Why do I keep backsliding?

Shane Roach · Mar 25, 2002

Give yourself credit for the good things too. Or rather, if you want to be very strict, give God credit but realize that this good things that you do are a sign for you to know you are fighting the good fight. I mean, you;re here, looking for answers and a stronger faith. That MEANS something. It means a lot.

Dave Ulchers · Mar 25, 2002

Originally posted by jrmorganjr
you sound as if sinning is something you can leave for long stretches. I sin daily. Doesn't everyone?

There may be some souls who do not sin. It isn't impossible to obey Jesus's teachings, and in truth the Lord's yoke is an easy yoke.

You can leave it behind, do you mean never to return?

With God all things are possible.

And I'm not sure what you mean by the "mortally" (vs. venial?) comment - is that a Catholic distinction you're making?

We know from St. John that there are sins which do not lead to a spiritual death, though all wrong-doing is sin.

Originally posted by Redeemed1
I have made complete and true repentance many times over sins I have committed.

Whoever knows what he must do and does not do it sins. To truly repent is to stop sinning, and to enter into the discipleship of christ. One must only accept God's grace to be able to do so.

But I stress...it is because of Him in me...not me in me.

Yes, yes. I know this distinction -- sometimes I don't always make it clear!

Paul himself said that the very things he did not want to do, he did, and the things he wanted to do are the things he did not do...indicating that Paul himself struggled with his flesh.

My Bible says: "[7-25] In this passage Paul uses the first person singular in the style of diatribe for the sake of argument. He aims to depict the disastrous consequences when a Christian reintroduces the law as a means to attain the objective of holiness pronounced in Romans 6:22."

If you continue reading into Romans 8, you'll see this must be the case. "For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God."

We know from 1st John 3: "No one who is begotten by God commits sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot sin because he is begotten by God. In this way, the children of God and the children of the devil are made plain...."

So I don't mean to disagree with you, but I must side with the teaching of my Bishops and the Bible in understanding Paul's diatribe in Romans 7.

Anyway -- this isn't a forum for debate. May you be blessed seven times over for opening a thread in the appropriate forum!

soulsisterclaire · Mar 25, 2002

Originally posted by Shane Roach
Give yourself credit for the good things too. Or rather, if you want to be very strict, give God credit but realize that this good things that you do are a sign for you to know you are fighting the good fight. I mean, you;re here, looking for answers and a stronger faith. That MEANS something. It means a lot.

Thanks Shane!

amie · Mar 25, 2002

I am praying for you soulsisterclaire!!
with love and blessings
Amie

jrmorganjr · Mar 25, 2002

Hi Dave,

By your definitions, noone is ever saved. I think discussion of this subject here is appropriate. Your interpretation leads one to wonder whether backsliding is evidence that you aren't saved since "No one who is begotten by God commits sin", as you are obviously interpreting this to mean a person rather than Christ, or not interpreting it to mean "in each action you take". If we contrast your interpretation of this statement with "All have sinned...", than noone is begotten by God save Christ.

You seemed to have side stepped all my questions. Are you saying that truly saved people never sin again? This position is untenable, and doesn't help the backsliding Christian who is looking for the way back to the Father.

Confused by what your position truly is, and how it applies to backsliding,

Snor Snor · Mar 25, 2002

I agree wholly that if you desire Christ and His Father and the Holy Spirit, and to get back with Him, that is definitely a great thing. That shows that God is working through you!

We all sin, all of us, sadly All of us mess up, and it's like, nearly impossible to get perfect like Christ, if at all there is a way to do it. Christians sin, it's natural to do so, but that doesn't mean it's right, but because our Father knows this, He forgives our sins. King David, who was the apple of God's eye, the man after God's own heart, committed adultery and murder. No matter how "good" we are, and no matter what awesome title, in this life, our Father puts on our heads, we're going to sin, but God is right there to forgive us if we turn to Him and try not to do it again.
God is ever-forgiving, and I'm always amazed at His forgiveness that He has to offer when I sin or fall into temptation.

Jeremiah 15:19 - Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.

All we need to do is to turn to Him, ask for forgiveness, repent of our sins, and continue in Him for the rest of our lives. We'll still sin, of course, in our lives, because we're not perfect at all. To compare us with Christ Jesus, there's no contest; Jesus wins by a HUUUUUUUUUUUGE infinite longshot. Even Peter, the apostle, who was "the ringleader" of the apostles, was sinning with that circumcision and uncircumcision stuff with the Jews in the book of Acts, and Paul had to confront Peter face to face to have Peter out of it.
I'm praying for you!

God bless ya!

soulsisterclaire · Mar 26, 2002

Thank you snor snor!

Thank you all for your contributions to this thread, it has been very helpful.

I tend to think that I do have to be perfect for God, then when I sin I get so discouraged and ashamed that I throw in the towel. I think this is part of my problem. I need to not turn away from God when I mess up, I need to seek Him out and ask forgiveness and repent, immediately !

You all helped me to see this!

Praise God!

Dave Ulchers · Mar 26, 2002

Originally posted by jrmorganjr
I think discussion of this subject here is appropriate.

I don't. There is no need for me to interpret anything -- the scriptures speak for themselves. All have sinned, yes, but that hardly means it is impossible to become adopted as children of God, as Romans explains.

