DeerGlow

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I mean people who strayed from the faith and came back. People who got saved or were seriously Christian not just in name only but in belief and practice but doubted and had agnostic-athiesm-other theology phases but came back. How did you come back? How do you deal with feeling fake or condemned? How did you re-ignite your faith?

Edit: It seems like there are some people in my town who were Christian and are atheist or agnostic now (possible to come back?) or had a phase of disbelief but came back to faith. I wondered how to get past the fear of being apostate like Hebrews 6:4-6 or fallen away.
 

Bluerose31

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I mean people who strayed from the faith and came back. People who got saved or were seriously Christian not just in name only but in belief and practice but doubted and had agnostic-athiesm-other theology phases but came back. How did you come back? How do you deal with feeling fake or condemned? How did you re-ignite your faith?

Edit: It seems like there are some people in my town who were Christian and are atheist or agnostic now (possible to come back?) or had a phase of disbelief but came back to faith. I wondered how to get past the fear of being apostate like Hebrews 6:4-6 or fallen away.
I am a born again Christian. I stayed from the faith and was agnostic and then pagan for a time. I am now Christian again. I re-ignited my faith after trauma. I was kidnapped and raped and needed God after.
 
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Godlovesmetwo

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How did you come back? How did you re-ignite your faith?
I'm known as a revert in Catholic circles. I reverted to the faith in March 2016 after many years away exploring secularism, Buddhism, and meism. (the last one means "all about me ism")
But I've always maintained a tiny thread of faith throughout all that turning away from God. I think that fragment of faith enabled me to come back.
I think its my age that brought me back too. I'm getting old. Also, only working part-time now, I have more free time to explore the big questions in life, instead of working full-time and focussing on worldly ambition. I thought to myself" I'm running out of time. This life is short. I need to get serious about committing to one belief/one religion/one philosophy."
Ironically, the connect for me was through Buddhism. A catholic writer named Thomas Merton wrote a book about Buddhism, which shocked Catholic authorities at the time. I realised his interest in Buddhsim was firmly grounded in Christian faith though.
Christianity I realised offers relationship with the divine. I needed this. the idea that I can face the rest of life's journey feeling less alone, appeals. Humans die but God wont die. Death will not part. That has big appeal.
 
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ByTheSpirit

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I mean people who strayed from the faith and came back. People who got saved or were seriously Christian not just in name only but in belief and practice but doubted and had agnostic-athiesm-other theology phases but came back. How did you come back? How do you deal with feeling fake or condemned? How did you re-ignite your faith?

Edit: It seems like there are some people in my town who were Christian and are atheist or agnostic now (possible to come back?) or had a phase of disbelief but came back to faith. I wondered how to get past the fear of being apostate like Hebrews 6:4-6 or fallen away.

I came back to God due to his grace. Otherwise it is just my own works. He invited me and I accepted. Then let go of my condemnation. He said I was forgiven and I just had to believe him. No looking back.
 
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DeerGlow

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I came back to God due to his grace. Otherwise it is just my own works. He invited me and I accepted. Then let go of my condemnation. He said I was forgiven and I just had to believe him. No looking back.
Otherwise it is just your own works?
 
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ByTheSpirit

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Otherwise it is just your own works?

Meaning I can try to force myself to pray and read the scriptures and do things I know the scriptures say, but that is just me working my way into God's grace. It was when I realized he had already forgiven me and was waiting on me to return to him that I did those things out of love for him and that is when my relationship took off again.

Notice the correlation, I am doing the same things, but one is because I feel like I have to. The other is because I want to out of love! One leads to condemnation the other to a deeper, fuller relationship with the Savior
 
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W2L

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I struggled for many years to overcome sin in my life. Not that im perfect but i had some junk that i needed to rid myself of. Im not sure how i finally managed to overcome it. I suppose i must give God credit for it. I feel Gods love inside, and its like a drug, in that it makes me feel good. When i look back i wonder how i ever got here.
 
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ByTheSpirit

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I struggled for many years to overcome sin in my life. Not that im perfect but i had some junk that i needed to rid myself of. Im not sure how i finally managed to overcome it. I suppose i must give God credit for it. I feel Gods love inside, and its like a drug, in that it makes me feel good. When i look back i wonder how i ever got here.

