Any more atheists out there (will accept agnostics too)

[lefeumeplait]

Haros haros haros to all of my non-Christian, non-religious buddies.
It's so excellent to know you're all hopping around here, where you're not supposed to be, on a Christian forum.

For any and all of you Christians out there, it's lovely to see you too.
It's only been a couple of months since I would have been in these forums as one of you.

As a non-Christian, therefore, an Atheist, therefore, someone who actively rejects Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and willingly states, yeah, the Holy Spirit is probably not real...

Am I still saved?

That's my question... for you guys.
If I was saved... and believe me, I was saved many a time, during my stint as a Catholic and then Protestant for some 20 odd years.
And I have heard time and time again from various pastors from various denominations, that one cannot be un-saved, if they have been saved.

So what about that little unforgivable sin??? Eh???
You know, that slight curmudgeon of a problem that, well, I don't believe in any one of those 3 guys.

Questions?? Concerns?? Comments??

 

[seashale76]

As a non-Christian, therefore, an Atheist, therefore, someone who actively rejects Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and willingly states, yeah, the Holy Spirit is probably not real...

Am I still saved?

That's my question... for you guys.
If I was saved... and believe me, I was saved many a time, during my stint as a Catholic and then Protestant for some 20 odd years.
And I have heard time and time again from various pastors from various denominations, that one cannot be un-saved, if they have been saved.

So what about that little unforgivable sin??? Eh???
You know, that slight curmudgeon of a problem that, well, I don't believe in any one of those 3 guys.

Questions?? Concerns?? Comments??

Our Holy Scriptures in the New Testament state- multiple times- that, "He who endures to the end shall be saved." I am part of Christ's Holy Church, the ark of our salvation, but even I do not walk around claiming to be saved. My race isn't finished, I've not endured to the end as of yet, my ship hasn't made port, etc. I'm in the process of being saved, and God willing, I will not choose to jump ship, as you have done. Whatever church you attended that let you believe you were already there wasn't teaching you correct doctrine in the first place (it wasn't in accord with scripture or what the Church has always taught).

The unforgivable sin is attributing the power of the Holy Spirit to Satan. The Pharisees did this in the NT. It always amuses me, in a sad way, that people who don't believe in God assume that by going around and denying the existence of the Holy Spirit will seal the deal so they can guarantee they'll never wind up in a heaven they also don't believe in. In other words, you've not done what you think you've done. You believe in neither God nor Satan, which is crucial for one to effectively commit this sin.

 

[OldChurchGuy]

Haros haros haros to all of my non-Christian, non-religious buddies.
It's so excellent to know you're all hopping around here, where you're not supposed to be, on a Christian forum.

For any and all of you Christians out there, it's lovely to see you too.
It's only been a couple of months since I would have been in these forums as one of you.

As a non-Christian, therefore, an Atheist, therefore, someone who actively rejects Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and willingly states, yeah, the Holy Spirit is probably not real...

Am I still saved?

That's my question... for you guys.
If I was saved... and believe me, I was saved many a time, during my stint as a Catholic and then Protestant for some 20 odd years.
And I have heard time and time again from various pastors from various denominations, that one cannot be un-saved, if they have been saved.

So what about that little unforgivable sin??? Eh???
You know, that slight curmudgeon of a problem that, well, I don't believe in any one of those 3 guys.

Questions?? Concerns?? Comments??

There have been in depth discussions on this forum regarding once-saved-always-saved versus not-once-saved-always-saved (OSAS vs NOSAS). I'm not sure there is an absolute right answer. For me, the final decision with all judgements of an individual are with God.

I am curious, if you don't mind, what happened for you to abandon Christianity? If you prefer, please feel free to can contact me by Personal Message.

Sincerely,

OldChurchGuy

 

[unkern]

From what I can tell you were probably taught the wrong gospel. The one that says once you become saved your always saved and the rest of your life is easy there are no problems etc. etc.

