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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:
Declared acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
Regularly attended church
Been Baptized
Studied the Bible
Shared the Gospel to non-believers to encourage them to accept Christ
Believed in Heaven and Hell
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.
What does it mean to no longer accept Jesus as your Savior? Do you now reject the Christ?
It’s been said, “Once saved – Always saved.” If you no longer believe, are you still saved? Does that even mean anything anymore?
If you were baptized as a kid, did you understand what it meant? Does it mean anything now?
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?
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?
God knows the difference between lip-service, religion and heart-level belief. He responds to that difference by sending His indwelling Holy Spirit to convey true, born again Spiritual life. As Jesus told Nicodemus, "No one can see the Kingdom of heaven unless they are born again" (John 3:3).
"If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! If one is truly born again in God's Holy Spirit, they cannot become "unborn." If one is not born again in God's indwelling Holy Spirit as a child of God, one does not become born again by acting like a son, daughter or Christian.
Those who claim they are no longer believers, may have done "Christian things" (professed to belief, answered an altar call, been baptized, gone to church, behaved like a Christian, etc), but unless they were truly born-again in God's Holy Spirit, they only 'looked' like the wheat, but were actually 'tares.'
God knows the difference between lip-service, religion and heart-level belief. He responds to that difference by sending His indwelling Holy Spirit to convey true, born again Spiritual life. As Jesus told Nicodemus, "No one can see the Kingdom of heaven unless they are born again" (John 3:3).
"If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! If one is truly born again in God's Holy Spirit, they cannot become "unborn." If one is not born again in God's indwelling Holy Spirit as a child of God, one does not become born again by acting like a son, daughter or Christian.
Those who claim they are no longer believers, may have done "Christian things" (professed to belief, answered an altar call, been baptized, gone to church, behaved like a Christian, etc), but unless they were truly born-again in God's Holy Spirit, they only 'looked' like the wheat, but were actually 'tares.'
You forgot to put the quotation mark at the end of the bolded, the rest is your speculation. There are many who have "turned away" who have received the Spirit. Circumstances change.
You forgot to put the quotation mark at the end of the bolded, the rest is your speculation. There are many who have "turned away" who have received the Spirit. Circumstances change.
Thanks for the quotation mark. But, unless you consider Scripture to be my speculation, I would suggest that you are the one who is speculating. Don't those who believe in Jesus Christ have "eternal life?" Are you suggesting that eternal doesn't really mean eternal?
This might be better served in the Atheist section as you are specifically targeting those who don't have faith.
I'll answer as I fit into the description pretty well having accepted Jesus, regularly attended church, studied the bible, brought unbelievers to church, and engaged in Christian practices.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corvette Ministries
What does it mean to no longer accept Jesus as your Savior? Do you now reject the Christ?
Personally, I simply don't believe that accepting Jesus as my savior will do anything for me. I reject Christ in the sense that I don't believe it will benefit me in any way to accept it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corvette Ministries
It’s been said, “Once saved – Always saved.” If you no longer believe, are you still saved? Does that even mean anything anymore?
It doesn't mean anything. I don't know if there is an afterlife (I suspect not), and if there is, I sincerely hope it's not with the Christian God.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corvette Ministries
s saved.” If you no longer believe, are you still saved? Does that even mean anything anymore?
I don't actually know if I was baptized or not. I may have been when I was very young. So, it doesn't really mean anything because I have no recollection of it
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corvette Ministries
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?
No, it can't depend on if one believes or not. Either it's true and it applies across the board, or it's false and it doesn't apply across the board. I am in the "it's false" band wagon, so I do not believe it applies.
When I left Church, there was a period of perhaps 3 or 4 years where I still carried some of the Christian ideals/moral teachings and I felt guilty when I would do certain things. That wore off as I began to accept that my morality was based on something I don't believe in.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Corvette Ministries
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?
It's probably different for me than for other people. Personally, I agree that I was probably never among them. I found it very hard to believe that there was a God. I found it hard to accept what teachers were telling me. I found it hard to not feel like an idiot when I prayed aloud.
I honestly tried to believe there was a God for years and I never could. So for me, leaving Christianity was about leaving the social group, leaving the morality and dropping the title. It was actually quite emotional at times; but I am much happier now that it's all said and done.
My belief was based on believing the bible was "the" word of God and that for so many to believe, it must be true.
After being confronted with ungod like scriptures and reading the whole bible, I no longer believe the bible has anything to do with a higher being. This means I do not believe Jesus is real/Devine.
Before leaving the faith, I troubled with accepting ET as legitimate and just. I resented believing humans are wicked and worthless as individuals, that we achieve nothing on our own.
Underneath the whip cream, the religion is hideous.
Those who claim they are no longer believers, may have done "Christian things" (professed to belief, answered an altar call, been baptized, gone to church, behaved like a Christian, etc), but unless they were truly born-again in God's Holy Spirit, they only 'looked' like the wheat, but were actually 'tares.'
You actually couldn't be more wrong. Unfortunately, many Christians ignorantly believe like you do. You don't have any personal knowledge about what sort of thoughts and emotions go on inside the mind of somebody who no longer believes so you really shouldn't make assumptions. For most non-believers who once believed, it was a painful and consuming process. They didn't just suddenly walk away so they could go live a sinful lifestyle. Most of the time they really wanted to believe...but just couldn't anymore.
As for myself, I grew up in a Bible-believing Christian household. I went to a very charismatic non-denominational evangelical church from the time I was in diapers. I also attended the private Christian school there from K-12th grade and graduated from there.
I've dedicated and re-dedicated my life to Christ more times than I can count. Each time was with passion and sincerity of heart. I've also been water baptized. Even in my early adult years, I spent countless hours in daily devotional time, praying and reading my Bible.
