Hi Randy… I’m a tad busy right now but I will get to Rick’s question.
As for “expert”… that is just an ‘ex’ as in a ‘has-been’ and an ‘xpert’ a ‘drip under pressure’ 
– I’m sure you’ll have a picture of this somewhere. 
How do folks here feel about this position, which I shared on another thread. And how does it fit in with God’s sovereignty?
“One saved, always saved”. It’s an established theological position. Here’s one entry to support it:
You can put the words “One saved, always saved”, into Google or Bing, for more articles (i.e. both pro and con). So if we agree with “One saved, always saved”, then you are OK. You can’t lose your salvation. As long as you believe in Jesus Christ, as a personal savior.
Now two sites I sometimes share material from - Protestant sites Got Questions and CARM - both agree with it.
Got Questions - Once saved always saved?
CARM - What is once saved always saved?
To put it into a universalist perspective, it means this. All will **eventually **be saved, according to universalism. But if you side with the position “once saved, always saved”, your salvation is secure and can’t be lost. But please realize, not all Protestant churches (as well as Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox), would side with this position (i.e. “once saved, always saved”).
So do you agree with “once saved, always saved”? Why or why not? And how does it fit (or not fit) in with God’s sovereignty and universalism? And how does it fit in (or not fit in) with avoiding corrective punishment - for the universalists that advocate it?
Pretty big of you… 
Sorry Paidion. I’m with David on this one. Folks need to know the [size=150]real[/size] Good News. No offence Paidion. 
Good questions Randy.
I think Philippians 1:6 speaks to this, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” A Christian is someone that God has begun a work in. God was the sovereign initiator of the work and he promises to complete the work. Of course God loves all mankind, but he has not yet begun he work in the interior of the unbelievers life. I believe he will one day sooner or later begin the work in every individual human, whether in this life, or at the latest at the GWT. So Philippians 1:6 highlights that God began the work and also that his work once started is promised to continue. Unbelievers know nothing of this, but for believers it is a great encouragement.
Cornelius R. Stam wrote this against Universalism (particularly against those who follow A.E. Knoch):
The problem with Stam’s argument is that he takes “in Adam” and “in Christ” as a locative (i.e. those located in Adam and Christ). However, the “in Adam” and “in Christ” is actually the instrumental. That is important to grasp.
Notice the verse does not say “all in Christ will be vivified.” Nor does Paul argue in 1 Corinthians 15:22 that “all men in Adam are dying.”
“In Christ shall all be vivified” should be taken instrumentally or in a “by-means-of” sense. And so it should be taken in the sense of “by means of Christ, all shall be vivified” just as “by means of [what] Adam [did] all are dying.”
The all who are dying truly is all mankind. So the same “all mankind” who are dying due to Adam are the same all mankind who will be vivified due to Christ . . . that God may be All in all.
Again, just as in Romans 5:18,19 we have two men and two acts which affect all mankind, Paul enlarges on this in 1 Corinthians 15:22-28 and uses Adam and Christ as instruments which affect all mankind.
Eusebius, If I am understanding you correctly, what you are saying in the above post sounds like a blanket theology. All are sinners because of what Adam did, all are made alive because of what Christ did. To me, 1 Corinthians 15:22, 28 means this: “For as in Adam( those who choose to eat the forbidden fruit as he did) all die, even so ( those who choose to follow Christ) all shall be made alive.” I think what Paul was describing here was a separation of the sheep and the goats. In other words, as Paidion often mentions, a “purifying of a people zealous for good works.”
LLC,
What 1 Corinthians 15:22 is showing is that two men, Adam and Christ are instrumental as to mankind and their dying and their vivifying. They are the instruments by which the dying and vivifying of mankind is accomplished. Synergism is excluded.
When Adam sinned the dying process began in Adam and Eve. Dying passed through into his offspring as Paul wrote:
Rom 5:14 nevertheless death reigns from Adam unto Moses, over those also who do not sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him Who is about to be."
So they did not, as you state, have to also eat the forbidden fruit.
Likewise, believers of the nations are not saved by what they do but by faith in what Christ has done in dying for the sins of mankind. We don’t die for our sins to save ourselves just as we don’t eat of the forbidden fruit in order to be dying.
Mankind are neutral recipients of two men and their one act. This is so also according to Romans 5:18,19.
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@eusebius. Agreed, both our condemnation and our salvation is imputed. Jonathon Edwards adds a useful extension adding that not only is our condemnation inherited from Adam, but as sinners we also share in Adam’s sin.
