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Seriously, would a good human parent ever reject his or her own child who'd gone completely off the rails (so to speak) but then turned around, truly and desperately yearning to come back into the family? Then "how much more shall your heavenly Father..."
But according to scripture it says I put him to shame by re crucifing him and that there is no repentance for meHi Mackenzie,
I don't think Jesus told the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin and especially the Prodigal Son for nothing.
I loved Jesus as a child and wanted to follow him, but then completely lost my faith, rejected Christianity and considered myself an agnostic all through my teens — but when I came back, it gradually became clear that God had never lost sight of me even all those years when I thought I'd lost sight of Him. This is the Shepherd who will not rest until every lost sheep is brought back to the fold, until every wayward son or daughter is welcomed home.
And there are people who've done far worse things than you or I and have still been turned around and brought back to Christ. There was a story I read a while ago from the early history of the Church that has really stayed with me, and that I've just found again. I just feel it's worth sharing:
According to the Christian historian Eusebius, the Apostle John, visiting a church near Ephesus, met a lad there whom he felt showed great promise, so he asked one of the church elders to look after him specially. But as the boy grew older, the care over him was relaxed and he turned away from the church. As Eusebius records, this young man...
... was led sadly astray by others of his own age who were idle, dissolute, and evil-livers. First they led him on by expensive entertainments; then they took him with them when they went out at night to commit robbery; then they urged him to take part in even greater crimes. Little by little he fell into their ways; and like a hard-mouthed powerful horse he dashed off the straight road, and taking the bit between his teeth rushed down the precipice the more violently because of his immense vitality. Completely renouncing God's salvation, he was no longer content with petty offenses, but, as his life was already in ruins, he decided to commit a major crime and suffer the same fate as the others. He took these same young renegades and formed them into a gang of bandits of which his was the master mind, surpassing them all in violence, cruelty, and bloodthirstiness.
Meanwhile, John returned to that church and asked after his young friend; on hearing what had happened to him, he went in search of him at once:
When he arrived at the place, and was seized by the bandits' sentry-group, he made no attempt to escape and asked no mercy, but shouted: 'This is what I have come for: take me to your leader.' ... as John approached, he [the young man] recognized him, and filled with shame, turned to flee. But John ran after him as hard as he could, forgetting his years and calling out: 'Why do you run away from me, child...? You still have hopes of life. I will account to Christ for you. If need be, I will gladly suffer your death, as the Lord suffered death for us; to save you I will give my own life. Stop! believe! Christ sent me.'
"When he heard this, the young man stopped and stood with his eyes on the ground; then he threw down his weapons; then he trembled and began to weep bitterly.... Then he [John] brought him back to the church, interceded for him with many prayers, shared with him the ordeal of continuous fasting... and did not leave him, we are told, till he had restored him to the Church, giving a perfect example of true repentance and a perfect proof of regeneration, the trophy of a visible resurrection.
(quoted from The History of the Church from Christ to Constantine, Dorset Press, England, 1984, pp. 129-131)
Now if that young man who had not only "completely renounc[ed] God's salvation", but turned to a life of ruthless and violent crime, could be won over and brought back and accepted again in Christ... well, I can't help thinking there's hope for us all yet.
a jillion very smart theologians and Bible scholars would say that it's not too late, but let's leave that verse to them for the moment. My question would be this:
It started when my stepdad didn't want to go to the church we were going to for a few years (never really got a clear answer as to why.) that was also around the same time I started working. Usually weekends so I couldn't attend church most of the time. Over time I kinda stopped praying and reading and a few years passed where I made that decision to identify myself as an atheist. During that time I had moments where I felt it was wrong as to what I was doing but I kept pushing it aside until a few weeks ago.