For me personally, I've always been very inquisitive and I like to have answers. I've never wanted to be somebody who blindly follows other blind people. I always had a lot of questions about Christianity and the Bible that just never could be answered satisfactorily. They always ended in me just "needing to have more faith" and "God's ways are not our own". Sorry, but that doesn't fly with me.
I also found the God of the Old Testament and the God that Jesus speaks of in the New Testament to be completely contradictory of each other. In many cases, I've found the Old Testament God to be blatantly sociopathic and narcissistic.
Another huge defining factor in my disbelief in Christianity and other organized religions is just through personal experiences. When I got out into the real world, it was actually surprising to me that so many non-Christians were actually good and decent people. My Christian upbringing taught me to love everybody...yet it was always an "US" vs. "THEM" sort of love. Non-Christians were going to Hell and I had pity on their poor, damned souls. My belief system really started to change when my "non-believing, unsaved" Mormon grandparents passed away. I found it completely absurd that such loving and decent people could be in Hell, simply because they didn't believe in the "right" God/Jesus. Their Jesus was of the devil.
As my life has gone on, some specific personal situations have come up where I realized that what happens in real life vs. what the Bible teaches is supposed to happen to believers never actually came to pass. Basically, some situations in my life came up that didn't reflect what the world and life is supposed to be like when people follow Christ. I slowly started praying less and less and I soon realized that whether I prayed or not, life went on. Both good things and bad things happened. I also realized that I actually did have control over many circumstances in my life and could actively work to change the outcome. I also became very cognizant of the reality that good and bad things happen to both Christians and non-Christians alike, whether they pray or not. My Christian upbringing was all about "giving it to the Lord" and letting him work situations out. That didn't work in my personal experience. Prayer became a waste of time to me. I realized that we don't really have a free will if God is able to intervene in peoples' lives and change outcomes. I also realized that many times, God didn't intervene and regardless of how sincerely and passionately I prayed about something, it didn't really make any sort of difference. This reminds me of a story in my local news recently. A little girl was brutally raped and murdered by a teenager who lived in her apartment complex. They found the boy who did it and he confessed. I was reading through peoples' comments on a news link that was posted on social media and one comment really stood out to me. A lady was saying "praise God that they found him" and she was thanking God. I'm sorry, but WTF??? God allowed this horrible tragedy to happen in the first place and you're thanking him that the rapist/murderer was caught. Who cares at that point?! The girl is dead! It doesn't bring any sort of real closure to her family!
Anyways, when I finally started taking the initiative in carving out my own destiny, my life improved drastically. It also feels very liberating and empowering. I've since come to realize that the creation of religion is all about control. If church leaders can convince people of how sinful and worthless they are, they're more likely to follow them and give them money. I think religion has always developed out of the desire to control and manipulate people and to rid them of their hard-earned money. Of course I don't believe all church leaders are this way. I've known many great men and women who were church leaders throughout my life. I just don't believe what they believe anymore.
I'm not going to go into the specifics of personal things that have happened throughout my adult life that have changed my way of thinking because it would just take too long. My point though is that people who think the way the person I quoted think, have no clue what they're talking about. I ABSOLUTELY was "saved" by any sort of Biblically measurable standard. It's just lazy thinking for you to assume that people like me weren't. We just woke up finally.
If sometime in your past you considered yourself a Christian believer, and now you don’t, please read on.
You may have:
Declared acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior
Regularly attended church
Been Baptized
Studied the Bible
Shared the Gospel to non-believers to encourage them to accept Christ
Believed in Heaven and Hell
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.
What does it mean to no longer accept Jesus as your Savior? Do you now reject the Christ?
It’s been said, “Once saved – Always saved.” If you no longer believe, are you still saved? Does that even mean anything anymore?
If you were baptized as a kid, did you understand what it meant? Does it mean anything now?
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?
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?
Just read the Bible. Let your own understanding help you answer the questions. All you will get here is 100 conflicting versions of the Bible from people who've probably never read it at all.
God knows the difference between lip-service, religion and heart-level belief. He responds to that difference by sending His indwelling Holy Spirit to convey true, born again Spiritual life. As Jesus told Nicodemus, "No one can see the Kingdom of heaven unless they are born again" (John 3:3).
"If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! If one is truly born again in God's Holy Spirit, they cannot become "unborn." If one is not born again in God's indwelling Holy Spirit as a child of God, one does not become born again by acting like a son, daughter or Christian.
Those who claim they are no longer believers, may have done "Christian things" (professed to belief, answered an altar call, been baptized, gone to church, behaved like a Christian, etc), but unless they were truly born-again in God's Holy Spirit, they only 'looked' like the wheat, but were actually 'tares.'
This is the nonsense the religion claims for why many who honestly believed found the religion was a false construct of men. You're in a cult.
You actually couldn't be more wrong. Unfortunately, many Christians ignorantly believe like you do. You don't have any personal knowledge about what sort of thoughts and emotions go on inside the mind of somebody who no longer believes so you really shouldn't make assumptions. For most non-believers who once believed, it was a painful and consuming process. They didn't just suddenly walk away so they could go live a sinful lifestyle. Most of the time the really wanted to believe...but just couldn't anymore. ...
<snip>
I'm not going to go into the specifics of personal things that have happened throughout my adult life that have changed my way of thinking because it would just take too long. My point though is that people who think the way the person I quoted think, have no clue what they're talking about. I ABSOLUTELY was "saved" by any sort of Biblically measurable standard. It's just lazy thinking for you to assume that people like me weren't. We just woke up finally.
That sums it up nicely.
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