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

Thank you for your reply. I will point out a few (of what I consider to be) errors in it. 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?" You say, "I honestly do not know about his salvation status." I can accept that, and this is the reason I asked: many people say that he was saved because the Spirit of God was upon him, yet the Spirit also departed from him. It would logically follow that he was lost at the point of the Spirit's departure, if he was saved at the point of the Spirit's being upon him. 2. "Does Heb 6: 4-6 describe a situation that actually happened or actually could happen?" You say, "yes." Well, is the person who fell away a saved unbeliever at that point. If he was saved, then disbelieved, and is lost, my affirmative is proven. If he was saved, then disbelieved, and remained saved, then you'll have a saved unbeliever in heaven. Is this correct? 3. "Does a believer - a saved believer - possess the free agency, the power of choice, to become an unbeliever?" Ok, if one simply exercises this choice to quit believing and becomes an atheist and dies an atheist - is he still saved? 4. "Choice is instead the freedom that God gives us to make decisions on our own. Saul chose to reject the Lord after he had accepted him. Rejecting God is not a sin." Rejecting God is not a sin? Since when? 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." Forsake means: "to quit or leave entirely; abandon; desert," whereas reject means, "to refuse to accept (someone or something); rebuff." (Dictionary.com). While not synonyms, the two carry the same idea. 5. "So when my opponent says that King Saul is a primary example of a Christian sinning enough to go to hell, I'd say that King Saul wasn't a Christian because Jesus hadn't come yet" Well, so would I, and for the same reason. I never said Saul was a Christian nor an example of one. I implied that Saul has enough positive descriptors to be called a saved person, then afterwards possessed enough negative descriptors to be called a lost person: I believe this to be the case. 6. "and he didn't sin which made him eternally lost but his choice did. Therefore my opponent's first contention is invalid." Umm ... i have a question. Can you name one sin, either before salvation or afterwards, that isn't a choice or by choice? "for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever." I Chron 28: 9. "choose you this day whom ye will serve" Josh 24: 15 7. "However, let me remind you that Israel chose to reject God. They did not sin badly enough to get punished." Yes, they did, and yes, they got punished. God took their land from them, allowed them to be enslaved, and eventually destroyed them as a nation and scattered them, and reined judgement upon Israel in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple, the records, and the artifacts. 8. "Rejecting God is not a sin because God gave us this choice." One can reject God and not even sin in so doing? Isn't lying a choice? Adultery is a choice. Murder is a choice. Shoot, even rape is a choice, I suppose - of the rapist, anyway. Does the fact that these are choices - bad choices - that people make eliminate them being sins? "But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matt 5: 28) 9. "The Bible says we fall away, it does not say we sin in such a way to fall away but instead reject Christ which is NOT a sin but choice." For the life of me, I can't understand how anyone who purports to be a Christian can say that rejecting Christ is not a sin. If not, then one is lost by not sinning: " ... he that disbelieveth shall be lost." (Mark 16: 16b) You're saying that the person hears the evidence, believes it, repents and whatever, and is saved - then renounces the whole affair, reverts to disbelief, and is still saved. In other words, he forsakes God, but God "hangs tight" with him. I repeat, " ... "if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever." "I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." (John 8: 24) 10. ""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." Your contention is that, (1) yes, the person was saved, (2) yes, the person fell away, (3) yes the person wound up lost, BUT the "winding up lost" was not a result of any sin. What is it that separates a lost man from God in the first place? "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." (Isa 59: 2) So sins separate us from God, and these people fell away and were lost, yet it wasn't sin that caused it? Think about that, please. That's enough for now. Thanks, and I await your reply. Sorry, I typed hurriedly: I was pushed for time.