A Christian can not lose salvation

My opponent says, "My opponent used work based salvation from Judaism in the O.T. to make her example of God's people forgetting Him. This is a grave error on her part.” I used God’s physical punishment of national Israel in the OT as a type of figure of salvation by faith in the New, and I shall continue to do so. And here’s why: “… did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses? And with whom was he displeased forty years? Was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient? And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.” (Heb 3: 16-19) The apostle Paul repeatedly uses the same example, and applies it very poignantly toChristianity. I want this point well understood: Those Israelites were God’s people in Egypt, just as the church is God’s peopletoday. They were led out of Egypt by Moses, a type or figure of Christ, and on their way to the promised land, Canaan. What happened? They fell. They disbelieved and disobeyed. And? God kept them out of the promised land – and get the point right here: Just as it was a physical affair with Israel, so it is spiritually with us under the New Covenant. Over and over, that is used as an example. They fell. They never reached the promised land. With eternity in view, please do not miss that point. Paul didn’t miss it. Notice Heb 4: 11, “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” What example? The one just given up there in Heb 3. They fell into disbelief and never reached the promised land. My opponent can see that. What does my opponent say? “Grave error” on my part. “Can’t happen.” Well, it just seems to me that it did happen. And again: “... because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” (Rom 11: 20-22) What does my opponent say? Well, for one thing, he doesn’t like the “if thou continue in His goodness” part, and says I’m misapplying it. Again I don’t think so. Let the reader judge. And again: “Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” (I Cor 10: 11) Now if someone can’t see the example and apply it, then I confess that I do not know what else to say. These things happened unto them for examples. *** On Gal 5, he says, “My opponent seems to think the Bible was written solely for the saved, when she says that, Ye means just us. 'Ye' means a plural form of you, meaning 'you all.' I conclude that means both the saved and the lost.” Let’s get this. He looks at these passages specifically - “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage,” then “Ye are severed from Christ, ye would be justified by the law; ye are fallen away from grace.” – and concludes that the “us” and “ye” refers to both Christians and non-Christians. I would hardly think that the lost have the “liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free”. Nor are the lost encouraged to “stand fast” in their “lostness.” Why, the entire book of Galatians was written to the saved. See Gal 1: 1, 2: “Paul, an apostle - sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead - and all the brothers with me, to the churches in Galatia” The “churches of Galatia” are not “both the saved and the lost”, and the admonition to “standfast” at 5: 1 is not advice to the lost – and the passage was not written to the lost. Lost Jews could not “become entangled again” in the “yoke of bondage” – they never left the yoke. In fact, the only folks who could “become entangled again” in Judaism would be Jews who had renounced Judaism and embraced Christianity, so that solves that problem. The passage is written to saved people, and not only that, it is particularly written to Jewish Christians who faced a particular temptation. *** His example of conversion: “If I sit on my couch .. my friend (Christ) comes over and says to me, "I have a gift for you. Do you want it?" I ask, what do I have to do for it? He says, "Just accept it." He throws the gift on my lap and walks away, did I work for that gift? NO, I did not.” You think Jesus Christ just throws salvation at you – and you basically get hit with it in the lap? Looks to me like you didn’t “accept” it. You simply didn’t dodge it. Notice that in your struggle to keep from doing anything, you become too lazy to even hold your hand out. You just sit there – can’t even nod your head – and smack! Salvation lands right in your lap. Not a passage in the entire Bibles teaches such a doctrine. But had you been standing there with Peter on Pentecost in Acts 2 when those old Jews were cut to the heart and cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”, you could have said, “Nothing.” But Peter didn’tsay that. And every case of conversion in the book of Acts is the same. Circumstances may differ, but every case is the same. *** And further, “Once I have opened my heart by accepting His gift, then I love Him for what He has done for me and I then seek repentance for His free gift.” Notice your order: 1. You must believe that Jesus has that gift. 2. “Open yourself”. Accept that gift. 3. Saved 4. Love Jesus Christ 5. Repent because you were already saved That’s your order? I guess it is. Believing that Jesus has that gift” would include believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. You would necessarily have to believe He is Who He claims to be. Thus, you would believe in the virgin birth, the sinless life, the cross of Calvary, the resurrection, and the ascension to the right hand of the Father. How’d you learn all that? Faith comes by hearing. You heard the gospel message, contemplated it, weighed the evidence, decided in favor of Jesus, believed that He is indeed the Son of God and all the other attendant facts, and believed that He has the gift of salvation. And get this: so far, according to you, you have “done nothing!” Not a thing. Then you also “opened yourself.” Whatever that is, you did it – and you also “accepted the gift.” And still – you haven’t done anything? Every time you talk about “receiving salvation”, you have conditions in front of it. Every time.*** “My opponent is maintaining that we have to do works to receive salvation. Salvation is a gift.” So is gonorrhea, but you can’t get that without some kind of effort on your part, either. Calling something a “gift” does not even imply that there are no prerequisites, no conditions, and no effort on the recipient’s part. Salvation is a gift in the sense that it is unearned, unmerited, and undeserved. And every time you start to explain it, you list off something we must do in order to be saved. Just this last time, you said we must believe in Jesus first and “open our hearts”, did you not? Thus, you have us “doing something” while you call it “doing nothing”. Therein lies the inconsistency. Your theory is that if a person has to “do something” in order to receive salvation, then the person would have to “do something” to lose it. Likewise, if a person has to “do nothing” in order to receive it, then there is “nothing” a person could do to lose it. While I might not agree with the logic on that, I find it odd that you disprove your own theory: every time you talk about “getting saved”, you have the person doing something as a prerequisite. He must believe in Jesus Christ, must open his heart, must accept it. He has to do those things as prerequisites.Thanks very much to my oppponent. I have enjoyed it, and I'll close - only a few characters remaining.