1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Is This An Accurate Description of One Who Has Apostatized, or of Apostasy?

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by preacher4truth, Dec 13, 2011.

  1. preacher4truth

    preacher4truth Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2010
    Messages:
    8,121
    Likes Received:
    17
    I found this via twitter. Is it an accurate description of apostasy?:



    • Is this an accurate description of apostasy, one who has apostatized?

    • Is it possible such a person was ever truly saved?

    • Is there a time said person can become once again an active member in a local body, producing fruit again, proving they were saved, though they appeared to have apostatized?

    -or-

    • Does this person who was once a professing Christian, living for God, producing fruit, an active member, who then later for a time appeared as though they had apostatized (according to above description) yet having returned now become one who needs to be saved, or is said simply proving they were saved all along?

    • Did it just become too late for this person who apostatized to actually ever be saved?

    • Or, is the above quote simply not totally true, and instead an apostate is simply a person who once claimed the faith, but now has come to reject it altogether?


    - Peace
     
    #1 preacher4truth, Dec 13, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 13, 2011
  2. JesusFan

    JesusFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2011
    Messages:
    8,913
    Likes Received:
    240
    To my understanding, IF a genuine born again person was actually able to "deny the faith", disavow Christ, and become lost again...

    Would be akin to seeing that jesus could actually had committed sin while on earth!

    My view is that we have new natures, HS sealed in us, and God cannot deny Himself!
    that part of us regenerated will never get to oint of a final rejection...

    Question though...

    can we deny for a season, due to unconfessed/unrepentent sin, and eventually find our way back to God again?
     
  3. righteousdude2

    righteousdude2 Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2007
    Messages:
    11,154
    Likes Received:
    242
    Faith:
    Baptist
    If He Says It, CAn He Take It Back?

    How long is a season? That may be the question of the century, let alone, eternity??? My prodigal daze/walk was possibly a season (of struggle for my spirit, and grief to the Father), but it always had His Spirit of conviction alive and working within me, leading to repentance and honest attempts to walk the path free of the iniquity that caused me to fall in the first place.

    However, personally, I find it hard to believe that anyone who is in Christ, can commit a sin without being convicted of that sin, and repenting.

    Of course, they may fall back into that sin, or a similar sin, and continue to repeat this pattern (spiritual struggle) until they learn how to avoid it completely and therefore, spiritually irradiate that sin (with His help), and anything akin to that sin, from their personal makeup forever (like addictions, etc.).

    That is the learning process of "Sanctification" which follows the acts of Salvation and Justification, which come before the final act of Glorification!

    I firmly believe that the gift of salvation is a once, and forever thing. We are adopted, through a Heavenly legal process and act, and we can never be disowned by the Father, no more than Jesus could have sinned, or the Father could have disowned His Son!

    I am not saved for a season, but for eternity. Does that give me license to sin? God forbid! I do not believe that a true believer can return to their walk on the road to hell without some form of conscience, and its that spiritual conscience that causes us to repent and get our feet back on the path. :type:
     
  4. Jeremiah2911

    Jeremiah2911 Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Aug 29, 2011
    Messages:
    125
    Likes Received:
    0
    I really like Sprouls definition--Scripture I have heard a lot which applies:

    1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.

    Of course true born again Christians can fall away [not from salvation], but never out of the Fathers grip--when I had my own prodigal experience many moons ago, I never denied the faith, I was just totally out of fellowship with the Lord and His people.

    A little history sidenote concerning your questions: in the early Church, one of the first real controversies they had concerned those who had "fallen away"--wanna know what they did to fall away? When the Romans were killing Christians, Christianity kept growing--they got tired of them being so willing to die, so they changed their tactics--people would turn in young Mothers who were Christians, and they would get the Moms and babies in front of a council and ask the Mom if she was a Christian--while they held a sword to the baby's neck--well, what would we do???? Many of the Moms cracked under the pressure, and they felt awful, no doubt, but when they decided to get back into Church, they had a surprise waiting for them--the Church argued whether to let "apostates" back in......that was when Christianity was real and it meant something--nowadays many people consider it persecution to go to Church when the weather isn't quite perfect :(

    [My documentation for this story is from a 13 hour Church history series of lectures from Denton Bible church in Denton, TX--powerful series btw!] God bless
     
  5. JesusFan

    JesusFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2011
    Messages:
    8,913
    Likes Received:
    240
     
  6. MB

    MB Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2006
    Messages:
    6,890
    Likes Received:
    262
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I believe everytime we sin we are in apostasy. Simply because Sin is rebellion and rebellion is against God. This is why confession of our sins is so important.
    MB
     
  7. JesusFan

    JesusFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2011
    Messages:
    8,913
    Likes Received:
    240
    No confession/repentence, no forgiveness as we would see it..

    God has already freely forgave us, as blood of Christ paid for all sins to come, but unless/until we confess them, we will not benefit from His forgiveness!
     
  8. preacher4truth

    preacher4truth Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2010
    Messages:
    8,121
    Likes Received:
    17
    True to an extent, but none of this has a thing to do with apostatizing. If we were to take a very simple and basic "falling away" even that is not the same as what is being described above. A Christian sinning is not apostasy.

    As in Acts 21:21 it is seen as "forsaking," as in an example concerning the false premise about "forsaking Moses Law." See Acts 21:21. This word forsake here would entail forsaking a belief once and for all. This is what I believe it means to apostatize.

    2 Thess. 2:3 also uses this same word apostasia where the context supports one forsaking the faith or falling away from the faith altogether, from what I understand.

    I don't believe these are referring to a person who has stopped going to church or hasn't gone. Nor is it referring to our sins we commit (if that were true, then that would mean we've abandoned the faith, which is not true, as in such a case one would never repent, there is nothing they believe any longer). I believe apostatizing means abandoning the faith to which one had formerly embraced, showing therefore they were not saved to begin with.

    Hebrews 6 is descriptive of an apostates attitude toward Christ and the Gospel message.
     
    #8 preacher4truth, Dec 14, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 14, 2011
  9. JesusFan

    JesusFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2011
    Messages:
    8,913
    Likes Received:
    240
    agree with you, that it refers to one who formally had professed having Chrsit as their Saviour, yet later on made their true self evidenced by denying jesus even was their saviour, that he was just a man..... They either did not need to get saved, or else another way would save them!
     
  10. beameup

    beameup Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2011
    Messages:
    920
    Likes Received:
    2
    What a sad state and heavy burden for a Christian to carry.
    I'm sure that the Accuser of the Brethren will be sure to continually remind you of all those "sins". :tonofbricks:
     
  11. JesusFan

    JesusFan Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jan 4, 2011
    Messages:
    8,913
    Likes Received:
    240

    Reminds me of the story heard on Luthor, that the Devil showed up at his front door, and said " what will you do IF I were to cutoff both arms? he replied to him would still be ok, as it was Jesus holding him, not martin holding jesus!"
     
  12. beameup

    beameup Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2011
    Messages:
    920
    Likes Received:
    2
    Yes, Luther was continually doing penance until one day the Lord opened his eyes and stood him on his feet and told him that he had already paid for his sins present-past-future.
    It is amazing how many Christians are downtrodden and rendered useless by the Accuser of the Brethren.
     
Loading...