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If sometime in your past you considered yourself a Christian believer, and now you don’t, please read on.
You may have:
1 Declared acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
2 Regularly attended church
3 Been Baptized
4 Studied the Bible
5 Shared the Gospel to non-believers to encourage them to accept Christ
6 Believed in Heaven and Hell
7 Engaged in other Christian practices and beliefs.
But now none of this has any significant meaning to you as it once did.
If any of this is you, I have some sincere questions, which I hope you’ll answer for me.
1 What does it mean to no longer accept Jesus as your Savior? Do you now reject the Christ?
2 It’s been said, “Once saved – Always saved.” If you no longer believe, are you still saved? Does that even mean anything anymore?
3 If you were baptized as a kid, did you understand what it meant? Does it mean anything now?
4 You’ve probably been taught that those who accept the Christ are destined to Heaven, and those who don’t are destined to Hell. If you believed that, and now you don’t, do you feel the concept of the Christian Heaven/Hell is a lie? Does it no longer “apply” to you now that you no longer believe? Can ones eternal destiny depend upon what one believes? How would that work individually from person to person?
5.What do you make of the claim that if you leave Christianity, you were never among (them) to begin with? What does it mean to “leave” Christianity?
1 What does it mean to no longer accept Jesus as your Savior? Do you now reject the Christ?
What does this mean? Does this mean one is either FOR evangelicals or AGAINST evangelicals? Do I need to stand with the likes of PAt Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Franklin "STEALING MY DADDY"S WEALTH" Graham?
I believe that there is a great error in declaring others have LOST faith and renounced Jesus as being anything.
Evangelicals are so TYPE A retentive, they can only see the trees that are in everyone else's eyes and declare their "sins" but NEVER do they publicly confess their sons--unless it is in TV and for the benefit of procuring donations..
I am literally and physically sick of imbecilic comments fro some who hold high that doctrine of superiority over ALL OTHERS who dare to be different and resist the assimilation to the christian BORG collective.
Those who would tell us Christ was a conservative, hate-filled bigot who would just as soon build a wall and make the poor grovel at Hos feet for a bread crumb rather than SHARE what even HE did not have--Christ fed THOUSANDS and all He had was a few baskets of food---it doesn't even matter if this story (MYTH) is true or not--like all stories it is meant to INSPIRE us to do better by our neighbors.
Jesus never said when someone does you right, verify they are a believer. Jesus never once asked ANYONE if they believed in Him before doing a "miracle." Nor did Jesus ever weigh the person's status to determine their worthiness prior to giving--JESUS NEVER TURNED ANYONE AWAY...
This man made idea of "accepting Jesus as your Savior" is yet one more restraint others apply to their neighbors as a means of division--OH, THEY ARE NOT SAVED, THEY DESERVE WHATEVER god GIVES THEM...has to be the MOST &*^%$-UP mentality to have ever been given life.
2 It’s been said, “Once saved – Always saved.” If you no longer believe, are you still saved? Does that even mean anything anymore?
SEE ABOVE. SO after all we have been TOLD by MEN who and what god is supposed to be--because NO ONE alive today can say they know bases on actual direct discussion--we are supposed to accept the idea of a MERCIFUL, JUST. and FORGIVING god would THREATEN us with retracting whatever salvation we were, did have or might yet receive based on the idea this god is a jealous god and will on a whim, strike out at creation and annihilate us via flood or some other catastrophe??
3 If you were baptized as a kid, did you understand what it meant? Does it mean anything now?
So does baptism seal the deal? IF we had confessed Christ to be our "savior" what the ^*%$ does baptism mean--that we really do not trust a god who has shown to be untrustworthy and so unreliable>
4 You’ve probably been taught that those who accept the Christ are destined to Heaven, and those who don’t are destined to Hell. If you believed that, and now you don’t, do you feel the concept of the Christian Heaven/Hell is a lie? Does it no longer “apply” to you now that you no longer believe? Can ones eternal destiny depend upon what one believes? How would that work individually from person to person?
So a person who gives of their time, money and / or life in the service of others will head for hell simply because--they have not proclaimed / spoken the magic words?
5.What do you make of the claim that if you leave Christianity, you were never among (them) to begin with? What does it mean to “leave” Christianity?
So a person who gives of their time, money and / or life in the service of others will head for hell simply because--they have not proclaimed / spoken the magic words?
No, only if they reject Jesus.
John 14:6
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me." -Jesus
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me." -Jesus
Jimmie, if any of us actually still believed that to be true and then said, "No thanks, not interested," then you could say that we had "rejected" Jesus. By definition, however, as "former believers" that means we stopped believing it, not that we rejected it. And then there are those who never believed it in the first place. Again, no rejection involved, simply a lack of belief.
For us, obviously, we don't believe it matters either way. But for you who still do believe that people will be sent to hell for rejecting Jesus, I would think that would be an important distinction to you.
"I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me." -Jesus
We don't know Jesus actually said that. We only know some writer stuck those words in Jesus' mouth 100 years later. I could have written that Lincoln secretly wanted the blacks to stay in slavery and only freed them because he felt it was best for the nation and that would have taken hold and been the belief if the circumstances had been right. It's easy for writers to say somebody said something and then have it become mainstream. It's just another example of this fanatical elitism fundamentalists drag around behind them like a ball and chain.
Jimmie, if any of us actually still believed that to be true and then said, "No thanks, not interested," then you could say that we had "rejected" Jesus. By definition, however, as "former believers" that means we stopped believing it, not that we rejected it. And then there are those who never believed it in the first place. Again, no rejection involved, simply a lack of belief.
For us, obviously, we don't believe it matters either way. But for you who still do believe that people will be sent to hell for rejecting Jesus, I would think that would be an important distinction to you.
Your not believing it doesn't have anything to do with whether it's true or not.
We don't know Jesus actually said that. We only know some writer stuck those words in Jesus' mouth 100 years later. I could have written that Lincoln secretly wanted the blacks to stay in slavery and only freed them because he felt it was best for the nation and that would have taken hold and been the belief if the circumstances had been right. It's easy for writers to say somebody said something and then have it become mainstream. It's just another example of this fanatical elitism fundamentalists drag around behind them like a ball and chain.
So, you admit it's possible Jesus actually said it.
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