Is there any going back once you've turned away from God?

[Machin Shin]

yes, I believe that if you are saved, "it is a gift of God, that no man may boast". therefore, if there is nothing you can do to earn it, there is nothing you can do to have it taken away. anything that is free, "but if you do this, you loose it" is not free.

 

[christiangal522]

It makes me sick to my stomach that a pastor/priest/whatever would say that to you. What a fool...and a pharisee! Stray as you may, Jesus will always welcome you back...(look at the prodigal son...an amazing, encouraging story). You are loved...even when you stray!

 

[jehovahway]

Fragile one ,you are loved by the Lord King Jesus
Christ.
the first thing you need to know ,satan and satans
angels wont you in hell with them because they are
going to burn forever in a lake of fire.
The Lord King Jesus Christ wonts you as his thats
why he hung on a cross.to make a way for all who
wont to live with him.and serve him.There is a battle
going on for the soles of men and women.
i will make a request to Jehovah and his son King
Jesus Christ to send his ministering spirits to you.
Father in the name of your BELOVED SON KING
JESUS CHRIST send ministering spirits to Fragile
one to insure her that she is loved by you and i call
it done in Jesus Holy name.
May the lord Jesus encourage you and lift you up
for it is his desire for you to know him.in a much
deeper way
you go throught no Religion are church to get to
Jesus he is as close as your voice talk to him.tell
him how you fill
he is the only one that will place you in his Kingdom
no one else.desides that.
if you wont to return to him,do you know what happends when one person comes to Jesus,all heaven
rejoices,for you because satan will lose another one
that he thought he had.
May God Bless you and keep you as you move on
with your life.and i will see you in heaven.

 

[newlite]

Well, I do feel better that the option is at least open for me. I'm in no hurry to reconvert right now. I don't want to be like most of the Christians I have met. I'm a lover, not a hater. I don't want to be a racist. I don't want to hate people who disagree with me. I don't want to hate people because they aren't Christians. That's just not me. I know not all Christians are like that, but that was the type of church I grew up in, and that was the type of Christian group they had at university, and I don't want to be like that at all. So...I'll wait and test the waters a bit before I make any major decisions.

first of all...["Well, I do feel better that the option is at least open for me. I'm in no hurry to reconvert right now."]

James 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Matthew 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

you dont know when your going to die. you do not know when the rapture will happen. you do not know where you will be tomorrow or the next day or a year from now. you dont know what will happen. be on alert. dont come late. you may be in no hurry but that is because you just dont know about the future. after you read you could die.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Gods knocking now. why dont you answer him before its to late?

secondly,["I don't want to be like most of the Christians I have met. I'm a lover, not a hater. I don't want to be a racist. I don't want to hate people who disagree with me. I don't want to hate people because they aren't Christians. That's just not me..."]

1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

want me to go on? should i mention that the second greatest commandment is love your neighbor as yourself (matthew 22:36-39)? a man of god is a man of love. if one doesnt love his enimies or his brother gods not in him (1 john:20) a chirstain loves, a false christain doesnt.

i really suggest to you to find a new church...one that actually follows the bible...

 

[lucaspa]

We might be straying a bit from the opening post, so I would like to go back to it.

And, for a shocker... - I am going to, in a sense, disagree with everyone (or at least most!) here - or at least, in part; let me explain:

My question to the original poster is, Are you sincere enough, and do you love God enough to answer this fellow as I think you should? To say, I believe my Father will not turn me away, and I will knock until the door is opened or I die before it!

What we have a problem with is the pastor saying "He said that since I had turned my back on God, God turned his back on me"
1. The pastor presumes to speak for God. Absolutely.
2. The pastor's views go against what Jesus and God say plainly in other areas of the Bible. We think the pastor took the verses out of context and made the Bible say something it really doesn't.

Therefore, I disagree with your answer. Your answer presumes the pastor is correct. I say he wasn't.

Do not think lightly on what you have done; nor, if you should find God merciful to you again, immagine that you will always be given a chance to return, when you depart from Him.

Yes, you will always be given a chance to return. No matter how many times you stray. With this caveat: you are sincere in coming back.

