Can a “true christian” backslide?
Or, is it possible for a christian to backslide? Is there such a thing as backslidden christian?
Discussion
51 comments
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First, you need to define your use of “backslide.”
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Calvinist say no, Methodist say yes, I fall in the middle and say idk but I ain’t gonna take the chance
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Read Jonah. Of course anybody that uses that as an excuse to sin isn’t saved.
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Luke 15:18 “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you”. Was he no longer a son because he left the father’s house? Was the father not waiting for his return back home? Why would the father see him a ‘long way off’ if he wasn’t expecting the prodigal son to come home?
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yes it is possible… if not why would Paul write to the churches and things they have fallen away from.. also don’t forget the book of Revelation. or all the examples that we have like Peter..
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Yes we are human as Christian we still deal with temptation and sometimes we fall but we know that when we confess our sin to Christ He is faithful to forgive us but that doesn’t mean we can continue to sin we must pray and seek God if its something we struggle with so that He can deliver us, we deal with the same temptations that the unbelievers deal with it’s just we have a helper the Holy Spirit to help us overcome.
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Why do some of y’all on this page act like predators? Like you read the responses then pounce on something you disagree with. We need to be living lives that able us to get on here and be loving. It’s not a pissing contest. If you aren’t truly a teacher and want that responsibility and coincidence than sit down. I’m saying this with love. We all fall short I certainly do. But he draws close to those how draw close to Him. Read your Bible, pray all day, FAST, and you will be drawn close enough not to be a that predator. Be nice it feels good. (I’m not talking about this post only)
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Ask the disciples?
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There’s a difference between backsliding and living in sin. A backslider will be chastened by God, and he will be miserable living away from God. On the other hand, a man who is a professor who continues in sin without any conviction or chastening isn’t saved. That’s not popular to say nowadays, but it’s truth; and truth is usually offensive to those who want to live outside of it.
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Anyone can back slide if they don’t guard their beliefs with discernment.
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Yes, they can. Take a look at Solomon. God honored him for his request of Godly wisdom to lead. But Solomon did many displeasing things taking on all those wives and concubines and building places for his non believing wives to worship. At the end of his life he called it all vanity and had to repent b/c he realized all the time he wasted in his sin and backslidden time.
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If it is not a genuine or a true believer that backslide, well then who blackslided? Nonbelievers, unbelievers, pretentious selfish namesake christians know from the start they never believed but for their personal gain.
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I think it is 2 Peter 1:9 where they have forgotten that they were bought with a price aka the blood of Christ.
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The word “Backslide” was literal, and used for a reason. It is associated with harlotry (Jer.3:8).
https://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-8.htm
When a harlot is committing adultery, her back is sliding during the act.
Can a faithful, true Christian, backslide?
Isa.1:21 reads;
“21 See how the faithful city
has become a prostitute!
She once was full of justice;
righteousness used to dwell in her—
but now murderers!” -
Hebrews 6:4-6
[4]For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
[5]And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
[6]If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. -
Oh gosh…
All you have to do is look at a church. People will always be backsliding -
I figure a true believer can only lose their salvation by apostasy – by turning from the faith and not believing anymore…
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David was chosen before he slept with bathsheba
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That is happening more and more.
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Yes and anyone who teaches otherwise have been deceived and are teaching a legalistic works based false gospel
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All sin will be forgiven a man. All and any but the unpardonable sin which is denying Jesus as the son of God and his way to salvation
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Ask Peter XD
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Westminster Confession of Faith
Chapter 18
Of the Assurance of Grace and Salvatiin4. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God’s withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light: yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived; and by the which, in the meantime, they are supported from utter despair.
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For my sake, I hope so!
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Is very possible for a Christian to backslide, that is why Paul warm the Hebrew brethren saying ” he that looked back, my soul will not have pleasure in him….”
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The problem is there are some who associate backsliding with Apostasy. So if Appatates can’t be saved neither can backsliders.
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Everyone sins !
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“the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.”
1 John 2:6 NASB -
We all sin, but continued and habitual sins, if not kept in-check, will harden one’s heart (Ephesian 4:17-19) to the point that they could completely turn away from God; this is especially serious when God’s loving discipline (Hebrews 12:6) does not bring the person back to repentance.
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV -
My personal opinion, there is no such thing as a Christian that has not backslidden. We all have or will. The question is more, can we loose our salvation. If we are grounded in Christ, though we will sin, we will always turn in repentance back to Christ. We will never again glorify in our sin.
