The Calvinist doctrine of Preserving Grace is commonly known as Once Saved Always Saved (OSAS). To fall into place with the other tenets of Calvinism, its members must believe that once God saves you, you cannot be unsaved because that would mean that God made a mistake, and, well, God doesn't make mistakes.
This is more false doctrine at work. Does God make mistakes? No, of course not. This doctrine is false because Calvinists twist scripture which makes this precept of their religion necessary (please reference my refutations on
Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement and Irresistible Grace) and they completely dismiss the MANY verses which speak of one's ability to walk away from salvation.
Here is a list of scriptures which speak to the possibility of losing one's salvation and/or the necessity to guard it; why would guarding one's faith be necessary unless it can be corrupted, causing one to walk away from God. I provide only the list of scriptures here, but go into much greater detail on the page titled "Can Believers Lose Their Salvation?"
Matthew 7:13-14 Broad and Narrow the paths
Matt 12:31-32 Those who blaspheme H. Spirit are lost
Matt 13:1-23/Mark 4:1-20 Parable of Sower, not all seed flourishes
Luke 9:23: "And He said to all, if anyone DESIRES to come AFTER Me, let him DENY Himself, and take up His cross DAILY. And let Him follow me."
Luke 11:24-28 Parable of Evil Re-entering a person it previously left.
Romans 8:13 Resist the sinful nature or perish
Galatians 6:7-9 Paul's warning of reaping/sowing
Hebrews 6:4-8 Impossible to RESTORE to repentance.
Hebrews 10:26-31 Warning to Believers
James 2:26 Faith without works is dead. Our works make our faith grow and guard it against death.
2 Timothy 1:14 Guard your faith defined as to isolate, watch, preserve
2 Peter 2:20-22 Warning about turning one's back to Christ
1 John 3:24 Keeping your faith, defined as guarding it from harm.
1 John 5:1-21 Warning to those who continue to sin
Hebrews 10:10,12, 14; 7:27; 9:24-27; 1 Peter 3:18 These last 6 verses speak to what Heb 6:4-8 says about Christ dying ONE time for all. These are 20 verses, straight from scripture, taken in proper context, which clearly tell us that people who at one time accepted Jesus as Lord, but later decide to embrace a life of sin, will NOT be in heaven.
Romans 8:38-39 gives us an extensive list of things which are incapable of separating us from God. Satan, himself, cannot snatch us from the hands of the Almighty. However, there is one thing not mentioned on the list: self. Accepting Jesus as Savior does NOT remove one's freewill, and, if at any time a Believer has a change of heart, he/she can walk away from Jesus and eternity in heaven. The scriptures listed above prove it. How do I know? I know because each of these was penned to people who had a saving faith in Jesus.
I want to make note here that Romans 8:23, 2 Corinthians 1:22, and Ephesians 1:14 clearly teach that God's Spirit is a down payment on future glory, a deposit on our salvation. A down payment or a deposit is a PORTION of an entirety. It is NOT the complete amount. We will not receive the entirety of our salvation until we wake up in heaven. As a result, there is no guarantee and Once Saved, Always Saved is heresy.
Thank you, Michael Anthony, for the stunning photo!