=== David wrote me: People who are truly saved may doubt but their doubt never leads to hopeless despair, it ends in just what you said it should end in, a recognition that the Spirit of God truly has sealed them and given them faith in Christ. ===

My response: If believers can doubt their salvation, WHERE was the Holy Spirit at that time? Was He failing to witness to their spirits that they are children of God? Why was He failing to comfort them? Don't you agree that all believers have the ability to cry "abba, father"? Or is there a time when believers do NOT have access to God?

And surely, to say that believers sometimes doubt their salvation, is to say that God's promises are INSUFFICIENT to comfort believers. You must say that SOMETHING MORE than the Gospel message is NEEDED to comfort believers, if you say that a man can believe the gospel and not have the comfort that he is saved.


=== The very fact that Paul exhorts the Corinthian believers to examine themselves to see if they are in the faith supports the fact  that sometimes we need to reassure ourselves. ===

My response: Do you really think so? Supposing a preacher calls on a congregation to examine whether or not they believe the gospel. He says, "Do you believe that Christ fulfilled the Law? And do you believe that Christ took away the sins of His people?"

Now, any believer in the congregation will immediately think, "Yes, I do believe Christ accomplished salvation for His people". There would be no delay in answering the questions.

Likewise, a believer will immediately answer the question in the affirmative.

"O wretched man that I am! WHO SHALL DELIVER ME from the body of this death? I THANK GOD through Jesus Christ OUR LORD!" Rom 7:24-25

No delay! And there was no wavering. Paul was in the light, so how could he doubt for the second he was in the light of Christ?

===  While our lives as Christians are characterized in general with an attitude of faith and assurance, that is not to say that there will never be times when unbelief ===

My response: I'm glad we agree that people who doubt their salvation have unbelief in the gospel. They are DOUBTING the SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST'S BLOOD to atone for their sins. Indeed, they DON'T BELIEVE CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ENOUGH to justify them from all things. They are looking from SOMETHING MORE than the finished work of Christ as the grounds of their confidence before God.

Perhaps you say, "someone doubting their salvation is simply not sure if he believes the gospel".

Well, if they are unsure about the gospel, they are an agnostic, right?

I do suspect that a lot of Calvinists doubt their salvation because they say that faith is MORE than belief. And if faith is MORE than belief, can we be sure we have it? Of course not. The mystical teaching that faith is "MORE than understanding the gospel to be true" will lead you to doubt your salvation. After all, ask yourself. If faith in Christ is MORE than believing the facts about Christ, then can you be sure you have this thing called "faith"?

On the other hand, if we say that faith is simply "receiving the testimony of God", being "fully PERSUADED", "abiding in the doctrine of Christ", "hearing [Christ's] words and believing", "the CONVICTION of things not seen", "the ASSURANCE of things hoped for", "believing that Jesus is the Christ" -- if faith is nothing more or less than BELIEF IN THE GOSPEL based on God's authority -- then we will NEVER doubt our salvation because it is IMPOSSIBLE to believe THE GOSPEL IS TRUE and to not know you are a believer in it.

===  If I have a moment of doubt, it is a sin that Christ has atoned for, but if I am truly a believer my doubt will not sink me and my assurance will return and strengthen by His grace. ===

My response: OK, let's assume for a moment that a believer can doubt their salvation and suspect they are under God's wrath. For the sake of argument, let's assume just for the time being, that a believer can doubt they have everlasting life and that they can doubt they are in Christ.

Now if a believer doubts they have everlasting life, aren't they thirsty for everlasting life? And supposing a believer could doubt they are in Christ, then wouldn't they be hungry for salvation?

Because in John 4:14 Christ says that believers NEVER thirst for everlasting. Thus, believers must never doubt they have everlasting life, otherwise they would be thirsty for it. And in John 6:35 Christ says believers NEVER hunger for the "Bread of life". So believers must never doubt they are in Christ, otherwise they would be hungry for the Bread of life.

Since believers NEVER thirst or hunger for salvation, they must ALWAYS KNOW they have it.

