Christians can lose their salvation? part 2

By Luke Lancaster

Let’s first try to think this one through naturally-speaking.  Christianity is all about a relationship between God and the believer, so let’s look at this topic in terms of human relationships.  With any relationship in our society, what’s strong one day might die out the next.  You and your Dad might be really close and talk for the most part, but at some point you might not be able to eat a meal together - due to some terrible thing that was done by either you or your father.  Maybe he got angry at you over something petty once and punched you in the face.  In these circumstances, the familial bond could still be present throughout it all (He’s still your Dad), but the fellowship was not consistent.  It might have started off well, but the future was not guaranteed.  This is true of all relationships, and Catholicism would argue, even our relationship with God.  With these physical images in our minds, let’s ask the question about Hell.  Can a committed Christian lose Heaven?  Scripture answers to the affirmative, but first let’s understand a distinction between mortal and venial sin.