Praise God! :clap::clap:
 
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CodyFaith

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I mean people who strayed from the faith and came back. People who got saved or were seriously Christian not just in name only but in belief and practice but doubted and had agnostic-athiesm-other theology phases but came back. How did you come back? How do you deal with feeling fake or condemned? How did you re-ignite your faith?

Edit: It seems like there are some people in my town who were Christian and are atheist or agnostic now (possible to come back?) or had a phase of disbelief but came back to faith. I wondered how to get past the fear of being apostate like Hebrews 6:4-6 or fallen away.
Hey,

So when I was about 11/12 I was baptized because I was battling an eating disorder and my parents/other family wanted me baptized incase I lost my life. I remember during the baptism I wasn't sure if I believed in Jesus, and "tried" to believe in Jesus. So I could have begun my faith then.
Either way I fell away from Christ during the ages of 12-16/17. I was an agnostic atheist, always searching for truth but as a whole rejecting all religion.
Then when I was 16/17 God revealed Himself to me in a powerful way. I can't go into details, mostly because I wouldn't be believed for my testimony, however I can say that at that point I very much knew God existed. After my experience I tried to figure out who God was exactly, and I quickly turned to Christianity. I researched Christianity a lot after coming to faith, learning certain doctrines and finding some roots. I struggled daily with sin, and then soon after, exactly like yourself in fact, I was constantly dreading that I had committed the unpardonable sin (often due to intrusive thoughts and the like), or because I would watch a video of people worshiping God and thinking they were doing weird and "evil" things and saying such things were evil - so I was pretty convinced for a while I had blasphemed the Spirit and was condemned. I struggled with Hebrews as well.
I went to church, got baptized again (this time in full immersion), grew really close to my church and felt really connected with them all. I felt one with them, like they were my family.
Then I fell away. I started doubting certain doctrine, became pride-filled and rebelled against Christianity entirely. I blasphemed Jesus, rejected the faith and completely walked away for about 5-6 years. I turned to Judaism and was going to convert to Judaism, I was convinced in my mind that was the right path and my heart was hardened on it.
But the more I fought against Christ and the New Testament the more I realized I was fighting a losing battle. All the things I believed were contradictions had answers, all the things I was sure of were later revealed as foolish. I was striving against the Rock of Israel and was losing. My life had gone horribly those 5 years, I saw things and went through horrible things I wish I never had. Every day was a battle.
But I could still sense God with me. I could see the things He did for me, I could recognize His hand in all things.
Slowly but surely I started to come back to Christ... He was calling me back. I started looking towards Christianity again more and more, until I eventually started coming back. God's grace was abundant ands currently is abundant for me. He's made the Holy Spirit known to me many times, brought me to tears in church from His love, delivered me from many sins, delivered me from all sorts of trouble and has given me joy and happiness and peace in my heart. I'm back with Christ. I don't know when I was saved exactly, when I was 11/12, or when was 16/17, or if it was last year when I came back. I don't think it was last year though, only because I saw God's hand in my life so much, and God's shown me so many great things, his power, love and mercy.

If anyone would be condemned, it would be me, but I know that I'm not... similar to how Paul said he was the lowest of the saints because he persecuted the church, I can say I was the worst of apostates (not literally, but poetically).

God's love and mercy is so abundant. The more you grow to know this, the more safe you'll feel in His hands.
 
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Godlovesmetwo

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Otherwise it is just your own works?
I think we can tie ourselves in knots over this issue. Just admit that some effort is required on our part and God can do the rest. Do you really think God approves of laziness?
 
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Far Side Of the Moon

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I feel like I can answer this. After I was mistreated by my aunt...I was so mad at God I wanted nothing to do with Him...but the strange part was...God was on my mind still.. And he stayed on my mind till I just gave in.

And now I feel though I'm not in the best place in in a good place.

Good luck DeerGlow.
 
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DeerGlow

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I feel like I can answer this. After I was mistreated by my aunt...I was so mad at God I wanted nothing to do with Him...but the strange part was...God was on my mind still.. And he stayed on my mind till I just gave in.

And now I feel though I'm not in the best place in in a good place.

Good luck DeerGlow.

Thanks Far Side. I'm struggling with doubts and condemnation now but I'm not the worst I could be.
 
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