Objections To the Doctrine of Everlasting Security Answered (Objection 7)

January 10, 2022 at 2:02 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Tags: eternal security, eternal security of the believer, everlasting security, once saved always saved, perseverance of the saints, suffering

Objection: How can you believe in the doctrine of eternal security when you haven’t been in my position? At the time of the greatest moment of suffering and doubt in my life, I was driven to study everything the Bible says about eternal security and I realized it wasn’t true.

Answer to Objection: I’m not sure what it is about the doctrine of eternal security that brings out some of the worst logical fallacies on the part of those who oppose it. Previously, we have seen attempts to refute the doctrine based on its advocacy by people who did bad things, and attempts to disprove it based on the personal claims of famous people. Neither of these have to do with the truth of what the Bible says about it.

Now we see two more logical fallacies in this question. First, your claim that you made up your mind about the doctrine during a time of intense suffering and soul-searching is no doubt true, but it in no way means that your personal conclusions are true. This is what is known as the logical fallacy of argumentum ad verecundiam – an argument from authority. Just because the person making the argument is in a special position, that does not make the argument valid or true. Example: Only a handful of people have ever been to the top of Mount Everest, but if one of those people became convinced that Jesus was not the Son of God while he was up there, that person’s belief wouldn’t make it true, since the Bible specifically says that Jesus IS the Son of God.

Second, your question shows the logical fallacy of “appeal to emotion,” and, more specifically, “appeal to pity.” The last thing I want to do is disparage the validity of what you were going through that ultimately ended up in you having a wrong view of eternal security, but I am forced to point out that Bible study resulting from intense suffering does not in any way guarantee that the opinions you form after that period of Bible study have to be correct or true. Example: A person who narrowly escaped burning to death, suffering intense pain from third degree burns all over his body, might be driven to study the Bible and come to the conclusion that God doesn’t love people since He allowed him to suffer so much, but that conclusion would still be wrong, because the Bible clearly says that God DOES love people.