any given day."

I really don't remember any more of our conversation.  I was much more concerned about my Cheerios getting soggy than his answer to my response. I do remember that he really didn't know what to say and that we spent the remainder of our breakfast in uncomfortable silence.

Why do I have all this on my mind this morning? My job involves inspecting people's crawl spaces under their house.  This week as I was crawling back through the crawl door into the light of day, the next door neighbor spoke to me.  He was working in his flower garden and I approached him and talked across his chain link fence.  He wanted to know about my knee pads so we chatted about that a few minutes.  He then asked, "If you died today do you know where you will spend eternity?"  My theology is much more liberal than it was seven years ago, and my brain runs even  faster.  So nearly 100,000 responses flashed in my  head. Response #65,892 was "Yes." So I went with that.  "Yes I do",  I said. Apparently unsatisfied with that response or more than likely a pre-prepared follow up he asked "Would that be in Heaven or hell?"  Staying on course I said, "Heaven."  Still not satisfied he asked, "And what do you base that on?" At this point I was officially annoyed and just wanted out of the conversation as quickly as possible.  I found him, his theology and line of questioning to be rude and invasive. Of the nearly 6 million responses I considered for this question, I simply gave him what he was looking for. I said, "When I was 10 years old I invited Jesus in my heart. He came into my heart and that's where he is today. That's how I know I'm going to Heaven." To my surprise, he had no further questions. And I bid him good day and walked away.

I'm constantly amazed by the legions of people who dismiss and devalue their own lives to only give credence to what happens when they die.  If there is a Heaven that is certainly where I want to end up. If there is a hell then I certainly have no desire to roast like a marshmallow for all eternity.  But I try to live my life in such a way that it doesn't matter if either place exists.  If I don't enjoy all the resources of grace here on Earth, what makes me think I'll enjoy them any more in Heaven? If the here and now is not satisfying and enjoyable, then why would I think the amenities of Heaven will be any better? If I don't develop the capacity to experience at least occasional bliss while on Earth, is it reasonable to think I will be only blissful for all eternity? I would think dirt and grass to be more comfortable than streets of gold.  I think I would find harp music to be interesting for an hour or so.  Mansions have never appealed to me much. But a cabin in the woods by a mountain stream sounds very nice.  And angel choirs?  "Ok, fine, I like choirs. But is that 'Rock and Roll Heaven' really here? I've heard they have a helluva band."

And all those relatives you'll spend forever with, if you don't enjoy their company now, why would you enjoy it then? Are  all those annoyances suddenly forgiven and forgotten when you walk through the Pearly Gates?

But I digress.  Do I believe in 'once saved. always saved?"  "No, I do not. I definitely do not".