Falling off the wagon

[Openly Curious]

What happens with a Christian person who falls off the wagon and starts to drink alcohol again after being away from it for years. Are they condemned by God? Are they still a saint? Should and do they still have fellowship with the church or do they get kicked out?

I am serious about the answers and comments that are given as I really want to hear what others have to say

thanks

OC

statn knows our weaknesses, and will do anything to get us to fall prey to them.... drinking is a very difficult one too break.... all though we might fall off the wagon so to speak, we can get back up and keep on going, asking God to forgive us, or we can allow satan to win over and beat us up about how tough it is to stop......

one of his favorite lines....

see, told you, you can not do it.... you might as well just keep on doing what you want cause you cant do anything about it

atan comes to kill steal and destroy.... he wants to keep you from your true joy, peace, love...... anything to keep you from God.... our response is what matters.... we can rebuke him (power of the spoken word, speak it oout loud) or we can remain silent and allow ourselves to be beat up....

Christ gave us power over satan.... all we have to do is speak it with the faith of God.....

like one man says, he has C.P. ( cerebrial pulsy), C. P. does not have him..... he refuses to allow anyont to t ell him what he can or can not do, he speaks it out and does it... he preaches through out the country.....hwen some one tries to knock him down, he gets back up and keeps on going...

we all can do the same with any bondage that satan migh be trying t o place on us.... it does not matter if it is booze, drugs, sex, movies, gambling, coffee, gum, work, cussing, so forth and so on, it does not matter, with God, all things are possible, and some times we have to admit to God we just can not do it on our own, and that it is up to Him to take it from us... but then we have to leave it alone....

if God condemns us for falling off the wagon, we all would be in trouble....

mike

I appreciate your comments as they are good and solid advice contained in them. I think what you said about sometimes that we have to admit to God we can't do it on our own and we need the Lord's help to take it from us is so true what we can't He can.

blessings

OC

[stan4257]

if God condemns us for falling off the wagon, we all would be in trouble....

What lovely, understanding, been there and done that and know how you feel non-judgemental, brothers and sisters in Christ.

All of you.

The salt of the earth

A real pleasure to belong to Worth Boards.

[patricia1]

I think Grace has a time period on a indvidual basis and after a period of time the covering of deliberate sin, That is saying" i will do it anyway because Gods Grace is always there" would be taking advantage of Gods grace, Gods good will towards you.

Grace is a gift. Has to be recieved every day. Yesterdays Grace is not good enough for today. When we do things on our own merit we will fail and at times that is when i personally know that the problem i bring to Jesus is still lagging behind me.

Although I speak with my mouth, the total surrender of my heart is not in it.

Jesus being a very patient God will wait for anyone to return to Him Looking for that Grace. Grace is also more than unmerited favor towards man.

Roman 6:14 For sin shall not be the master over you for you are not under the law, but of Grace

Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under Grace? May it never be!!!

I am not saying you are in sin. You are struggling to have victory over it. I am just answering your question to explaining my earlier post.

I hope it is plainer to you my dear...a.a. would discount the years sober...God sees it as a victory you had and will have once again. The outcome will be a strngth that may not ever waver again...

[patricia1]

hello there scarlet...I see you there...love you very much you too lady

[Guest locuveritas]

What happens with a Christian person who falls off the wagon and starts to drink alcohol again after being away from it for years. Are they condemned by God? Are they still a saint? Should and do they still have fellowship with the church or do they get kicked out?

I am serious about the answers and comments that are given as I really want to hear what others have to say

thanks

OC

I was once a heavy drinker and smoker. To this day I still have cravings even though it has been almost 10 years. We are all in the flesh and will make mistakes and fall into sins. As Christians and as long as we keep our faith in God to give us strength I'm sure that he will help us to overcome and endure. The church should be there to help you overcome your weaknesses, not kick you out.

[Scarletprayers]

hello there scarlet...I see you there...love you very much you too lady

[irishcowboy]

A person who drinks alcohol isn't condemned! In excess it isn't good, and I am assuming that you are talking of an alcoholic who is back to drinking. Anything that controls you other than Jesus is wrong. But that person is still saved. Should a church kick them out? I don't believe so. If that person is in a position of Elder or Deacon, then they need to be removed from that position. If they come to church drunk, well, that needs to be dealt with. But generally, the brothers and sisters need to pray and support each other and help each other where we are weak.

<>< ><>

Nathele

Hi Trusting Jesus,

I just wanted to ask you a few question on what you said as I am not sure I'm understanding you or not so here goes.

First you say a person who drinks alcohol isn't condemned

Then you say that if a person drinks in excess (which I think you mean alot) that that isn't good

Then you say anything that controls one other that Jesus then that behaviour is wrong

But the person is still saved.

Okay now a believer who drinks alcohol is not condemned by God so in essence they are still accepted by him and that drinking in excess may not be good but one will still be accepted by God. So I take it that even in the midst of all of this that if something controls you no matter what that thing is then it is wrong or it is a sin unto believers and therefore you will not be accepted by God.

So I don't understand how the person can still be saved if they cross they line of letting something control them instead of God.

