How Long Does it Take You to Backslide?

The one time the scripture is using the person it is using him as a picture of Israel. In every instance the word is used to speak of a people who had never been saved.

 

My friend the prodigal was lost. That is not a guess that is what scripture says.
For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
Secondly claiming that any born again believer can live daily in the practice of sin makes 1John incorrect.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit (practice) sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot (practice) sin, because he is born of God.
In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
We can know the real and the false. The problem is that because of faulty preaching and teaching many have made professions and never gotten saved so the lost do not know they are lost.

 

basically, whenever we decide to go against God and His revealed will to us in any given situation..

backslidding
Trick is to repent and coness, to keep from backslidding into a state of ongoing "carnal Chrsitianity!"

 

Yep...

Church full of "backslidders"

Thank God Paul did not warn them against "backsilliding right out the door, lost again!"

 

No not in the context in which you are trying to use the word carnal. When Paul used the word he was not speaking about living in sin apart from God. He was speaking about who they lifted up above another and acting like children who argue over trivial matters. The word carnal is NEVER applied to anyone who is in moral sin. In fact Paul actually questions their salvation in 2Cor. So the answer to your question is NO!

 

I can only tell you what scripture says and teaches and I believe it and try not to explain it away. I believe that the way is just as narrow and just as straight as scripture teaches it is. I truly believe Matt 7:21-23.


These are the many who professed a relationship but practiced sin. To practice sin is to do what comes naturally. It does not take sinning every moment or even every day. It is the natural act of any individual when certain circumstances arise. For the believer the natural act is to live holy with an occasional sin. When a believer sins they not only shock those around them, but they shock themselves. The reason is it is not their practice to sin, contrary to many false teachings in the church today and I am convinced because of this that a majority of the people who attend on any given Sunday in any given church are really lost even though they profess to be saved. In other words the lives do not agree with the profession.

Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

It just depends on who we believe. The Word of God or some false testimony of how someone fell away from the Lord and now is rededicating their life when they really need to get saved.

 

What "Muddies" the waters here is that some on BB have posted and hold to once a Christian NO MORE old nature"flesh" remains just new nature in Christ, so little room for a :carnal Christian" even being an option, either living for God or not!

 

Thank you that is very kind, but it is not my intention to be appreciated. I only desire truth and I stand on what I have written as it agrees with scripture without having to do a commentary on it ***(Implication removed)***

The only problem here is this. If I am correct there are many who need to be warned and taught the truth of the bible to get saved, as by my calculation your view it is filling hell with people of a false hope. If I am incorrect then no real lose is incurred as they go to heaven anyway in the mist of their sin. I have to stick with what is written in scripture and not try and explain it away as I believe many will say Lord, Lord because of this false teaching of backsliding

 

How is it "false teaching?"

 

Point, Counterpoint!

Great point FAL, and you won't get an argument from me. However, I look at it this way. Sin does separate us from God, and when the Prodigal walked away, he was dead as you say, to his father, just like we are dead to the Father while following sin.

I find it hard to believe that the deeper intrenched we become in sin, the more inclined the Father is to turn from us until we return to Him.

While I rebelled and out of anger, trued to push God away, I never once felt that He wasn't future than a prayer of repentance away. My life was complicated during those years, but I know that He never stopped loving me, even though many of the actions of my life indicated just the opposite when it came to my love for Him.

When everything fell apart (marriage, family, ministry) my anger with God caused me to pack up my belongings and leave. However, "The Hound of Heaven" by Dr. Mickey Anders of the First Christian Church Pikeville, Kentucky September 23, 2001 (based on Romans 1:19-21) has always reminded me of the prodigal daze I was under, and how HE never once gave up on me.

Don't get me wrong, Even though I was living life my way, I couldn't get so far from God that the continued need to repent from the conviction I faced (sometimes, moment after moment). The only problem was, I noticed that my prayers of repentance grew weaker each time I uttered them heavenward! And after years of sinning and repenting, the prayers became like a noisey din, going nowhere because I only returned to the vomit.

It took a few days of feeling, as though I was cut off from God and that my prayers were empty catechism uttering that led me deep into a state of depression (and me eating out of the farmers pig trough) that found me nearly taking my life, except for the grace of God, the attempt failed, and with days, I was being greeted by my Heavenly Father, with the brass ring and a family feast waiting.

I believe so much of what you call one thing is merely semantics. You'd have to have lived in and walked in my shoes to understand what I went through, and what I knew while I plowed my way deep into a pit of sin.

He never left me, that I know, but, there was a three-day period (between my attempted suicide and my complete return to Him) where I was empty and void of Him. I came out of those three long days, closer to Him than I ever though possible. BTW, There is no other way to explain the miracle of His intervention in my suicide. It was God, who intervened, no doubt about it on my behalf.

I hope we can agree that our difference of opinion is merely semantic, and not theological.

Pastor Paul :type:

 

Hello Paul,
as you know we have had this discussion before. Your testimony is not uncommon, but I believe it is not in accord with scripture. You claim one thing and the word claims another. Who should I believe? I am not suggesting you are a liar. Just deeply confused as to what happens at salvation. Salvation is not merely a positional change, but also a character change. As we learn what is expected of us we grow in the grace we have been given which is our sanctification. That is what 1 John is trying to show.

Once we are saved we remain positionally saved, (eternal security) but we also remain by the same Spirit living our lives for the Lord. It is impossible to separate the two. This is not to suggest sinless perfection as someone is going to try and claim. Since my salvation and because of my background sin has been a serious battle. At times I have sinned greatly, but with the sin came immediate great regret and contrition which made me seek even harder to live as we have been called. It is the same for all as I am not unique. No child of God can turn from the Lord as they are kept in the Lord.
Many times it is very easy for those who have been indoctrinated with the teachings of scripture and all the emotions that can come with that think they are saved, but the proof is if they remain. not if the come and leave and return. I thank God that He is the God of a second chance so to speak as I have made false professions in the past also, but when the time came I knew I had to surrender all to be saved and accept Him as Lord of my life. Only then does He place His spirit into us so that this heart never changes or returns to sin.



One more thing. I realize I am not the best at putting into words what I try to say while seeking not to compromise the truth and yet not be harsh, but I do try. With that let me say this. It is absolutely impossible to know within ourselves we are saved when we have sin in our lives. There has only been one test in scripture for knowing if we are saved and that is if we keep the commandments. In fact it clearly says if we claim to know God and do not keep them we are the liar. It is so easy to be deceived and sadly we many times deceive ourselves. No Christian backslides from a biblical perspective. If we are not seeking God with a daily walk we are not His. There is simply no exceptions. I have to admit that the position i hold is not popular and that makes it difficult to hold, but as much as i would like to hold to the doctrine of backsliding if for no other reason then convenience it is not biblical. Again no one ever gets saved and turns from the Lord, No one because we do not keep ourselves, but are kept by the Spirit.

 

Think this one of the points of the prodigal Son...

That he was and always was a child of God(Father) and een while out in the World and in with Pigs, he reamined a Child, who finally repented and came back to God

God always was there to welcome Him back!

just shows from Jesus Himself that love of God and his Grace towards His own never fails/stops, and that His own will caome back to Him, eventually!

 

We always need to keep in mind, that grace is free, NOT cheap, took death of Son of God to provide it enough to cover our sins...

BUT

We need to also know that its God doing His work in and through us, conforming into image of Jesus

So relax, and follow example of paul...

get knocked off the horse, pick yourself up, and keep running the race!