walk away

[JBirdAngel]

can someone be a christian and then completley walk away and do tons of horrible and sinful things, and then come back and still be forgiven and given the gift of love and eternal life and everything?



is it normal to have thoughts or say things that you think you mean or agree with but then realize that they are horrible and you dont agree with them at all?

is it normal to have horrible sinful thoughts, why wont they stop

[jerickson314]

Theologans have debated this very topic, but my belief is that Christ will forgive even those who leave Christianity and come back.

It is important to distinguish between slipping up and leaving Christianity, though. Leaving Christianity would mean rebuking Jesus as Lord of your life. If you slip up and then feel guilty about it, then don't fret. Here's what the apostle Paul had to say about this:

For I don't know what I am doing. For I don't practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do. But if what I don't desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don't find it doing that which is good. For the good which I desire, I don't do; but the evil which I don't desire, that I practice. But if what I don't desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present. For I delight in God's law after the inward man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God's law, but with the flesh, the sin's law.

So Paul, who wrote a large chunk of the New Testament, admitted to having a continuous struggle with sin. My advice, if this is the case with you, is to commit the matter to prayer and to find someone you can feel comfortable sharing your struggle with in person, someone who can pray for you. Hopefully with prayer your particular struggle can come to an end.

Nonetheless, everyone struggles with sin and with sinful thoughts. We will never be perfect until we reach heaven. This is just the nature of being fallen beings in a fallen world.

[JBirdAngel]

i cant really understand most Bible translations, i have been using Phillips which is only the New Testament and i think i udnerstand that one the best so far... but i hate the things that i did, but wanted them at the time... even though i was raised a Christian and i think would have said i was a Christian i wanted to do these horrible things and did them.... so what does that mean then now?

[jerickson314]

i cant really understand most Bible translations, i have been using Phillips which is only the New Testament and i think i udnerstand that one the best so far...

You might also want to try the New Living Translation; that's what I use for my personal study. I don't use it on the forums because the publishers haven't given copyright permissions to CrossWire for use with my particular Bible software. I like to be able to copy-paste from the software directly into the forums.

I use the WEB because it is recent but has been placed into the public domain by its creators (and thus is legally unrestricted).

but i hate the things that i did, but wanted them at the time... even though i was raised a Christian and i think would have said i was a Christian i wanted to do these horrible things and did them.... so what does that mean then now?

As was mentioned in the other post, make sure you have accepted Christ personally rather than just being raised in a Christian home. But even if you did genuinely accept Christ before, you have repented now even if you did want to sin at the time. God can forgive anything. Everybody does sin.

In a sense, everybody wants the sins they do. People generally don't do things they don't want to do. You might think that someone is doing something he or she doesn't want to do if he or she is coerced into doing it. However, in this case he or she really does want to do it simply to avoid punishment. So in a sense you can both want and not want to do something at the same time.

This is my interpretation of what Paul is talking about. He is describing how he has great momentary desires to sin, even though he always has a higher desire to do the will of God. Likewise, you no doubt had a desire to do the sin you did in one sense, even though you may not have in another sense.

And even if you had no desire to do the will of God then, you can still repent and come to Him now.

[JBirdAngel]

thanks for the info on the other version, ill have to check that out... also i copied and pasted from BibleGateway.com... is that illegal?

also i feel this is a stupid question but how do i know if ive accepted Christ personally and stuff, i dont know how to know if i belive and stuff, i want to very much, but im afraid that i dont or cant or wont or something...


also i can see what your saying about sin perhaps in some instances, but not in all...

i have horrible thoughts that i truely do not want, some of them i can worry about thinknig tha tmaybe i do wnat them, but i know there are some that i truely do not want, and yet i have them... why, how, whats this mean? are those thoughts me or are they not me and to be forgotten and not worried about, and so it snot me so its ok and i can still be loved by people and stuff... or ... ?

[jerickson314]

thanks for the info on the other version, ill have to check that out... also i copied and pasted from BibleGateway.com... is that illegal?

Short quotes might be "fair use" (meaning that they are perfectly legal without permission), but you should ideally be sure. If you include "(NIV)" (or whatever translation you use, usually in 3-letter form) with the quote it is probably legal. If you are paranoid, you can add special copyright notice text. But for a forum post, something like (NIV) is sufficient. Print Bibles tell you on the copyright page what you can and can't do.

The legal problem I was referring to was that I can't use the NLT with my particular Bible software. I prefer using the software over using a web interface.

Some translations aren't copyrighted at all, like the KJV (because it is so old) and the WEB (because its authors didn't want it to be coyrighted). There are no restrictions on these, you can even bill a modified version as your own.

also i feel this is a stupid question but how do i know if ive accepted Christ personally and stuff, i dont know how to know if i belive and stuff, i want to very much, but im afraid that i dont or cant or wont or something...

Have you personally confessed that you are a sinner and that you want Christ to be the Lord of your life, and meant it? This is basically what it means to accept Christ personally. If you "want to very much" as you said, you most certainly can. Christ always has his arms open wide for anyone who truly seeks Him.

also i can see what your saying about sin perhaps in some instances, but not in all...

i have horrible thoughts that i truely do not want, some of them i can worry about thinknig tha tmaybe i do wnat them, but i know there are some that i truely do not want, and yet i have them... why, how, whats this mean? are those thoughts me or are they not me and to be forgotten and not worried about, and so it snot me so its ok and i can still be loved by people and stuff... or ... ?

Remember that after you become a Christian, you have two "selves" (in a figurative manner of speaking). You have your old self (often called "the flesh") and your new self (often called "the spirit"). You will have to live with your old self until the day you die, and this often means having thoughts and behaviors your new self doesn't really want.

So the thoughts are probably our old self. You can always be loved even if you have sin. God's love is "unconditional", which means that He loves you no matter what. He even loves the unsaved and grieves for them. And people (specifically Christians) are supposed to love everyone, even though they are not supposed to love sin. The distinction between sin and sinner is important.

If we had to hate sinners, we would have to hate everybody.