Backsliding

Well, I'm kind of curious of how accurate the translation is, when the Bible mentions backsliding in the OT, etc.

Remember, all those who will be saved, and are saved were elect before the foundation of the World... WE ARE the chosen ones. There will be a point in an elect person's life when they'll look to Jesus and will be saved. It all works out through God's working.

I love that video...it's so inspiring.

“Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.”
2 Timothy 2:11-13

The problem with using John is suggesting you have a definite knowledge of what he implies by using the term "practice" or "continues." Is it 10 years of practicing? 20 years? 1 week? 2 weeks? How long is it before we are considered to be practicing lawlessness?

God has taken lives of believers. Believers have been cast out of churches for sin. Yet they all returned.

I think the important thing about backsliding is if they return. Yet even if they don't return God can take their lives. God will remain faithful. Not man.

I am the perfect example of backsliding. Trying to always do what God wants or what is in His will or to NOT give in to temptations is a constant draining experience....and I fail daily.

Then I am ashamed and can actually feel that "pulling away".

Just a thought.Is it possible that we are not losing the newly redeemed? We like to call it discipleship,but when Jesus raised Lazarus,He commanded His followers to remove the corruption filled grave wrappings.When I was young in Christ,I was baptised,& other than going to Sunday school & church services,there was no attempt to nurse new believers.I did study on my own,But nowadays I have seen so much illiteracy of the word of God,& an unwillingness of the older people to teach the young.Sadly,the young adults have seen the elders in the church living like everyone else in society,that when I have tried to get a Bible 101 class going which is even needed by the elders to a great extent, no one wants to .Not even when I volunteer to bring it to their home.It is the word of God that washes us,& if we do not teach the young,if we ourselves do not know"thus sayeth the Lord",it is no wonder that people backslide.I like that song "If we are the body",but we need to remember that we need to minister to each other as well as outside the walls

RobertZ said:

I agree and isnt their somewhere in the Bible where it talks about God healing their backslidings?


EDIT-I found it.

Jeremiah 3:22 "My wayward children," says the LORD, "come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts." "Yes, we're coming," the people reply, "for you are the LORD our God.

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I don't know what my stance on backsliding actually is, but why would this imply that God would heal OUR backslidings. Weren't the ideas of salvation different before the death of our Christ?

Ariellamb said:

Much the whole of the O/T is a picture of God with His covenant ppl who continually backslide and then with Grace and loving kindness God the father restores His ppl again & again & again....
The book of Judges is one of the most clearest pictures of this in practice,one deliverer after another,yet they Still backslide and grow cold Again towards their God, who they acknowledge & know alone has the power to save them,yet they continue to fall away from Him.

How many of us is this a picture of ??

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I agree that this could be a picture of many of us, but I don't see how that would imply that God would restore backsliders today the way he did in the Old Testament.

Ariellamb said:

Bubbles
I'm but one living example,that His Grace is unchanging

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I guess I don't need more evidence than that!

This Thread has been a Blessing to me as well as all the posts in here.
For i too feel myself backsliding, but can i ask, can we also call it a spiritual attack? opinions on this please. thanks

God bless you bubbles.One of the ways we can look at the old testament is by thinking of the term "types & shadows" People in the old testament were saved the way we are today,that being by faith.It says in Genesis 15:6 "Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness." Notice it says this about him BEFORE God changed his name to Abraham.Abraham did what God said,trusting that God would keep His word.Abraham took Isaac,the son through whom the promise was to come,& in his mind had prepared to sacrifice him on mount Moriah,& believing the promise of God "He said to his servants, "Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you." (Genesis 22:5) Note that Abraham said "we will come back to you".By believing God Abraham gave us a picture of how He would sacrifice His son Jesus for us,even using the words of Abraham "“God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. People were saved looking forward to the cross in the old testament.What is not very well known is that even though the first 5 books of the Bible,the books of Moses go all the way back to "In the brginning",it is believed that the 1st written book of the Bible was the book of Job,going back to about the time of Abraham.Listen tothe words of Job in Job 19,verses 25 & 26."
I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;"Sounds kind of like the New testament,doesn't it.How did Job know this?Well.back in Genesis 3 "15)So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all the livestock
and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life. 15)And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.” It says that God will put emnity between your "offspring" her "offspring" (better translated seed).This is the 1st prophecy of the coming messiah,& people knew this by word of mouth from generation to generation.God preserved His Word,even before it was written down.If people kept the law by faith,they knew that Messiah would fulfill the law.Hear the repentant words of David in psalm 51 16)You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17)The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise. David understood.1000 years before Jesus came,David understood.The law never saved,but rather the law was a mirror to let men see that they needed a redeemer.Listen to the words of Jesus To the Jews who were angry with Him for healing on the Sabbath in John chapter 5 "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me".The old testament was the foundation that the new testament was built on.they are not complete without each other,& every word testifies of Our Living Word Jesus Christ.God bless you.

Thank you, DesertJoe! That was very helpful.