Am I Still Saved If...?

It seems to me that too many discussions about God revolve around the question of whether or not someone or some group is "saved." Obviously, this is an all important question, but it can take us off track for two reasons:

1) We cannot know that. God alone is the judge. We do know from the Bible that one non-negotiable point of Christian belief is that there is no means of salvation apart from Christ, but we cannot know how Christ will apply or make available his saving power to every person. There is no way we can know the countless factors at play in someone's heart and mind by which God will judge the person. God decides who is saved and who is not, and he doesn't make known to us the salvation status of other people ahead of time. There's only one person whose salvation status he makes clear to me, and that is me.  



Though it seems tragically clear in the Bible that there will be a number of people who reject God and so are forever separated from Him, I have no way to (and no business in) presuming to know who those people are. This doesn't mean, of course, that we're not called to discern between truth and lies, but we cannot say when someone believes a lie that we know the person will go to Hell. We can say that Hell is a reality and that it is a real possibility, but as far as identifying particular people, only God knows.

2) Centering everything on the question of who is and isn't saved fosters a lazy and shallow way of thinking and living. If the question is "Can I believe something that's not true and still be saved?" or "Can I behave badly and still be saved?" Then it's easy to discuss important issues as a means to finding the lowest possible standard: "If believing a lie is easier or more comfortable than believing the truth, but I can still be saved, I'll just keep believing the lie." or "If I can be saved and still gratify myself by behaving this way even though it’s contrary to God's will for my life, I'll keep doing it."
Ironically, "saved" people wouldn't think like this anyway.

The real question around which all theological discussion should be centered is what is true about God?

Have you ever been troubled by how quick some people are to assume knowledge of someone else's eternal state? On the other hand, have you ever been troubled by someone who takes the idea of Hell too lightly?

MM