Originally Posted by Zeda

This was one of the doctrines that I was taught as a fundamentalist baptist that really bothered me when I was still a Christian.
It seemed wrong to me that a person who tried thier best to live a "good" life would go to hell because they had no faith in Jesus, while a person who intentionally and constantly hurt others, yet had a faith in Jesus would go to Heaven could be a Just and right doctrine. Yet this is in fact what I was taught.

According to this view once you were "adopted" into the family of God, once you were made part of the Church body you could not be cast out or cut off. No matter what.

The idea was that the work of redemption came from Jesus, "we were brought with a price," and nothing that we could do would undo this work.

"For by grace are ye saved through faith and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast." Eph 2:8-9

Originally Posted by jdlongmire

I was raised Fundamentalist Baptist, as well...before I start down this path, Zeda have you studied the doctrines of the Reformed faith in depth? Many of your questions are addressed within it, imperfect though it may be...

I would recommend www.apologetics.com for discussion, www.monergism.com for study...