Arlene,Thanks so much for your link to the "soul and spirit " salvation. This was very informative and in the Spirit something that had been revealed to me, but was further clarified in this link.
Exerpt from link:"It is at this point in man’s salvation that the spirit is separated from the soul. The “spirit” in unsaved man isdead. It is a part of the totally depraved man, with his “body of . . . death,” in which there dwells “no good thing” (Romans 7:18, 24). With the movement of the Spirit, using the God-breathed Word, man’s spirit is made alive and, at the same time, separated from his soul.
The “soul” remains within the sphere of darkness, which is why “the natural [Greek: psuchikos, soulical]man” cannot understand “the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:14). That which remains in the sphere of darkness can have no apprehension or comprehension of that which has shined out of darkness. There is a God-established division between the two that cannot be crossed over (cf. Luke 16:26)."
This ties right in with my postulation and belief that some one can be ignorant of the bible, unchurched, led to the Lord and saved at a younger age, realize that they have undergone a change, then lose all recollection of being saved and then hear the gospel years later and re-awaken to the realization that they were never lost at any time, having then remembered the first experience, but merely blinded by their darkened soul IMO.
When a person is under the age of accountability, this cannot be considered "backsliding" or " losing salvation" and then getting it back again.
Alan T