Christians can lose their salvation? part 3

By Luke Lancaster

You and your Dad get on each other’s nerves sometimes, and do little actions that irritate and offend the other person.  They hurt, but you get over them and forgive.  Maybe your Dad yelled at you for buying 2% instead of 1% milk.  Every relationship has warts like these, but the relationship won’t end because of them.  Scripture shows us that the same thing occurs with us and God: we hurt Him by sin, but He forgives us.  These are “venial” sins, meaning sins that hurt the relationship, but don’t sever it.  On the other hand, there are also sins that REALLY matter, and are much worse than others.  It’s one thing for your Dad to yell at you over milk, it’s another thing for him to punch you in the face over it.  Who’d stay around somebody like that?  It would damage the relationship so badly that you’d stop speaking with him - until he apologized.  This is what the Church would see as a “mortal” or “deadly” sin.  One thing is like getting a cold – the other is like getting cancer.  Let’s see if Scripture sees such a distinction.