Are you saying that truly saved people never sin again? This position is untenable

Untenable in what way? A person may be saved if they do not persist in mortal sin until the end. One death, and then the judgement. The judgement doesn't occur prior to death, which seems to be your implication.

It applies to backsliding, because if a person makes a true repentance and find rest in Christ not sinning will be easier for them. Someone who never makes a true repentance really hasn't reached a point where you can backslide from, because all sin is interwoven. A covetous person might struggle with chastity, or a fornicator might struggle with charity, and each might complain they've backslidden, but from what? If you don't clean the inside of the cup, you'll never get the outside or inside clean.

But I ask again, that if you or anyone wishes to discuss this, please open a thread in the appriopriate forum.

jrmorganjr · Mar 26, 2002

There is no need for me to interpret anything -- the scriptures speak for themselves.

Good, then you'll just listen to what I tell you the scriptures mean, right? Of course we're children of God, the moment we accept Christ as Lord & Savior, backslidden or not. No where does it say we have to be perfect to keep it, as you are implying someone implied. If we did, it would be our works rather than grace alone.

Untenable in what way?

It's untenable to say at any point that anyone won't sin in the future, even after they're saved. There's no example in scripture of this save Christ, and numerious counter examples. soulsisterclaire needed to know that, that she can't expect perfection from herself.

This thread is about backsliding, so I'm not sure why you want to keep moving it? Backsliding isn't all or nothing after true repentance, backsliding is falling back into sin where once you were victorious over it. Any individual one at any point in your journey.

The judgement doesn't occur prior to death, which seems to be your implication.

No, wasn't implying that at all. You backslide while you're alive.

Snor Snor · Mar 27, 2002

Praise God That's great, soulsisterclaire!
I know whenever I'm going through a hard time and then sin, I get extremely discouraged and let down sooooo much. But since God has forgiveness to offer, He doesn't want us to do that!
I'll still be praying for you.

God bless you!

Messenger · Mar 27, 2002

I think what causes some to backslide is inattentiveness. We start off with doing a little something that may not be right and convience ourselves that it really isn't "that wrong". Before you know it Satan has control. Satan only has what control we give him though. As soon as I start to have a thought that may not be right I take it to God in prayer. I am understanding more and more what the Bible is speaking of when it talks about thinking evil is the same as doing evil. It is a short walk between our thoughts and our actions. So usually what I try to do is cut it off right at the thought and then the actions never occur. Let go of the negative and grab hold of the positive. God loves us and is more satisfying than anything that Satan can tempt us with. Love and God Bless you.

soulsisterclaire · Mar 27, 2002

Thank you everyone for the words and encouragment!

This has helped me soooo much!

God gets all the glory!

jrmorganjr · Mar 27, 2002

Peace and Joy to you, sister. Walk in grace.

BigEd · Mar 29, 2002

This is a great post!

I would like to quote this passage from Brendan Manning's book "ruthless trust" it actually a quote form a franciscan monk.

"If you feel the call of the spirit, then be holy with all your soul, with all your heart , and with all your stregnth. If however , because of human weakness, you cannot be holy, then be perfect with all your soul, with all your heart ,with all your strength.
But if you cannot be perfect because of the vanity of your life, then be good with all your soul...yet, if you cannot be good because of the trickery of the Evil One , then be wise with all your soul...
If in the end , you can neither be holy, nor perfect, nor good, nor wise because of the wieght of your sins, then carry this wieght before God and surrender your life to His divine mercy.
If you can do this , without bitterness, with all hunility and with a joyous spirit due to a tenderness of a God who loves the sinful and ungreatful, the you will begin to feel what it is to be wise , you will learn what it is tyo be good, you will slowly aspire to be perfect and finally you will long to be holy."

I struggle carrying my sin before me, But thankfully we have a God of mercy and loving kindness.

when I'm struggling with sin I pray psalm 51.

I would like to suggest also Brendan Manning's book "the ragamuffin Gospel" it helping me so much to understand God's wonderful and healing Grace.

May God bless you SSClaire!

soulsisterclaire · Apr 1, 2002

Thank you BigEd!

ZiSunka · Apr 1, 2002

You know, I was thinking about this over the weekend.

Sometimes you just have to work to keep from committing sin. You have to decide that you are done with that sin and do everything in your power to avoid the temptation, distract yourself if you do feel tempted, divert your thoughts and energies into healthier things, and resist, resist, resist.

It is largely your choice to sin. You can choose not to sin as well.

soulsisterclaire · Apr 1, 2002

Originally posted by lambslove
You know, I was thinking about this over the weekend.

Sometimes you just have to work to keep from committing sin. You have to decide that you are done with that sin and do everything in your power to avoid the temptation, distract yourself if you do feel tempted, divert your thoughts and energies into healthier things, and resist, resist, resist.

It is largely your choice to sin. You can choose not to sin as well.

I agree lambslove...my real problem now is keeping my eyes on God, so to speak...The world is so tempting...so shiney...so distracting...so full of...of...things!

Please pray for me ya'll ...Thanks

ZiSunka · Apr 1, 2002

I hear ya, claire!

It's so hard to be like Jesus and resist temptations!

Praying for you; will you pray the same thing for me?

soulsisterclaire · Apr 1, 2002

Originally posted by lambslove
I hear ya, claire!

It's so hard to be like Jesus and resist temptations!

Praying for you; will you pray the same thing for me?

Most definitely...I will pray for you!

Why do I keep backsliding?

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