Now, if you stray and come back just so that you will avoid going to hell, then God is going to know that you are not sincere but acting only out of selfishness and fear, not conviction. But then, you aren't really coming back, are you?

The idea of infinite forgiveness is foreign to us humans. If your friend stabs you in the back more than once, there comes a time when he can no longer, ever, be your friend again. Humans do have a point where we don't give chances anymore. For me, Bush no longer has a chance to convince me he is appropriate to be President. But God isn't people. He doesn't stop giving chances.

 

[lucaspa]

So I can't especially say that I would never look at the actions of those in a religion to help me decide if I really want to be part of that religion or not. I mean, if I really am going to be spending an eternity with a group of people, I'd like for them to at least be nice to me sometimes

If they are not nice to you, it's a question whether you would be spending eternity with them. "If you do it not to the least of these my brothers, you do it not to me." Being nasty to you is equivalent to being nasty to Jesus, according to Jesus.

Any large movement is going to have a certain number of intolerant, mean people in it. Fortunately, Christianity is not dependent on them, altho they can hurt Christianity a lot. Remember, you are not having a dialogue or relationship with the people, but with the Risen Jesus.

And whether you are Christian or not, they will still be just as nasty to you. But, if you let them drive you away, then you won't have your dialogue and relationship with Jesus. Do you really want them to deprive you of something good?

 

[LiberatedChick]

Yes you can come back...I've done it
I have a similar story to you in that I drifted into paganism, though the main reason for my drift away from the Lord was because I was young and couldn't get my head round the KJV translation of the Bible. I read and read and none sank in so I gave up...I didn't know there were other translations at the time and my family never took me to church so I couldn't strengthen my faith that way.

But I drifted into paganism and there were points when I was really against Christianity. I thought Christians were mindless sheep which had no thoughts of there own and followed without thinking. That's what I thought but I was wrong and now I'm back living my life in the light of the Lord. I realised that my walk into paganism was slowing until I ground to a halt. I wasn't going anywhere because I needed structure and rules from God in my life. There's a story in the Alpha Course book that I'm reading in which the author was asked to referee a kids football (soccer) game. He didn't really know the rules of the game all that well and so it was a mess and people got hurt. None of the children were enjoying themselves. When someone who did know the rules stepped in the game was played well with no more injuries amongst the players because they were given the rules by which they had to play by and boundaries that they were to play within. They now greatly enjoyed playing the game. Life is like that football game, without the rules it's a mess and people get hurt. With the rules and boundaries stated you know how to go about life...you know what's good and what's not, what's wrong and whats right and if you follow what you know then the chances that you'll get hurt or someone else will are minimised and you can enjoy life.

I'm rambling now aren't I. What I'm trying to say is that people need the rules and boundaries in there lives...the Word of God. And many people start off bumbling through life without them or stray away from them. But they can come back, they can bring back the Word of God into there lives again.

 

[Emmy]

Dear fragile one,you had many true answers.God knows your heart and He will love and accept you like the father in Jesus`s parable of the lost Son.Until we meet again,your sister in Christ Emmy.

 

[Asar'el]

It makes me sick to my stomach that a pastor/priest/whatever would say that to you. What a fool...and a pharisee! Stray as you may, Jesus will always welcome you back...(look at the prodigal son...an amazing, encouraging story). You are loved...even when you stray!

What we have a problem with is the pastor saying "He said that since I had turned my back on God, God turned his back on me"
1. The pastor presumes to speak for God. Absolutely.
2. The pastor's views go against what Jesus and God say plainly in other areas of the Bible. We think the pastor took the verses out of context and made the Bible say something it really doesn't.

Therefore, I disagree with your answer. Your answer presumes the pastor is correct. I say he wasn't.

While I sympathize with your answers, I do not agree with them.

Be careful what you say of God's ministers - christiangal522 calling one a fool, etc. - for you do not know the man's standing with the Lord!

I will maintain what I said: be not too rash to decide it was folly of a man of God to declare what he has - how do we know what God might put in the mouth of His prophet?

