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Is it possible to be raised in the Christian church, lose your faith, then come back to believing in Jesus again and truly be forgiven?


emilylovesjesus

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36 minutes ago, warrior12 said:

So in my theology, one cannot be born again and loose his salvation and then regain it.

George posted a video on salvation and being born again in the video section that was very thought provoking.  It is supported by the Luke 8 passage on the sower and the seed.  We probably aren't truly born again if we aren't producing good fruit, and that may occur later in our Christian experience.  I also have doubts that a truly born again person would leave Christ.  The person may be called  and led by the Holy Spirit and be in the process of becoming good soil that will produce good fruit but not yet be born again according to the early evangelists like Jonathan Edwards, Wesley and many others.  The idea of instant salvation and being born again when you repeat a prayer did not come into vogue till Billy Sunday.   Until him people were never told they were born again.  They waited till the person had the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.  They say that is why so many alter call conversions don't remain.  It is worth watching and thinking about.  It is probably true in many cases, but my own pastor was truly born again at an alter call the first time he went to church.  I may not have been born again till after I backslid and came back to the Lord in 1970.  So each person is different.  

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On 12/19/2018 at 2:54 PM, emilylovesjesus said:

This happened to me, I was raised in the Christian church but had some hard experiences being different because I had mental illness and was rejected very often and confused and hurt, I became atheist and eventually got into New Age beliefs and came to realize it was all a lie and missed the relationship with God and Jesus that I had when I was little. I didn't realize that it wasn't just all in my head, and that I actually did have a true relationship with the living God when I was young! I now 100 percent couldn't not believe in God and Jesus even if I wanted to. but there are a few verses in the bible that trouble me, for example:

Hebrews 6: 4-6

"4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 [c]if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame."

am I really forgiven? I feel and see God working in my life, but these doubts I get of if God will truly judge me as forgiven in the end on Judgement day keep popping up (and cause me to experience a lot of fear and depression).

If you go back to Heb 5:14 and Heb 6:1 it's only referring to lack of maturity in the believer, not loss of salvation. It's metaphorical language for the crucifixion of Christ. Yes, once you become born again you are forgiven for past, present and future sins

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2 hours ago, warrior12 said:

This is a very important and valid question that you asked and it should be addressed according to scripture. 

warrior12, I'm not a OSAS person neither but that isn't the situation here. This young lady became discouraged due to something bad happening in her life. That's similar to me when I was 18. I call it personal tragedy. She didn't tell God to go away, that she wanted nothing to do with Him anymore. Neither did I. When you are young in years or young in the Lord, He knows you just feel hurt, and in my case it was Him who eventually drew me back. He also knew it was time for me to return but I was stubborn. This is what is meant by God is long suffering. I knew a man who said he renounced Jesus as Lord. But he wasn't in his right mind anymore. God knows. If every parent disowned their kid for saying to them Go away I never want to see you again, when the kid is upset the orphanages wouldn't have room anymore. God is a better parent than any of us.

But you are right in how we live will effect us after we leave earth. Even the apostles didn't seem to know exactly how our sinful behavior would effect us. Jesus also didn't go into detail. It's as if God is saying just don't be 1 of them because you don't want to find out.

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Precious Emily,

As has been mentioned by others above, ...many mentioned in the Bible have walked with God and turned away from Him, but..., God never turned away from them, ...whom God foreknew (that they would come to Him) He chose Rom 8"29, it's called election, ...because God is Holy and can't sin, if He were to not do, or complete, what He foreknew that would be a sin and it's impossible for God to sin.

God didn't chose me and then 20 years later say, "whoa, I made a mistake with this one, ...NO!

For God so loved Emily that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that if she believes in Him she would not perish but have everlasting life.  John 3:16 paraphrased

Precious, you are THE most expensive thing in the universe, YOU cost Father the death of His Son, ...in Gethsemane Jesus prayed, "Father if it's possible, let this cup pass from me," and Father had the authority to say, "okay..., stop..., time out..., ...don't go through with this," ...but He didn't, why? ......because, He loved you and me and many more like us than His only-begotten Son.         We love Him because He first loved us!

