A Christian Cannot Lose His Salvation

I would like the viewers to note that he broke rule #3. However, please do not penalize him for it. We have agreed to continue the debate anyway. Opening argumentsFirstly, John 10:27-28 says, "27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. " The word "never" means not now, or in the time to come (1). If that is the case, then we can safely say that salvation cannot be lost. If the verse said something along the lines of "they shall never perish if they remain faithful", then the opposing view could have been substantiated. However, "There is only the clear declaration that they shall never perish" (2). Secondly, 1 John 2:19 tells us, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. " To substantiate my point more, let us cross-reference this point with what some of the verses from John 10: Here, John 10:1 says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. " Moreover, John 10:4-5 explains, "4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. " Furthermore, On John 10:9, Jesus says, "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. " From these Scriptural connections, we can see that such people were never saved in the first place. People can appear to be Christian and be in the sheepfold, but then we notice that they did not enter the pen properly. As already indicated by Jesus, the proper way to belong to the sheepfold is not by climbing up, but it is by going through the door. Additionally, it must also be noted that as they were not saved (since they did not enter the door), it must come to mind that they would not follow Jesus' voice like His sheep do (after all, they are strangers). We must notice that verse 5 says that a stranger "will flee from him", which is similar to what 1 John 2:19 said. Once again, the aforementioned verse tells us, "They went out from us, but they were not of us;" This is similar to John 10:5, which, again, says that a stranger will flee from Him. Of course, we must still keep in mind that strangers cannot belong to the metaphorical sheepfold, because, well, they are strangers. Simply put, "Our eternal security is a result of God keeping us, not us maintaining our own salvation" (3). Thirdly, it is written that God cannot lie (see Titus 1:2). Hebrews 13:5 says, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. " So, if one believes that it is possible to lose his salvation, then he would make God a liar. As we can see here, one is either saved permanently or not saved at all. For example, the founder of GodAndScience. org says that he contacted unbelievers claiming to be former Christians. Upon making more inquiries of their claims, he found out that they never understood what faith meant (4). In turn, this leaves us room to corroborate the argument that people who "used to be Christian" were never saved in the first place. If they were saved for a while, then how would that be in harmony with Hebrews 13:5? Did God say, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee if you remain faithful"? The correct explanation would be that the Lord was never with them, which does not contradict the verse. Fourthly, I would like to say that faith is from God, not man. Ephesians 2:8 (one of the verses that my opponent brought up) says, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" If it were possible for one to lose his salvation, then one would be saying that faith is from man. However, this is not in agreement with what Ephesians said. If one is saved through faith (which, again, belongs to God) then how does he lose his salvation? We can also cross-reference this with what Jesus said concerning His sheep. Since it has already been established that it is Jesus who takes care of the sheep, we can logically conclude that Ephesians 2:8 talked about believers being taken care of by God. A famous pastor named Curtis Hutson described this with the analogy of peach preserves. Here is what he wrote:"The other morning I opened a jar of peach preserves. I don't know how long those peaches have been in that jar. But the jar had been sealed some time ago, and the peaches were preserved. When I took out the preserves and ate them with a good hot biscuit, they were as good as they were the day they were placed in the jar. But wait a minute! The peaches had nothing to do with it. They were not fresh and good because they had persevered. They were good and fresh because they had been preserved. The Bible makes it plain that the believer is kept. He does not keep himself" (5). 1 Peter 1:4-5 states:"4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. " So, I would like to ask you, Con, is the keeping of salvation dependent on man's ability? If that was the case, then the doctrine you are arguing for could have been in harmony with the Scriptures. Then again, the Bible verses say that it is God who keeps the believer, not the believer himself. Lastly, I would like to mention Romans 8:38-39, which says, "38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. " So, what Paul basically wrote here is that nothing can separate a believer from God's love. Since he literally meant nothing, it is safe to conclude that not even sins can cause the believer to lose his salvation. Those that appear to be Christian (but never were saved to begin with) are out of the equation here. Why? Well, they are already separated in the first place. After all, Jesus described them as "strangers", correct? In the process, He admitted that He does not know them, no? ConclusionOnce again, I would like to thank my opponent for accepting this debate. I believe that I have made my points with thorough explanations. In order to not make any straw-man arguments, I will avoid talking about any potential objections that Con may have until next round. References1. . http://www.thefreedictionary.com...2. . http://carm.org...3. . http://www.gotquestions.org...4. . http://www.godandscience.org...5. . http://www.jesus-is-savior.com...Note: All Bible verses are from the KJV.