=== I have definitely struggled with whether or not I can say that Arminians are true believers.  To be convinced that someone has to understand particular atonement to truly be saved, you're going to have to show me scripture where the apostles included it in their Gospel preaching. ===

My response: 1 Corinthians 15:3 says that the Gospel Paul preached included the truth that "Christ died ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES". Arminians believe Christ died according to their own imagination. Thus, they do not believe the Gospel.

Hebrews 2:9-18 says that "WE DO SEE Jesus crowned with glory and honor ... and [that he is a] faithful High Priest in the things respecting God, in order to MAKE PROPITIATION FOR THE SINS OF HIS PEOPLE."

Now, Arminians do NOT see this Jesus. Their "jesus" is not a faithful High Priest, since he failed to redeem MOST of the people he mediated for ! And their "christ" did NOT make propitiation at all ! His blood failed to remove the wrath for some of the people it was shed for (it did not propitiate). Arminians do NOT believe Christ is a faithful High priest and they do not believe His blood propitiates. On the other hand, believers "see Jesus ... having brought MANY SONS TO GLORY". (Heb 2:9,10)

Titus 2:14 says that the "blessed hope" is that Christ did "PURIFY A SPECIAL PEOPLE FOR HIMSELF". Arminians do NOT have this blessed hope because they teach that Christ's blood fails to purify.

===  I believe some of the Psalms that were written by David and were written as the result of experiences he had.===

My response: I see. But where does the New Testament say the Psalms are the private experiences of the Psalmists? It seems to me that the Apostles only applied the Psalms to Christ and the church. Check out...  http://Godnoliar.com/psalmlist.htm


=== You take James 1 out of context. James is talking about doubting in the context of receiving certain blessings from God, not doubting the existence of God or own salvation as a whole. ===

My response: Correct !!

You're right, James 1 is saying that the man who doubts while praying "is unstable in ALL his ways". And "let not that man expect anything from God".

James is saying that there are two types of men in the world. First, there is the believing man who prays "with doubting". This man -- the believer -- KNOWS HE IS SAVED, and thus will not doubt God's promise to answer his prayers.

Then there is the unbeliever. James says that the man that prays doubting is a "double-souled man" and like "the sea blown about by the wind."

The point I am trying to make is this -- James sees only two types of people in the world -- 1) The unbeliever who doubts while praying, and 2) the believer who prays "without wavering".

In other words, like James I see no "middle ground" between faith and doubting. You either believe God's promises are sure and certain, and like Abraham are "fully persuaded that what [God] promised he is also able to perform". Or, you are like the unbelieving Jews who "doubted the promises of God".  

You may say I am too black and white !! But the Apostle John also holds this dichotomy. Read 1 John 5:10. There are only two types of men, according to John. 1) The one believing God who HAS THE WITNESS IN HIMSELF and 2) The one not believing God who CALLS GOD A LIAR. And can a man have the witness in himself, and not know it? It is possible to be in the light, and not know you are in the light?

In a different context, Paul makes the same distinction. Here, Paul is speaking about the problem believing Jews faced -- should they eat the food of the Gentiles? He concludes that they SHOULD and can eat the food of the Gentiles. Of course, not all the believing Jews were going to understand Paul's argument straight away, and they would continue to abstain from foods (which Paul says are clean and OK to eat).

Thus the believing Jews who failed to immediately understand Paul's argument were still saved. And this what because they were being CONVICTED and were ASSURED by the Scriptures. Paul says,

"Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Blessed is the one not condemning himself in what he allows. But the one doubting, if he eats, he has been condemned, because it is not of faith..." Rom 14:22-23

Is Paul too black and white? To him there were only two types of men, 1) the blessed man who is not condemned and has faith before God and 2) the condemned man who doubts.

Clearly, if somebody doubts their salvation he is doubting and wavering. He "cannot expect anything from God" and is "unstable in all his ways". Indeed, "he has been condemned". For "the one not believing God HAS CALLED HIM A LIAR".

If a man ACTUALLY BELIEVES that God's Word is infallible, he will never doubt his salvation. Because the Bible says over and over again, "EVERYONE believing that Jesus is the Christ IS BORN OF GOD", "if YOU BELIEVE that God raised Jesus from the dead YOU SHALL BE SAVED", "EVERYONE BELIEVING in this One IS JUSTIFIED".