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If you’ve never backslidden and claim you are a Christian then you are probably not even a Christian at all.
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You can backslide. You can’t lose your salvation.
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I believe so. I suspect the danger is worse for those raised in Christian homes. Those of us who came to faith later in life know wherefrom we have been saved, and are less likely to fall away. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 12) is traditionally regarded as a call to backslidden Christians to repent and return to grace.
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The church is a hospital, all full of sick broken hurt souls gee who do you think is the healer?
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Yes, I was one for a few years and it was horrendous. When you backslide you go to the edge of madness. I always felt that because of my bad choices, the Lord handed me over to the devil for the salvation of my soul. Then when you are broken you know the only place you will ever have peace is with the Father. That doesn’t mean its an easy journey back, it isn’t, but you finally know unless you push forward and keep fighting a battle that you were never meant to fight, you will just go crazy. You have to fight some of the darkest thoughts/feelings and keep reminding yourself that God is good and that you are forgiven. It took me so many years but then it happened. The Lord gave me the victory and I sensed his presence again. One thing I can say is, I will NEVER allow that to happen again as it was the HARDEST fight I have ever had to fight in my life. The opposition was fierce, but if you persist then it is possible. One thing I forgot to mention is, if a person is backslidden and not to bothered with their sin, then they are not born again believers, their conversion may not be real. As I can tell you, I came close to madness. I loved the Lord so much, everyday I cried. I fell in love with someone who the Lord hadn’t given me and everyday with him I was tormented. In the end I had to give him up. we loved each other but I knew I could never have the peace I had when I was in obedience. I let him go and it was so hard but now when I look back, none of it was worth it. I lost so many good years with my Lord and I would say to anyone who ever thinks another person is worth going outside of God for, don’t do it. Become friends and if down the line the Lord gives you that person, then great but don’t do what I did. You will suffer, mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
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Struggling is the term. There’s no such thing that a TRUE Christian is retreating from God. If God really began a good work in you, He will complete it in the day of the Lord Jesus (Phil.1:6). Also, there is no such thing as a true Christian who were living continually in sin.
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Christians can be pulled into the world. But a true child of God will be chastised by the Father.
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You can backside (not can as in permission too) to an extent and still be a Christian. Sanctification is a life long process. Now, someone who backslides to the point of unbelief was probably never saved or truly believed in the first place.
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Peter and Judas had relationship with Christ, but take Peter’s three denials, and later became someone great, and then, Judas Escariot’s betrayal and later suicide.
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Dunno… but he can run like Jonah when it dawns on him the work his Lord has prepared in advance that he is to walk in. Then the Lord gives him enough rope to remember for a little minute what he was saved from in the beginning. Ya… wouldn’t advise running away. I grieved the Spirit when I did. I was grieved as well. Then I came back to my senses and accepted my lot. What I learned by running? …the long suffering of my God. Will never grieve Him again and lose peace myself in the process.
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Abraham backslid, Peter did too, so off the top of my head yes.
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Yes a true believer can backside. GOD said HE is married to the backsloder
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Yes, those who turn from God are everywhere in the bible. Example, prodigal son, Simon Peter the very night he denied Christ 3 times AFTER he claimed to go to his death before denying Christ. This was ALSO after Peter was the only 1 bold enough to profess in faith “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God” AFTER Jesus asked “Who do you say that I am?”
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I believe it’s easy for a person to sit back and judge them who have fallen away and quickly point out that they were never saved to begin with and that their faith was never genuine without ever truly knowing the outcome or how the Lord is working In that persons life.
True Christians do backslide and Christ’s undeserving mercy and grace brings them right back. -
Fallen away means that they don’t believe the Gospel – they fall away from trusting the Christ’s death is effective to bring salvation. Ax murder and lying and other such cruelties are not falling away. The Christian (that is, the one trusting Christ) will not reject Him even when they swim in pride, lust and anything else that is not of God. Paul mentioned how his body sins and his mind serves Christ. That verse from where the term “falls away” comes from is talking about people who hear the truth about Christ’s death and even see the benefits of the power of The Holy Spirit and then turn away; those people wouldn’t *care* that you said they fell away from Christ – they’d probably agree, because they *really* had. See the difference, and be encouraged if you are a troubled Christian. Do not be afraid to look at Christ and get close to Him! God is Life!
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Yes, they can. They can choose to walk away from God. You hear people all the time that do that and then realize the depth of their sin and come back to Christ.
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