Verily, if fragile one continues as he has indicated,

Well, I do feel better that the option is at least open for me. I'm in no hurry to reconvert right now. I don't want to be like most of the Christians I have met. I'm a lover, not a hater. I don't want to be a racist. I don't want to hate people who disagree with me. I don't want to hate people because they aren't Christians. That's just not me. I know not all Christians are like that, but that was the type of church I grew up in, and that was the type of Christian group they had at university, and I don't want to be like that at all. So...I'll wait and test the waters a bit before I make any major decisions.

then the assistant pastor will have uttered a true prophecy. As I said earlier, I believe he [fragile one] still has a chance to return, and perhaps, just perhaps, the assistant pastor was so moved of God to test the young man's sincerity. But I think he's also in grave peril, for his life, like any of ours, may be required at any moment - and he is yet outside the fold, and luke-warm, and not, rather, leaping, striving, seeking to return!

Yes, you will always be given a chance to return. No matter how many times you stray. With this caveat: you are sincere in coming back.

Now, if you stray and come back just so that you will avoid going to hell, then God is going to know that you are not sincere but acting only out of selfishness and fear, not conviction. But then, you aren't really coming back, are you?

The idea of infinite forgiveness is foreign to us humans. If your friend stabs you in the back more than once, there comes a time when he can no longer, ever, be your friend again. Humans do have a point where we don't give chances anymore. For me, Bush no longer has a chance to convince me he is appropriate to be President. But God isn't people. He doesn't stop giving chances.

One chance is more than we deserve - and some get none. To squander, and refuse what we are offered, and think there is always time, is folly. I respectfully submit that noone is ever guaranteed a chance to return.

 

[Faith In God]

yes, I believe that if you are saved, "it is a gift of God, that no man may boast". therefore, if there is nothing you can do to earn it, there is nothing you can do to have it taken away. anything that is free, "but if you do this, you loose it" is not free.

be careful about this. If this were held as true, then my sister would have been declared a Christian while she was smoking, drinking, poor, and many other evil things. To say that once a person is 'saved' at a point in their life is to take a great leap of faith to say that it was a genuine true conversion. It is not good to tell someone that they will go to heaven when they will not.

As for coming back to God, Simon-Peter turned from God, and came back later. The Israelites were rejected and then received time and time again. But those that use the blood of Christ as an excuse for an occasion of the flesh, they will be judged.

 

[brinley45cal]

First of all, the church that was preaching these things is doing evil. They are not only putting a stumbling block up for others but making non Biblical doctrines necessary for salvation. This is NOT Christianity.

Anyways, think of Peter. He renounced Jesus 3 times and still came back to God. I don't think there is anything stopping you from doing it.

I agree,jesus is just waiting for you to make the decision to come back to him.Hes not mad at you ,he loves you.He wants you to come back to him,he wont turn you away.And what what that so called preacher told you is not true at all.Justlike the post says above peter denied jesus not once but three times,and he came back to christ and ended up being a great man of god.All you have to do is ask him for forgiveness and start following him again.and there you go,your back in the family,good as new.Just be sure you find a GOOD church to go to,one that preaches whats in the bible,not just the first one you go to.God Bless.

 

[Machin Shin]

be careful about this. If this were held as true, then my sister would have been declared a Christian while she was smoking, drinking, poor, and many other evil things. To say that once a person is 'saved' at a point in their life is to take a great leap of faith to say that it was a genuine true conversion. It is not good to tell someone that they will go to heaven when they will not.

I believe that if you are truely saved that you will know it beyond a shadow of a doubt. as my pastor always says, if you're only 99.9% saved, then you're 100% lost. I never said he WAS saved, I said "if". it's up to him to know if he's saved or not, as noone but himself and God can truely know the answer.

 

[fragile one]

then the assistant pastor will have uttered a true prophecy. As I said earlier, I believe he [fragile one] still has a chance to return, and perhaps, just perhaps, the assistant pastor was so moved of God to test the young man's sincerity. But I think he's also in grave peril, for his life, like any of ours, may be required at any moment - and he is yet outside the fold, and luke-warm, and not, rather, leaping, striving, seeking to return!

Actually, I'm female.

 

[Asar'el]

Actually, I'm female.

My appology If my confusion prevents you from understanding the point of my message, I can post it again with the correct gender

But I think you know what I am saying.