For it became Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons (and daughters) into glory, Heb 2:10

 

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On 12/20/2018 at 3:54 AM, emilylovesjesus said:

"4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 [c]if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame."

I read this just this morning in one of my daily devotionals, and hope it clears up any doubts you may have, and by the way, welcome to Worthy.   (William MacDonald.)

Heb 10: 26-27. This is one of several verses in the NT which is extremely unsettling to many earnest, conscientious Christians. They reason this way: I am faced with a temptation; I know it is wrong and I know I shouldn't do it, and yet I go ahead and do it anyway.Ideliberately disobey. It seems to me that I am sinning wilfully. Therefore, it sounds from this verse as though I have lost my salvation.

The problem arises because they take the verse out of context and make it say something it was never intended to say. The context has to do with the sin of apostasy- the sin of one who professes to be a believer for a while, but who subsequently repudiates the Christian faith and usually identifies himself with some system that opposes Christ. The apostate is described in verse 29: he has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has done despite the Spirit of grace. He shows by his bitter turning against Christ that he was never born again.

Suppose that a man hears the gospel and develops warm feelings toward the Christian faith. He leaves his ancestral religion and adopts the Christian label without being genuinely converted. But the persecution begins, and he has second thoughts about being known as a Christian. Finally he decides to go back to his old religion. But it isn't that easy. Suppose that before the leaders are willing to take the turncoat back, they have a little ceremony that he must go through. They take the blood of a pig and sprinkle it on the floor. Then they say, "That blood represents the blood of Christ. If you want to return to your parents' religion, you must walk over it." And he does.

In effect, he is trampling under foot the Son of God and counting His blood as an unholy thing. That man is an apostate. He has committed the wilful sin.

A true believer cannot commit this wilful sin. He may commit other acts of sin when he knows it's wrong. He may deliberately violate his conscience. This is serious in God's eyes, and we must not say anything that would excuse it. But still he can find forgiveness by confessing and forsaking his sin. Not so with the apostate. For him the verdict is that there remains no more sacrifice for sins(v.26b) and it is impossible to renew him again to repentance. (Heb 6:6)  Again, I hope this helps, and God bless.

 

 

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The amazing aspects of our Lord 'IS' His Word: created all, then written and came in flesh and Now resides on The Right hand of The Father... One must be born of s/Spirit to have ability to ingest The Word's precepts into living format within the life now … God in time and out of time speaks and it is enough to make the greatest among us least! I have not come to The borders of His Word and not felt ineptness yet also overwhelmed by the majesty of It's fabric of being... The Word of God uniqueness transcends the mind to both depth and height beyond and provides absolute reality of all things leaving the child of God willing by the faith generated to lay down all they have began in to the affixed hope of it's precepts into eternity that cannot be known now....

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I echo the sentiments expressed here. There's times when we lose heart for a while, stumble, or go through phases where God seems distant but we never really fully detach either (thank God for that).

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YES.

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19 hours ago, naominash said:

I don't think those verses apply to you. Being raised with Christian values and attending Church does not necessarily mean you were born again at the time. And even if you had been before, I like what the others said about you being like the Prodigal Son.  

Besides, I believe if Hebrews 6:4-6 applied to you, you would have a much more hardened heart toward the Lord.

thank you everyone for your encouragement and kind words, and this is the conclusion I've come to, since I truly am repentant and trying to do everything I can to stop willfully sinning it is clear that my heart isn't hardened and so whatever that verse was talking about, doesn't mean I'm unforgiven :) That is such good news to have sink in after so many doubts and fears I was going through for a couple months! but I am happy I had to struggle with it because it shows even more how gracious and loving God is than if I just automatically felt forgiven after accepting Jesus as savior!! my faith has been strengthened so much this past week :)

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3 hours ago, emilylovesjesus said:

since I truly am repentant and trying to do everything I can to stop willfully sinning it is clear that my heart isn't hardened

Are we depending on "the rock" or,   ,something else..

Psa 95:1, 8, 11 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. 8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 11Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Act 15:24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:

Heb 3:12-13 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Matt 7:22-23 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Matt 7:24-25 Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock.

1 Jhn 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

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