Salvation and Conditional Statements in the Bible
Besides the 'if' statements in the Bible, there are verses that set conditions regarding salvation.

Acts 14:21-22
²¹ After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,
²² strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."
If the disciples were being encouraged to continue in the faith, there must have been some chance of them not continuing in the faith-thus they could walk away from the faith. If they were disciples, they were born again.

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The following are some of the 'if' statements in the Bible. It would appear that these verses are saying that salvation is conditional.

Revelation 22:18-19 (NASB95)
¹⁸ I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book;
¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
Notice that vs 19 does not say that the person never had any part of the tree of life. It says their part will be taken away. That would mean at one time they had been a part of the tree of life.

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More 'if' verses

Hebrews 3:6-8 (NASB95) 
¹ Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;
⁶ but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
⁷ Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
⁸ DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
Vs 1 makes it clear that Paul is speaking to Christians.
Vs 6 Must hold fast until the end. This would mean there are consequences if a person dos not hold fast.
Vs 8 A Christian can harden their heart and there are consequences.

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2 Timothy 2:11-13 (NASB95)
11 It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;
12 If we endure, we will also reign with Him; If we deny Him, He also will deny us;
13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.
2 Timothy was written to and addressing Christians.
Verse 11 is addressing being born again.
Verse 12, if endure, would mean a person must choose to endure. If we deny Him, means a person can deny Christ. Thus if a person does not endure, they will ultimately deny Him. The end result is He will deny them-the lose of salvation.
Verse 13-some would argue that it is saying God is faithful to get someone into heaven regardless if they are faithless. That argument violates the context of this passage. The context is that God will remain faithful to His conditions found in verse 12.

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It has been awhile since my last post on this subject. Last Post
I have been very busy upgrading this ChristianBlogSites.

Calvinism and Arminianism-Extremes

When I use the above verses I am using them in general terms. Most Christians see these two groups representing those who believe in unconditional salvation and conditional salvation.

Calvinism Extreme
If one takes the unconditional salvation to the extreme here is what it would mean:
1. A person does not have free will. God predestines (decides) who will be saved or not saved. Ultimately a person has no choice in their salvation-if God does not want them saved, they will not be saved. If God wants them saved, they will be saved.

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We have added more features and have improved several templates to ChristianBlogSites.

New Features
AddThis Plug-in
We have added a new plug-in titled AddThis. You will find it in the Control Centre under Appearance Management.
This plug-in adds an AddThis Share linked image to all your posts/articles. What it does is give your blog readers the ability to do the following with your posts: e-mail, print, send to Facebook, and other options. You will need to obtain an AddThis account from www.addthis.com (it is free). Full instructions are in User Guide and FAQ. This is very easy to install.

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It has been awhile since my last article on balance among Christians. I was considering writing an article giving more examples of extreme, out of balance doctrines and teachings to show how dangerous they can be. Instead this article is going to be on how the error of extremes can make Christians look like fools, deny God's desire to be personally involved in the affairs of man, even justify sinful behavior. 

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