My former pastor was talking with a preacher of a different denomination. My pastor believed in assurance of salvation and the other pastor believed one could lose their salvation. My pastor quoted a scripture that seemed to support his viewpoint and the other preacher quoted the same verse and then said "but" and then proceeded to expound on why that was fully accurate.
My pastor informed me of the conversation and I told him there wasn't any "but" in the bible. He misunderstood me and thought I was saying that the word "but" was never used in scripture. That was not what I was saying at all. I really meant that there was no "but" after that verse in the bible.
I realize one cannot pick one verse and build a doctrine out of it. One has to take a verse in context and then interpret it in light of it's usage in the entirety of scripture But neither can one add your own interpretation to a scripture because you don't want to agree with what it is saying.
It is hard for some because to accept that salvation is free and one doesn't have to do anything to get it except for accepting it. Some think that becoming a Christian is a get out of hell free card and that once saved they can live like they want to. But the bible makes it clear that once you accept salvation that you have been purchased with a price. You are no longer a servant of sin but you still have a master. You have to serve one or the other. If you say you belong to the Lord and yet still serve Satan, scripture says you are a liar. You no longer want to live the way you did when you were lost nor will you.
Those people who believe that you have to follow a set of rules and live a certain way in order to go to heaven have missed the reason for Christ's death on the cross because if you have to live a sin free life then what is the point of the cross?
No, God said what he meant and he meant what he said and we cannot be adding "buts, if's or maybe's to the end of scripture.
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