The bible says that your name can be blotted out of the book of life. Thats all you really need to know about once saved always saved.

Im sad to hear you chose this lifestyle, if you ever would like to talk about anything feel free to PM me.

 

[GryffinSong]

I find it rather amusing that an atheist would care about being saved. After all, you claim not to believe in that stuff, eh?

I see that you only have one post, so welcome aboard! I am, depending on how its worded, an atheist, an agnostic, a seeker, or my favorite: an open-minded skeptic. I choose to label myself a humanist on this board, because it comes closest to describing what I DO believe in, as opposed to labels that simply tell things I don't believe in.

I hope you enjoy it here. This board has an incredibly broad range of people, with a broad range of experiences and beliefs, and I feel that that variety is its greatest strength.

 

[Notedstrangeperson]

I'm not sure simply being an ex-christians counts towards being saved. Being saved is about accepting Christ, not just going through a few rituals and thinking God will put you on easy street.

That sounded a bit rude. My bad. Besides, it's just by personal opinion.

 

[XChristian]

Greetings Lefeumeplait,
I am Agnostic, I believe there are intelligent forces like spirits/angels or the like out there but am not satisfied with explanations on the nature of reality given by the bible.

By saved I assume you mean saved from burning in hell for all eternity. I don't believe in Hell. A Jewish friend of mine who's father is a Rabbi told me there is no Hell in Judaism. So where did the Christian Hell come from? I remember reading (somewhere on wikipedia) that the concept of Christian Hell evolved after the Hebrew word Shoel (if I remember correctly) was translated as Hades. If anyone has more information about this please elaborate further for me.

 

[seashale76]

Greetings Lefeumeplait,
I am Agnostic, I believe there are intelligent forces like spirits/angels or the like out there but am not satisfied with explanations on the nature of reality given by the bible.

By saved I assume you mean saved from burning in hell for all eternity. I don't believe in Hell. A Jewish friend of mine who's father is a Rabbi told me there is no Hell in Judaism. So where did the Christian Hell come from? I remember reading (somewhere on wikipedia) that the concept of Christian Hell evolved after the Hebrew word Shoel (if I remember correctly) was translated as Hades. If anyone has more information about this please elaborate further for me.

If I'm not incorrect about Judaism, those who believe Oral Torah believe that sheol is divided into two sections (more or less) for the righteous and unrighteous dead. Those who don't accept Oral Torah believe that sheol is simply the grave. If I'm also not mistaken, Jews accepted that there would be a judgment.

Christianity accepts the Oral Torah version of sheol (also referred to as hades but has nothing to do with Greek mythology). What has become known as hell is actually gehena, which is the concept of the lake of fire where the grave (sheol/hades) will be cast into it during the Judgment.

I believe that the so-called Christian version of hell you're referring to was developed during medieval times and was popularized later on by Dante's Inferno. However, the Orthodox Church has never changed their view to fit this new model.

Here is what we believe. God is Love and His presence is like fire. How one endures this fire has everything to do with how they were tempered in this life, just like the three righteous youths in the fiery furnace were able to joyfully walk around unharmed in the fire, so did others who didn't love God perish just being near the fire. The fire didn't change.

Here is a quote from an old Wikipedia article on the topic (that doesn’t seem to be around anymore) that I thought explained it pretty well: "For many ancient Christians, Hell was the same "place" as Heaven: living in the presence of God and directly experiencing God's love. Whether this was experienced as pleasure or torment depended on one's disposition towards God. St. Isaac of Syria wrote in Mystic Treatises: "... those who find themselves in Hell will be chastised by the scourge of love. How cruel and bitter this torment of love will be! For those who understand that they have sinned against love, undergo greater suffering than those produced by the most fearful tortures. The sorrow which takes hold of the heart, which has sinned against love, is more piercing than any other pain. It is not right to say that the sinners in Hell are deprived of the love of God ... But love acts in two ways, as suffering of the reproved, and as joy in the blessed!" This ancient view is still the doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox Church."