I agree with the other things you said I just have some confusion over the things I addressed.

blessings

OC

I use to drink any time that i was not responsible for being at work with in a certain time (had a cutoff time prior to flights and work and such) I was hooked..... yes, i would have to say that i was saved prior to this time in my life..... was i lost while I was boozing it up???? hmmmm hard to say.... looking back, i am sure glad the rapture did not happen during that time frame, for I was like the five maidens that did not have any lamp oil, or the people at the wedding feast that were not clothed in wedding garments...... LEFT OUT IN THE DARKNESS........

is drinking wrong????? absolutely not.... while drinking, a person can (and a very majority of the time) looses control over what they will and will not do....

it is like this.... if a person drives to a pub/bar, and parks their car out side of it, and goes in to get a drink, they are planning to drink, they drove there, how are they planning to get home? by driving, so they have planned to drive, they have planned to drink, and now after they have drank, 1, 2, 5, or even a dozen drinks, they get back in their car, they drive down the road, oh yea, they only intended to have ONE drink, and as they are going down the road they hit a young lady on a bicycle, she is with in 3 foot of the curb, it is broad daylight, and she is observing traffic laws, she is thrown into the ditch, where she is still alive, for a short time, some people stop to see if she is ok, and no one even tries to help her, no one uses a cell phone to call for help, and all she can here is some one saying she is dying, she is dying...... mean while, the driver, two miles away, gets pulled over for sparks coming from under his car.....

the sparks are the young ladies bicycle, the cop starts doing a BAC test, not even thinking about the bicycle at that time (he can smell the booze).... before the cop can retrace the skid marks that the bike has left on the road, the girl dyes.

she was 18, just graduated Valedictorian of her class, full ride scholarship, and working for what she used.

the driver, a shrink from another country, had (his words) less then 5 drinks, and denied hitting anything..... he lost his license to practice in Kansas, and spent 6 months in jail.....

premeditated manslaughter..... he planned to stop and drink, he planned to drive after stopping to drink, he knew the effects of booze, he left the scene of an accident, he committed hit and run, he failed to render aid. with everything leading up to the accident (as it was deemed) he had premeditated it, but got off with simple manslaughter 3.....

me? if that was me driving? well, i would not have had the cash to hire the fleet of attorneys he had...... and would probably be in lock up even today, almost 24 years ago......

if we are living such a life style, are we ready to go home should the Lord call our name? or would we be wondering if the air conditioning is broke and hoping we can remember how to trouble shoot the air conditioning.....

something to think about.......

we are told to live a BLAMELESS LIFE.....

if a person is drunk, are they living a blameless live? for the Word says not to be a drunkard.....

mike

[Massorite]

What happens with a Christian person who falls off the wagon and starts to drink alcohol again after being away from it for years. Are they condemned by God? Are they still a saint? Should and do they still have fellowship with the church or do they get kicked out?

I am serious about the answers and comments that are given as I really want to hear what others have to say

thanks

OC

Living the life of an alcoholic is living a life for satan. If one come out of that life, excepts Christ and lives a life for God he will receive his just reward. However since he/she has lived a life for Christ but turns back to living a life for satan they have made a non-ignorant choice and will knowingly have done so. In which they will receive their just rewards. That is if they continue to live for satan with no repentance until death.

I can tell you from personal experience because I did the very same thing. I was an alcoholic and excepted Christ into my life. Man when I came up out of that water I was baptized by the Holy Spirit and I loved everybody. How fresh, how new that love was. After some time I received a church hurt and I decided that if that was what Christianity was all about I didn't want any part of it.

So I had to force myself but started smoking and drinking again. I became an alcoholic once more and continued to live that life of unrepentant sin for more then twenty years. Any body can say what they want but I know now that if I had died while living in that backslid state I know with all of my heart that I would have went straight to hell. I was filled with evil. What does that bible say about the clean house? That evil spirit will come back and bring seven of his friends with him.

But it wasn't to late for me and it isn't to late for who ever you are talking about. I can see now that God was always there trying to tempt me into coming back to Him. He never gave up on me.

[Openly Curious]

I think Grace has a time period on a indvidual basis and after a period of time the covering of deliberate sin, That is saying" i will do it anyway because Gods Grace is always there" would be taking advantage of Gods grace, Gods good will towards you.

Grace is a gift. Has to be recieved every day. Yesterdays Grace is not good enough for today. When we do things on our own merit we will fail and at times that is when i personally know that the problem i bring to Jesus is still lagging behind me.

Although I speak with my mouth, the total surrender of my heart is not in it.

Jesus being a very patient God will wait for anyone to return to Him Looking for that Grace. Grace is also more than unmerited favor towards man.

Roman 6:14 For sin shall not be the master over you for you are not under the law, but of Grace

Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under Grace? May it never be!!!

Thank you so much for eloborating more for me on taking advantage of the Heavenly Father and His grace

I am not saying you are in sin. You are struggling to have victory over it. I am just answering your question to explaining my earlier post. I hope it is plainer to you my dear...a.a. would discount the years sober...God sees it as a victory you had and will have once again. The outcome will be a strngth that may not ever waver again...

This part does not apply to me personally as I am talking about the subject in general and have never been to a.a.

I do apprecitate your comments.

blessings

OC

[OneLight]

What happens with a Christian person who falls off the wagon and starts to drink alcohol again after being away from it for years. Are they condemned by God? Are they still a saint? Should and do they still have fellowship with the church or do they get kicked out?

I am serious about the answers and comments that are given as I really want to hear what others have to say

thanks

OC

There are many good posts here to draw from. For me personally, I was in and out of my faith for many years. When I was out, I was both drinking and using drugs, but, and here is how I see it, the Holy Spirit continued to work in my life, convicting me of my sins and returning me to Him.

To answer you questions would require me to 1) Become God in order to know if the person was condemned or not; 2) Know what your definition of a Saint is and your qualification of being one; 3) Know the behavior of this person in Church.

Since all three are not possible at this point, I can only answer in this manner.

1) Only God knows.

2) Only God knows

3) The church is full of sinners, and rightly so. The love we have from His Spirit would never allow us to kick them out, but would lead us to help this individual in their troubles. Alcoholics are still brothers or sisters in the Lord. To condemn them, except for certain behavioral traits and false teachings, would be unchristian behavior.