You ask if I have the humility to admit I am wrong; tell me (Omega) do you have the humility to admit you are wrong on this issue? You have acccused me of inserting words into Scripture; now prove it.
You seem to have a problem with commentaries and dictionaries, has it entered your mind that Paul's epistles are commentaries on God's truth? Probably not since you are appealing to your understanding and your doctrines by pulling verses out of context, which I have abundently demonstrated.
You asked me to demonstrate that those who depart were ever saved in the first place and then ignore how many times I have posted this:
Romans 10:8-10
8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart"-- that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; 10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. NAS
So how have you responded? By quoting what James taught concerning the first half (belief) of what Paul wrote while totally ignoring the last half.
You now say that the "essentials of Christianity" are God's truth while at the same time denying God's truth that plainly states some will depart from the faith and some will become apostate. And how do you handle those Scriptures that teach that some will fall away and some will become apostate? "They were never saved in the first place" while not defining "who is saved in the first place" according to your theology. This (Omega) is sophomoric hubris taken to the extreme.
What is ludicrous about your remarks concerning dictionaries is that dictionaries define words and words are how we communicate. If people cannot agree on the definition of a word then effective communication is impossible. If you are so dead set against defining words how come you resort to Greek lexicons?
No one can depart from a faith they never held; no one can depart from God's truth unless they once accepted God's truth. So how do you try to show that "depart" does not mean, "depart"? By quoting Scripture that demonstrates people departed from one physical location to another, that Paul prayed that his thorn in the flesh would "depart", and etc. basically demonstrating that "depart" means to leave, which actually proves my stance that people can "depart" from the faith or to use your definition of "the faith" they can "depart" from the essential doctrines of Christianity as Mel White and Billy Graham have done; one by advocating gay theology while willfully sinning by living with his gay lover and the other advocating salvation through other means than faith in Jesus Christ. So this brings us back to the very definition of apostasy.
Now you can either resort to personal attacks that don’t advance God’s truth or you can humbly accept God’s truth the choice is yours. Paul took his own advice by couching his warnings with gentleness, which is why you see so many “if” that precede those warnings. When Paul writes that “if” you continue in the faith you will not be cut off, the reverse is also true that “if” you do not continue in the faith you will be cut off.
Matthew 7:15-23
15 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 "You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? 17 "Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. 19 "Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 "So then, you will know them by their fruits. 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'
NAS
Those Jesus rejects are those who proudly appeal to their kingdom building efforts. Now were these rejected souls never saved? Only the saved can cast out demons, perform miracles, and prophecy in Jesus’ name since these can only be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. This truth can be shown by these Scriptures:
Luke 11:14-20
14 And He was casting out a demon, and it was dumb; and it came about that when the demon had gone out, the dumb man spoke; and the multitudes marveled. 15 But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons." 16 And others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. 17 But He knew their thoughts, and said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. 18 "And if Satan also is divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 "And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges. 20 "But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
NAS
Acts 19:13-17
13 But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, "I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches." 14 And seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said to them, "I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" 16 And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived in Ephesus; and fear fell upon them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was being magnified. NAS
So why does Jesus reject them? I am willing to bet your response will be “they were never saved in the first place”, which is simply begging the question and raises other questions. The rejected ones thought they were saved because they performed exorcisms, performed miracles, and prophesied in the name of the Lord but they were deceived by “doctrines of demons”.
1 Timothy 4:1-5
4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, 3 men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with gratitude; 5 for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. NAS
OSAS promotes this attitude and this result:
Luke 12:16-21
16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a certain rich man was very productive. 17 "And he began reasoning to himself, saying, 'What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?' 18 "And he said, 'This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19'And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."' 20 "But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?' 21 "So is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." NAS