Backslidden?

[righteousdude2]

Several question on this issue. Many churches use this term to convict those in the pews and fill the altars. With this said .....

1) What does "bcakslidden" mean to you?

2) Can a born-again believer become backslidden?

3) What would cause a believer to become backslidden?

4) If a backslidder were die, or the Lord returned, while they were backslidden, would they inherit the Kingdom? :tear:

5) Is it possible for the entire congregation to become backslidden? :tonofbricks:

Please provide scripture to support your thoughts! Thanks! :wavey:

 

[beameup]

"Backslide" is a term appropriate to Israel/Jews, and is nowhere found in the New Testament.
The "operative" term/concept for the Body of Christ (those sealed in the Spirit) is "walking in the Spirit" vs. "walking in the flesh" (ie: ego/self).
see illustration below

 

[Scarlett O.]

Several question on this issue. Many churches use this term to convict those in the pews and fill the altars. With this said .....

1) What does "bcakslidden" mean to you? Can a born-again believer become backslidden?

From Jeremiah 3 - "Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:.........Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.


From Hosea 14: - O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.............I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

It means literally what it means in Jeremiah and Hosea. It means stubbornness, rebellion, and a regressing. The Jews underwent periods of backsliding and so do Christians. It's true, the word "backslide" isn't in the New Testament, but Christians live in a body of flesh and undergo periods of stubbonness, rebellion, and a regressing.

3) What would cause a believer to become backslidden?

I can only submit an example. I have a couple in my church whose son was killed in Iraq on Valentine's Day of 2006. She handled her pain by becoming a work-a-holic. He handled his pain by becoming an alcoholic and when the alcohol didn't dull the pain, he became an adulterer. He dropped out of church completely, blamed God, left his family, and led a miserable life for almost a year.

Due to the prayers of his wife and our church he finally - after acknowledging that no substance and no woman would heal him of his pain - agreed to treatment, personal counseling, and marital/family counseling. He repented of his iniquity and his marriage is restored and his relationship with God is healed BY God.

4) If a backslidder were die, or the Lord returned, while they were backslidden, would they inherit the Kingdom?

You mean if my friend died or the Lord returned while he was drunk and living with that woman, would he have gone to Heaven?

Well, I believe that nothing can separate the Christian from the love of God. Salvation is in God's hand not ours. The Holy Spirit is the promise or the guarantee of eternal life for the truly saved.

Yes, I believe he would have gone to Heaven.

5) Is it possible for the entire congregation to become backslidden?

Yes. Jesus spoke to several churches in Revelation about "returning".

[/QUOTE]

 

[HankD]

Several question on this issue. Many churches use this term to convict those in the pews and fill the altars. With this said .....

Several questions presented:

1) What does "backslidden" mean to you?

The Hebrew word is meshoobah, shoobah (it has different forms)
The Theological Workbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) has a significant piece concerning this word.


For the most part it means to turn away, to turn from


It is not an unforgivable turning away or apostasy because God commands those who meshoobah to return (shoob)

[FONT=&quot]Jeremiah 3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.[/FONT]

2) Can a born-again believer become backslidden?

Yes, according to the OT meaning of turning away or turning from as a forgivable offense, I believe so.

Revelation 2
[FONT=&quot]4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.[/FONT]

3) What would cause a believer to become backslidden?

Failure to crucify/mortify the flesh

[FONT=&quot]Galatians 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.[/FONT]

4) If a backslidder were die, or the Lord returned, while they were backslidden, would they inherit the Kingdom?

Yes, yet so as by fire.

[FONT=&quot]1 Corinthians 3:15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.[/FONT]

5) Is it possible for the entire congregation to become backslidden?

Could be possible, read the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation – the letters to the seven churches.

HankD

 

[Iconoclast]

Several question on this issue. Many churches use this term to convict those in the pews and fill the altars. With this said .....

1) What does "bcakslidden" mean to you?

Apostasy

2) Can a born-again believer become backslidden?

No
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

3) What would cause a believer to become backslidden?

nothing

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

4) If a backslidder were die, or the Lord returned, while they were backslidden, would they inherit the Kingdom?

backsliders are apostates...they go to hell
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.

7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God:

8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.

9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak.

5) Is it possible for the entire congregation to become backslidden? :

13 But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch

 

[salzer mtn]

It means literally what it means in Jeremiah and Hosea. It means stubbornness, rebellion, and a regressing. The Jews underwent periods of backsliding and so do Christians. It's true, the word "backslide" isn't in the New Testament, but Christians live in a body of flesh and undergo periods of stubbonness, rebellion, and a regressing.




I can only submit an example. I have a couple in my church whose son was killed in Iraq on Valentine's Day of 2006. She handled her pain by becoming a work-a-holic. He handled his pain by becoming an alcoholic and when the alcohol didn't dull the pain, he became an adulterer. He dropped out of church completely, blamed God, left his family, and led a miserable life for almost a year.

Due to the prayers of his wife and our church he finally - after acknowledging that no substance and no woman would heal him of his pain - agreed to treatment, personal counseling, and marital/family counseling. He repented of his iniquity and his marriage is restored and his relationship with God is healed BY God.



