A Christian can not lose salvation

Thanks to my opponent for her reply! Unbelievably as a Christian she does not believe miracles happens. This is a odd attitude given she believes in a God that clearly makes miracles happen throughout the same book her and I read and believe. My opponent did not remark on the Biblical passages I supplied that affirmed my resolution. 1 Corinthians 12:28, "And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. 29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? 30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?" What IF's My opponent asks, "Why all those "ifs"?" She is suggesting that there are so many 'ifs and buts' in the policy of salvation that it simply means that it is conditional. Maybe that logic makes sense to you, but it sounds rather bogus to me. Meaning as to warnings. She seems to assume that if our salvation is secure in Christ by what He has done that there would be no possible explanation for Paul to warn them. She is suggesting that there is no alternative as what his warnings are about. If not, then you are only forcing Paul's words to comply with a doctrine instead of the other way around. It seems to be a particular teaching of true communication by Paul to this specific group of believers. I believe if the little word 'if ' really means what it says then it has to fit the whole context of the whole letter and Bible. The passages you have supplied still circle around the wonderful grace of this undeserved, freely given, and secure salvation of Christ. Considering the short text of a letter you must consider the whole letter and not just the selected portion. These verses supply free grace and eternal salvation. (John 10:25-29;Heb. 13:5-7; 1 John 2:19-25; Rom. 8:33-39; 1 John 5:7-21; Heb. 5:1-9; 2 Tim 2:1-13). If a line is quoted from one of my favorite stories I do not for a moment view it in isolation from its relation to the whole thing, including many intricate details and related characters. Those who are unfamiliar with the story merely hear a quote, and have no idea what is behind it, and therefore can only speculate its meaning. This is what my opponent is trying to do here. Rebuttal My opponent seemed to not comprehend that my position in this debate is that one can not lose salvation once it has been given. She precedes into sarcastic remarks for her lack of understanding. She was correct to assume I say that one can not lose salvation IF it is given. We all have a freedom of choice of course and we can exercise it. But the real question is, what prevents the saved from walking away forever from God if one chooses? Our salvation in Christ does. We read below that we are new creatures and that nothing not even ourselves can pluck us out of God's hands. Will my opponent suggest that we can overcome God? 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:" John 10:28-29, "I give unto them eternal life;.they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.; No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." Romans 8:35, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" Nothing, not even ourselves once salvation has been given. My opponent then suggests that a gift of God by His grace is still work in progress. When we are given a present or gift did we work to receive it? No, we did not. God gave us the gift of salvation and all we must do is open our hearts to receive it and it is ours forever. She hints that we should not freely take the gift of Christ but we should seek to go out and work for something that is freely given. No the truth is we work when we already have freely accepted salvation. Our work therefore is joyful work because we have received free salvation. When we love someone do we workout our hearts to love them? I do not think so, love is free and it is given freely. God loves us and freely gives us the gift of salvation to just accept, if we choose and many do not. Me and my opponent will agree that once one is saved then their works will show it some how and some way. Though she goes further into saying we need those works to maintain salvation. Works are the outward acts but for the purpose of receiving merit they are of no value for attaining salvation. Those who trust in Jesus Christ will produce works that are motivated by the Spirit. Rom. 3:28-30, "justified by faith apart from works" Rom. 4:5, "But to the one who does not work, faith is reckoned as righteousness" Rom. 5:1, "therefore having been justified by faith" Rom. 9:30, "righteousness which is by faith" Rom. 10:4, "righteousness to everyone who believes" Rom. 11:6, "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace." Gal. 2:16, "man is not justified by the works..but through faith in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3:5-6, "Does He..who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles..do it by the works..or by hearing with faith?" Gal. 3:24, "that we may be justified by faith" Eph. 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith" Phil. 3:9, "the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith." My opponent says my use of "reversed" is synonymous with the following: (1) Falling away, fallen from grace(2) Will not renew again unto repentance(3) Crucifying the Son of God afresh(4) Putting Him to an open shame.(5) Severed from Christ(6) Entangled again None of the following above are definitions of receiving the complete gift of salvation. Notice that in my previous round that I said one can not lose salvation or that God will not cast you out from salvation once you have been given that gift. One cannot be severed from that to which he was not joined. We are dealing with apostate children of God. These expressions must be understood as explicit denials of salvation. The reason there was no renewal of repentance for this state was because they were taught the gift of Christ and the gospel and the Spirit of God could not any longer penetrate their hardened hearts and convict them of their sins. They chose to either live by the O.T. and works alone or total refusal of salvation and repentance all together. My opponent then gives us a O.T. passage in (Isa 59: 2) to confirm that we can be separated from God once salvation has been given. Christ had not came and sacrificed Himself with the gift of salvation by grace at that point. Jude 1:19, "These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." My opponent asked, "If a person can renounce Jesus Christ, curse God, and engage in all manner of evil, but if he was ever saved, he is still saved?" Why would the saved, one given the gift, one given the spirit of God, do any of those things? If we are saved we have the Spirit working in us and burdening us. Even though our lives may become hard and difficult. We always have joy for our gift of salvation that has been given freely to us. If one is not experiencing the power of the Gospel in their heart and life they could be believing in vain. The Word tells us to examine ourselves to see if we be in the faith. Devils believe but they are not saved. They miss the saving Grace. The Spirit will witness in our hearts. God will never turn His back on the saved. The devil cannot pry us out of Christ. References http://www.biblicaltheology.com... http://carm.org...