 

[Paladin for Christ]

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is to know that the works of the Spirit are the works of God but to profess they are the works of satan.

I sometimes say stuff in my mind that i don't want to say. I know, it's wierd, but it happens to me. If i said that Jesus's works are from the Devil (which i do not believe AT ALL), am i eternally damned? Just for saying it without even thinking it?

 

[Chocolate Bunny]

I haven't thoroughly read all of this thread, but I thought this link was interesting and relevant to the OP. It's a pretty small font for me to read, so you might want to copy and paste it into something and make the font larger.


http://www.equip.org/free/DU250.htm

 

[Koraley]

You must always remember God is a forgiving God. God is a patient God. God loves you and always will even when you turn and stray He will wait for you to come back. He never gives up on His children. He loves you just as much now as when He created you. You are a child of God and He will embrace you with all the love you could ever imagine. Embrace it df!

 

[PRMan]

21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"
22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[1]

[1]18:22 Or seventy times seven

If you haven't fallen away 490 times, you should be fine. That's Jesus' love for us!

I believe that you absolutely can fall away because you have a free will, but Jesus will never stop trying to get you back.

12"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? 13And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. 14In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

The sheep, in it's free will, wandered off and was lost. But Jesus didn't rest until he brought it back.

In your situation, you did the same. But if you turn back to him, he will be right there. He loved you enough to keep searching for you all these years!

Welcome back!

Also, realize that your feelings are correct. You have the heart of God that racism is wrong, that the things your previous church told you are wrong, etc. Also, you are correct that you need to find a church that shows the fruit of their salvation, where their actions show their belief in Christ, not just their words. I pray that God will send you to a church where the people truly know him and live as he intended Christians to.

 

[lucaspa]

Be careful what you say of God's ministers - christiangal522 calling one a fool, etc. - for you do not know the man's standing with the Lord!

I will maintain what I said: be not too rash to decide it was folly of a man of God to declare what he has - how do we know what God might put in the mouth of His prophet?

We can make tests against what else we know of God and see if the pastor's view is consistent with what else we know. And the test shows the pastor is not consistent with that. God is supposed to be consistent.Therefore, a conclusion that the pastor is in error is justified.

Verily, if fragile one continues as he has indicated,
Well, I do feel better that the option is at least open for me. I'm in no hurry to reconvert right now. I don't want to be like most of the Christians I have met. I'm a lover, not a hater. I don't want to be a racist. I don't want to hate people who disagree with me. I don't want to hate people because they aren't Christians. That's just not me.

Then fragile one belongs to God whether she ever makes a positive declaration or not. Following God is not always making a clear declaration of such. Paul warned of people who cried "Lord, Lord" but did not the work. Fragile one is doing the work without the declaration.

One chance is more than we deserve - and some get none. To squander, and refuse what we are offered, and think there is always time, is folly. I respectfully submit that noone is ever guaranteed a chance to return.

Read the post by PRMan. Jesus disagrees.

 

[lucaspa]

be careful about this. If this were held as true, then my sister would have been declared a Christian while she was smoking, drinking, poor, and many other evil things.

None of the things you listed are "evil" according to Christianity! What was Jesus' first miracle? Turning water into wine so people could keep drinking! And since when did being "poor" become evil? Aren't the poor "blessed" according to the Sermon on the Mount? Don't rich people have more trouble getting into the Kingdom than the poor?

You may not like smoking and drinking, but that is your personal opinion. It doesn't make you "evil" in the eyes of God.

To say that once a person is 'saved' at a point in their life is to take a great leap of faith to say that it was a genuine true conversion.

and why is it not an equally great leap of faith to say it wasn't? However, even if it was a true conversion at the time, the person can still change their mind and life.

As for coming back to God, Simon-Peter turned from God, and came back later. The Israelites were rejected and then received time and time again. But those that use the blood of Christ as an excuse for an occasion of the flesh, they will be judged.

Now you hit a point I can agree with! Yes, if someone declares they are "saved", and then uses that as a Get Out of Jail Free card or a license to do whatever they want, no matter if it goes against the core values of Christianity, then that should be trouble.