Are children born as sinners? (And why or why not?)

Although physical death has entered the world, God indicates that for a time our children are sinless, and thus not spiritually dead. In fact, check out this chunk of Isa 7: "at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good..." Although just a snippet, God shows that when we are young, we don't know the difference between the two.

This is, in fact, the definition of the prelapsarian (before the fall of man) state. Adam was told, "but from the tree OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." (Gen 2:17) Pay close attention to that. It was the KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL l that allowed him to sin. Children DON'T have that knowledge, as God confirms:

"Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it." (Deut 1:34-39) All the Israelites that did know weren't allowed access to the promised land, but their children, being without sin at the time, were..

Does God give us any choice in salvation?

 I was talking with a man who believed in God, and thought that we have no choice about whether or not we're going to heaven or hell. "God chooses His elect and there's nothing you can do," he said. "To believe anything else makes God no longer sovereign and not all powerful!"

Look what God lamented in Luke 13: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!" (v43)

It is God's sovereign decision to let us make our own choices, whether to be with Him eternally or to be forever separated. Saying that He does not have the power to let us make our own choices is to contradict what He says.

Can I fall from grace?

Once you're saved, you're always saved. That's a popular belief, but does it match up with what God says? I think not so much, although the caveat is that we are being saved—an ongoing process wherein we "grow in respect to salvation." (1 Peter 2:2) Can a person fall from grace? Let's look at some points.

1.) Gal 5:4   You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.

2.) 2 Pe 1:10  Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

3.) 2 Pe 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.

4.) 1 Pe 5:8  Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

5.) Heb 3:12  Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 

God gives us those admonitions so that we will live faithfully and end with a fierce finish. Let's not be like Solomon, the wisest ever, who fell away. 

Is it possible to lose your salvation?

It is a popular theory that losing one's salvation is impossible, but God says,

"For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame." (Heb 2:4-6)

So how can that be?  The Bible speaks of us who are "being saved." (1 Cor 1; 2 Cor 2)  It tells us to "grow in respect to salvation."  (1 Peter 2) And in Revelation, it threatens to remove people from that security.  We are told that we have the "down payment/earnest" (Eph 1:2 Cor 1) of the Spirit.

All these are present, progressive things which haven't yet reached completion; they aren't static/fixed. Thus we can "grow in respect to salvation," but we can also leave it. We can choose to be those who are "being saved," or we can throw God the bird. Let's make the right choice out of love! It's great that He lets us choose. :)