Eusebius, Jeff, I do not believe in the concept of original sin. To me, it is a gross misinterpretation of what the Bible says. If what you are saying is true, then why does Paul say that death reigns from Adam to Moses. Shouldn’t it say from Adam until Christ? Death did not pass through Adam’s offspring, on the contrary, I believe it was life. “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.”, and Adam was a son of God. Luke 3:38 says this: "the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
It says in Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you(the snake) and the woman(Eve) and between your seed and her Seed.”
Notice that her Seed is capitalized. If the snake’s seed is at odds with God and there is enmity between his seed and Eve’s seed, then I would say that Eve’s seed is righteous; as it says in Genesis 4:25-26 "And Adam knew his wife again and she bore a son and named him Seth "For God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. And as for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord.
As for dying for sin, John 15:13 says this: Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." This is what Jesus and many of his followers did and still do.
I don’t either. I believe in original death and that that death was passed on, not sin.
LLC, Paul said death passed through into all mankind in verse 12 of Romans 5. Then in verse 13 Paul stated that UNTIL law, sin was in the world. Why? Because all were dying due to what Adam did. So Paul uses "from Adam to Moses because between the time the two men lived, law, the law of Moses, was not given yet. Yet everyone was still dying. And since they were dying they were falling short of the glory of God and thus sinning.
Let’s see, the inspired account says death passed through into all mankind and you say it didn’t. Who are we to believe? We are dying while we are living.
When Christ died it began the death of death in the death of man. Death is the last enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26). It is death which is keeping mankind from relationship with God. This is why the divine record of 1 Corinthians 15:22-28 has it that “in Adam all are dying, in Christ shall (future tense) all be vivified” then in verse 26 death is being abolished then in verse 28 God is All in all. So death and dying have to be done away and will be done away.
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Hey jeff, I would even go so far as to state that even our salvation is by the faith of Christ. I realize some translations have “faith in Christ” but it really is the possessive i.e. “Christ’s faith” or “faith of Christ.” This is also called the genitive. This takes away the thinking: “Do I have enough faith to be saved?” with the thought that Christ had enough faith to save us.
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@Eusebius Sure 
Certainly the phrase ‘you faith has saved you’ does not mean that an action we took wrote our names in Heaven. How could that be the case in light of predestination? So our faith cannot write our names in Heaven because they are already written there! Faith is not a pen to write our names in Heaven, but the eye glasses to see that our names are already written by God’s eternal love. So Jesus emphasis in the statement ‘your faith has saved you’ is one of two things, 1) trust God does change our hearts to be saved from… sin, or 2) a humorous reminder that it is the object of our faith that saves, that is Jesus, not faith itself.
I agree that we don’t inherit sin from Adam, and therefore one-year-old children (and everyone else) are not guilty, for Adam’s sin and that of his descendants was not passed down to them.
However, I think we do inherit a sinful nature from Adam and his descendants. That is, by nature, we all have an inclination to do wrong.
Eusebius, As I mentioned, Genesis 3:20 says “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.” Apparently there were other people alive in the world at the time, as Cain went to Nod, and built a city. So I would say this means that Adam and Eve passed on the knowledge of God to their children, teaching them the spiritual ways of the Lord, which give us life.
As for death, which reigns from Adam to Moses, I suppose the law took care of this? I take it from what you are saying, that there was sin in the world up until Moses. As soon as the law was established, there was no more sin.?
Jeff, If now, neither faith nor works is necessary, I suppose we can all just relax in front of the tube and eat bon-bons. 
I never said faith or were was not necessary. I merely said those things cannot win or earn God’s love or a home in Heaven. Please take the time to understand my entire point.
Jeff, I read your post, and I understand what you are saying. However, I disagree. Yes, I believe God gives His love freely, but John 14: 21 says this: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him.” If we do not love God, and our works are evil, we have left home/heaven and have chosen to live elsewhere.
Sure totally agreed. Plus the Bible also says that if someone makes their home in Hades that the grace of Christ will one day break down those gates as well, Matthew 16:18, 1 Corinthians 15:55, and Revelation 20:13. Jesus doesn’t break the gates and empty Hades to condemn, but to save!
Jeff, Amen to that!
I see the Father has opened your eyes.
Abraham believed God that he would be the father of many nations. Abraham did not believe because that faith originally resided within but because God opened his eyes to see that what He declares will come to pass. Even when Abraham was pushing 100 and Sarah 90 and her reproductive system has died, he still believed because God opened his eyes to see that “God calls what is not as if it were.”
God opened his eyes to see He is capable of bringing his and her ability to procreate to life again.
Likewise, near the end of that same chapter of Romans 4, Paul, after using Abraham as a prime example, states we likewise believe God.