A saved person, a Christian, may sin in such a way as to be eternally lost.

uestions: (1) What was the salvation status of King Saul up until the point of I Samuel 11: 6? And what was his status at the point of his suicide? (2) Does Heb 6: 4-6 describe a situation that actually happened or actually could happen? (3) Does a believer - a saved believer - possess the free agency, the power of choice, to become an unbeliever? I will submit, first of all, that a faithful child of God cannot be lost, but I predict the major difference, the major point in controvery will be this: "Can a man who believes today quit believing? Can his faith be severed? Can he depart from it? Can he have his faith overthrown? Can a saved person depart from the living God so as to wind up in unbelief?" Now, I think that will ultimately be the issue, and the negative is welcome to dispute that contention. I will start with a general warning: "Let him the standeth take heed lest he fall." (I Cor 10: 12) Warnings such as this always imply danger, and so I pose the simply question: if no danger of falling exists, why waste time with warnings? 1. I begin with the OT narrative concerning King Saul. Point 1: King Saul was chosen. "Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen." (I Sam 10: 24) Point 2: King Saul was anointed. "Samuel took a vial of oil, and poured it upon his head ... .the Lord hath anointed thee." (I Sam 10: 1) Point 3: The Spirit of God was promised to come upon Saul. "And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee." (I Sam 10: 6) Point 4: Likewise, the ability to prophesy was promised to Saul. "...and thou shalt prophesy with them." (I Sam 10: 6) Point 5: Saul would be turned into 'another man.' "... and shalt be turned into another man." (I Sam 10: 6) Point 6: Saul was given another heart. "God gave him another heart." (I Sam 10: 9) Point 7: The other signs promised to Saul came to pass. "... and all those signs came to pass that day." (I Sam 10: 9) Point 8: The Spirit of God came upon Saul. " .. the Spirit of God came upon him." (I Sam 10: 10) Point 9: Saul prophesied. " ... he prophesied among them." (I Sam 10: 10) Point 10: Again, the Spirit of God came upon Saul. (I Sam 11: 6) I'll pause and state that no better description of a saved man exists: "chosen, anointed, given another heart, Spirit of God upon him, and able to prophesy." Surely any person who gave such an "experience" would be accepted into certain denominations. Alright, how did the whole affair turn out? As the story progresses, we find Saul in a sad state, disobedient, wicked and recreant, culminating in: Point 11: The Spirit of God departed from Saul. "... the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul." (I Sam 16: 14) Point 12: An evil spirit was upon Saul. (I Sam 16: 23) Point 13: The Lord departed from Saul (I Sam 18: 12) Point 14: Among other things, Saul plotted murder (I Sam 18: 11) Point 15: The Lord became Saul's enemy (I Sam 15: 24) Point 16: The kingdom was taken from Saul, and Saul ultimately committed suicide. Alright, points 11 - 16 describe everything but a saved man, and I left quite a bit out. Spirit-departed, God-forsaken Saul committed suicide, and according to the negative position, Saul was either (1) never saved or (2) saved and never lost. My position is that Saul simply and unfortunately confirms I Chron 28: 9, spoken to Solomon, "if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever." I truly anticipate seeing some sort of explanation of King Saul's "early" status versus his "later" status. 2. The behavior and consequences of national Israel are types and shadows for our Christian example. "These things happened unto them by way of example." And what is the example? Well, God's people can forget God. "The children of Israel did evil .. and forgot the Lord their God." (Judges 3: 7). "Beware lest thou forget the Lord." (Deut 6: 12). "So are the paths of all that forget God." (Job 8: 13). "...ye that forget God, lest I tear you into pieces. (Ps 50: 22) What is God's response? "I. even I, will utterly forget you .. forsake you .. cast you out of my presence." (Jer 23: 39-40). "Whatsoever things were written aforetime" - here's one thing that was written - "were written for our learning." (Rom 15: 4). And here's the parallel in Hebrews 4: 11, "Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of unbelief" and I Cor 10: 11, "Now all these things happened to them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition ..." I invite your attention to the possibility of a nation or a person forgetting God, God's response, and the fact that these are written that "no man fall after the same ensample of unbelief." 3. Remaining saved is conditional Point 1: You are saved, "if .. " (there's the condition) "..ye keep in memory what I preached unto you .." (I Cor 15: 2) Point 2: "We are made partakers of Christ, if ..." (there's the condition) "... we hold ... stedfast." (Heb 3: 14) Point 3: "If (there's the condition) ye continue in the faith .. " (Col 1: 23) Point 4: And, "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." (I Pet 1: 9) Thus, "Be thou faithful until death (there's the condition), and I will give thee a crown of life." 4. Heb 6 "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." (v. 4-6). I can think of no better picture, no better description, of a saved person, and these persons under consideration did not merely "fall", but they "fell away." "Once enlightened" means "illuminated" by the rays of the gospel, as in Heb 10: 32. And what's more, the word "if" is added in verse 6, it should and does read "having fallen way" - perfect participle - in some translations. Why such a vivid description and such a stern warning if such an event is an utter impossibility? This class of Christians who not only ceased to believe, but re-embraced Judaism, not only "fell away" and "crucified Christ afresh, but also "it was impossible 'renew' or 'resave' them. I have actually had people tell me that this passage describes an impossibility! - that Paul wasted his ink and paper on something that could not possibly occur. Here's your man: 1. Once enlightened 2. Tasted of the heavenly gift 3. Partakers of the Holy Ghost 4. Tasted the good word of God 5. (Tasted the) powers of the world to come Now, "then fell away" (ASV, 1901). Well then what? It is impossible - not an unlikelihood - but impossible to renew them again. Ok, what becomes of them? There is a world of difference between "stumbling and falling" and "falling away." I can "stumble and fall" on a boat, but if I "fall away" from the boat, that's a different matter. Here are people that, by all indications, wound up rejecting Christ - after being saved. They reverted to unbelief and, hence, crucified the Son of God afresh. Were they ever saved? Did they wind up lost? Is Paul just making the whole scenario up? I invite your attention to the passage. That should be enough: 4 brief affirmative arguments and 3 questions. I do not care for making twenty affirmative arguments so that the negative cannot possibly reply to them all. The last disputant simply ventured into an impossibility: prove the existence of God, heaven, hell, saved, and lost by science, and never approached intent of the proposition - and knew it. Thank you, and I await your reply.