If a believer could doubt their salvation, they would have do deny the infallibility of the Bible. And Isaiah says that those who speak not according to the Scripture have NO LIGHT in them. Indeed, it’s not surprising that most Calvinists doubt their salvation. They are in the dark! And I speak from personal experience. I doubted my salvation, until I realised that THE GOSPEL is the EXCLUSIVE message that Christ DIED ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES and BY HIS OBEDIENCE he shall constitute many righteous.

If you think Arminians are saved, you do NOT believe the Gospel. If you did, you would recognise that they believe A DIFFERENT GOSPEL than Paul. And you would realise that since Arminianism is a false gospel, then Arminians are NOT saved.

Now, if you have come to realise that CHRIST'S PROPITIATION AND OBEDIENCE FOR HIS PEOPLE is THE GOSPEL, then you have been converted. It will be impossible for you ever to doubt your salvation because now you understand and believe the SIMPLE and TRUE Gospel of the Apostles. You can always fall back on God's infallible promise. After all, nothing is required of you for your salvation. Christ FINISHED THE WORK. So, to doubt our salvation would be to call in question the sufficiency of Christ's work for us. And that is something -- thank God -- the Holy Spirit will never allow us to do. "HE THAT BELIEVES GOD HAS SET TO HIS SEAL THAT GOD IS TRUE." John 3:33

"For we have become partakers of Christ, if truly we hold the BEGINNING OF THE ASSURANCE FIRM TO THE END" (Heb 3:14) As I said before, only those who have the assurance of faith from the beginning til the end, are believers, "But Christ as Son over His house, whose house we are, IF TRULY WE HOLD FAST THE BOLDNESS and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end." (Heb 3:4). I cannot help but asking this again -- If someone has doubted their salvation, have they had BOLDNESS and FIRM HOPE at all times? Surely I am NOT reading to much into these verses when I say that those who have boldness, rejoicing and hope at all times are saved.


=== While our lives as Christians are characterized in general with an attitude of faith and assurance, that is not to say that there will never be times when unbelief, like any other sin, clouds our judgment ( c.f. Mark 9:23-25..."I do believe; help me in my unbelief!") ===

My response: It's crucial to look at WHEN the centurion said "help my unbelief". This was BEFORE the Resurrection. And before the Resurrection, NOBODY -- including John the Baptist and Thomas -- could be certain that Jesus was the Christ. They all had doubts and uncertainties about his messiahship. Nobody could be certain that Jesus was the Christ until the Resurrection. Why? Because Christ said the Resurrection was the ONE SIGN He would give to prove His Sonship. So the only way the centurions unbelief could be cured was by the Resurrection, which would have proved to Him that Jesus was the Christ. Indeed as Peter says in Acts, the Resurrection was God's declaration to all men that Jesus is the Christ.

Therefore, BEFORE the Resurrection NOBODY could be sure that Jesus was the Christ. However, after the Resurrection and Pentecost, the Holy Spirit declared Jesus to be the Christ. Therefore, anyone today who denies Jesus' Messiahship is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Unless they repent (have a change of mind) they will likewise perish.


What about doubting Thomas? Of course, yes, Thomas was a saved man when he doubted the Resurrection of Christ. But he was a saved JEW. He was living BEFORE Pentecost. And before Pentecost NOBODY understood the Resurrection! This is why Christ said to Peter, "When you are CONVERTED, comfort the brethren." And to his disciples he said, "I WILL SEND you the Comforter".

Of course, the disciples had the Holy Spirit before Pentecost, but He had NOT yet comforted them about the Resurrection. He only gave them the understanding of this truth at Pentecost.

So, yes, the disciples had doubts about the Resurrection up until Pentecost. But since Pentecost, the fact of the Resurrection has become "THE POWER OF GOD UNTO SALVATION". And the Gospel today is that "Christ was RAISED AGAIN according to the Scriptures." 

Thus  no believer today could have any doubts about the Resurrection, otherwise they would be denying the Apostolic Gospel.

In summary -- 1) The disciples had doubts about the Resurrection until Pentecost when they were given the understanding of it ... so 2) Believers today all understand the Resurrection so they will never doubt it.

And can someone believe THAT JESUS IS RISEN and not know they are a believer? Of course not!