You mean if my friend died or the Lord returned while he was drunk and living with that woman, would he have gone to Heaven?

Well, I believe that nothing can separate the Christian from the love of God. Salvation is in God's hand not ours. The Holy Spirit is the promise or the guarantee of eternal life for the truly saved.

Yes, I believe he would have gone to Heaven.



Yes. Jesus spoke to several churches in Revelation about "returning".

I know of a couple of families I go to church with that lost children, one in a car accident about three years ago and the other worked for the power company and was killed at work just eighteen years old about fifteen years ago. I knew of a older couple that has passed on to heaven that lost a son when he was young. All of these families were Christians and as far as I know all the children they lost were unsaved, but these families have never wavered from the faith. They believed as Job did, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord.

 

[Berean]

Several question on this issue. Many churches use this term to convict those in the pews and fill the altars. With this said .....

1) What does "bcakslidden" mean to you?

2) Can a born-again believer become backslidden?

3) What would cause a believer to become backslidden?

4) If a backslidder were die, or the Lord returned, while they were backslidden, would they inherit the Kingdom? :tear:

5) Is it possible for the entire congregation to become backslidden? :tonofbricks:

Please provide scripture to support your thoughts! Thanks! :wavey:

Backslidden to me means a Believer in a rebellious condition or out of fellowship with the body, however to the average "Joe in the street" it means losing your salvation and you have to "get save again".

 

[Sapper Woody]

I heard a preacher once say, "If you have ever, in your life, been closer to God than you are now, you have slid back. You are backslidden." Backslidden, in the circles I run, does not necessarily mean living carnally. It simply means you have stopped going forward.



I believe this explanation also covers all your questions.

 

[clark thompson]

Backsliding happens when people turn from Christ and fall deep into sin, the Lord keeps them and will draw them back when He is tired of them going their own way and bring them back to Him, if they are His then they can not die in a backslidden state.

 

[salzer mtn]

I heard a so called Christian say one time if he believed in once saved always saved he would just live like he wanted too because he would go to heaven anyway. Such a person as this by his own words is living a miserable life as a professed Christian because he is not living like he wants too. Professed Christians, and these are numerous that say, " I was saved years ago but I backslid and am not living for the Lord any longer but I believe salvation is eternal therefore I won't go to hell. This is presumptuous on there part and they have no scripture to back it up. There are plenty of scripture that prove Christians have a new nature, a heart of flesh, a love for Christ, a longing and desire to please the Lord. On Gods part, He worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure, Phil 2:13. As already mentioned by Icon, There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, in Christ Jesus. There is nothing that will separate God from loving one of his own and there is nothing that will separate a child of God from loving Him. All men, Christians an professed Christians will go through the same test here on earth. The ones that God does not know will be rooted up, they will be like the stony ground hearers that wither away. The real Christians are described in Psa 91:12-14 The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like the cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.

 

[Sapper Woody]

Backsliding happens when people turn from Christ and fall deep into sin, the Lord keeps them and will draw them back when He is tired of them going their own way and bring them back to Him, if they are His then they can not die in a backslidden state.

I mostly agree, here. But I believe that if a truly saved person simply won't return, God will kill them off. I've seen it personally.



I don't have the verse in front of me, but in a passage talking about the chastening of the saved, the Bible says, "there is a sin unto death". Again, it says that in the context of God's discipline.



There is a friend of mine who i believe is going to Heaven. He had a salvation experience, and really changed. Slowly, over time, he pulled away from God. He is now living in sin, and is miserable. He'll tell you he is. He knows what the right answer is, but he's like pharaoh, who wanted one more night with the frogs.



He had a very real salvation experience, and for a few years, a very real heart for God. He's still a good person, but he's out of church and living with someone he's not married to. I pray that God shows him mercy on Earth, and doesn't take him. But I believe God will if my friend doesn't turn back to Him.

 

[salzer mtn]

I mostly agree, here. But I believe that if a truly saved person simply won't return, God will kill them off. I've seen it personally.



I don't have the verse in front of me, but in a passage talking about the chastening of the saved, the Bible says, "there is a sin unto death". Again, it says that in the context of God's discipline.



There is a friend of mine who i believe is going to Heaven. He had a salvation experience, and really changed. Slowly, over time, he pulled away from God. He is now living in sin, and is miserable. He'll tell you he is. He knows what the right answer is, but he's like pharaoh, who wanted one more night with the frogs.



He had a very real salvation experience, and for a few years, a very real heart for God. He's still a good person, but he's out of church and living with someone he's not married to. I pray that God shows him mercy on Earth, and doesn't take him. But I believe God will if my friend doesn't turn back to Him.

1 John 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
The sin that is unto death is sinning against the Holy Ghost which a born again Christian cannot commit. When a Christian sin's it is a sin not unto death and a Christian will not stay in this position very long until he as Peter was is brought back very quickly into fellowship with God. No one can prove by scripture, can give any example of a Christian going any length of time in a backslidden condition. What someone thinks they know of someone else's salvation is just speculation.