What causes a person to walk away from the things of God? (backslide)?

Answer 1

The truth of it is during the time they were joining in with Christian activities and worshiping God, they never fully stopped worshiping their former life-style. Their whole Christian thing was a flirtation from start to finish.
" They went out from us, but they were not one of us, for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us " ( 1 John 2:19)
Those who hold " once saved, always saved" position ( a position condemned by the word of God ( Jude 4) are persons who assume that salvation by grace gives them the right to sin, because God in His grace will freely forgive their sins even without subsequent repentance.
It is true that Jesus that no one can snatch His sheep out of His Father's hand ( John 10:28-29) yet it is possible for them to reject Him. They can break away from the handclasp of God, though God will not break away from their handclasp. There is great security in the " born-again " experience ( 1 John 3:9): " No one who is born of God will continue to sin... he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God." Alas, many born-again persons have human failings, but they will not have a life that is characterized by sin.
Yet, a born-again, spirit-filled person can still sin, as Saul did ( 1 Sam. 18:10). The Lord says, " when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, I will put a stumbling block before him" ( Ezek. 3:20 ; 1 Peter 2:8). " Therefore, son of man, say to your kinsman, the righteousness of the righteous man will not save him when he disobeys... the righteous man if he sins will not be allowed to live because of his former righteousness...if he trusts in his righteousness and does evil, none of the righteous things he has done will be remembered" ( Ezek. 33:12-13 ; 17-18).
Hence, the command of Peter, " Obey God because you are His children ( born into His family); don't slip back into your old ways, doing evil because you knew no better, but be holy now in everything you do". There would be no need to urge a born-again Christian to avoid backsliding and to continue to seek holiness if it were automatically assured without any effort on his part. Peter goes so far to say, " It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to have turned their backs on it"
( 11 Peter 2:21).
The same is true for those who are baptized in the Spirit and are familiar with the word of God ( Heb. 6:4-5). Saul was Spirit-filled ( 1 Sam. 10:6), but, " the Spirit left him" ( 16:14). A state of being confirmed in sin after having a knowledge of truth is a dreadful thing. ( Heb. 10:26-31).
It is all too easy to cover up the evil or sin or faults committed after we have been made righteous by the blood of Christ ( Heb. 1:3). Our repentance must always be up-dated to be heaven ready.
Just as malice in hell is irreversible, so is heavenly fulfillment is irreversible. " There is a law that the paths of darkness beneath the earth shall never be trodden by those who have set foot on the heavenly road".

Answer 2

I think the reason people backslide is doubt.
No matter how many times they go to church, their religion requires them to believe the impossible once happened, and could happen again. If the ones who created Christianity would just come clean and tell us the true story (and not the fables and mythology used to enroll the pagans of years past). They would find even greater numbers of Believers.
I for one.
Then maybe we could all be more like the Master Jesus.

Answer 3

sin, is a very big obstacle in anyone's life , but especially a christian, it's a everyday battle one of the hardest thing I've ever done to stay true to my faith, and some people just get tired, and discourged, like this week for instants, we have 3 vehicles ,the motor mount broke in the truck, then our car jumped timing, them the van the inspection sticker ran out,then the next day we were going to go get a sticker and the tire was flat in the drive way and the spair was flat, then my husband when for a stress test and they said he might have a blockage in his heart, and gave him nitro for chest pains, he took it to work, the bottle broke in his pocket, and the doctor was on vacation and couldn't get a refill, then i got a letter from the bank that a check had bounched and we didn't write it , someone stole my idenitity on paypal, and had tried to buy a cell phone, and they were from Germany, and i know there was more but i can't think of it and it's one thing after another and me and my husband just had to laught because it felt like everything was coming unglued at one time, and we knew it was the devil trying to get us upset, and my husband was also trying to stop dipping tobacco, and some people can't hold up under that presure, but we just prayed and asked for guidence , but the devil is really after us christians, if you don't have problems, then thats when you need to start worrying, because the devil want bother you if you are living for him, and some people don't know how to fight him. Most people think that Sunday morning is enough of learning ,reading the Bible and praying to God, but it's a 24/7 thing to stay in the faith and not back slide , and still some do.

Answer 4

What are the things of God anyway? I'm not a Christian. I'm not anything, I'm agnostic. But if I choose to work on my spirituality, it would be through volunteer work, doing things to help others, being kind to people, and just in general getting out there and doing things to try and make a difference. I wouldn't go and sit in a church and listen to someone talk about helping people, I'd rather just go out and try to help. And yet a lot of Chrsitians would probably say that I'm walking away from the things of god because I reject their conventional methods of being spiritual.

Answer 5

First and foremost our sinful nature. Read Romans chapter 7. The things that I want to do, those I don't, and the things that I don't want to do, those I do. Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Praise be to Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, forever and ever. Amen

Paul also struggled. The lesson is "when we try we die". We can backslide because of any one of a myriad of reasons. The victory lies in knowing we can always come back and God is willing to forgive us. God loves us unconditionally in spite of ourselves. That is the lesson taught in the parable of the prodigal son.

Answer 6

Ok, wait a minute.... Once you "truely" have given yourself to Christ you can never backslide. He said somewhere that "they are mine, and noone can snatch them from my hand, and....noone can snatch them from my father's hand" sorry can't remeber it all.
You can take a break and relearn some things or go through trials without relizing, but you can't go away if you were truely saved in the first place.
He once said "What makes you think you are farther away then when you began?" meaning that once you take the first true step, you will always grow closer, no matter if you feel you are or not.

Answer 7

The flesh. Sometimes the flesh is allowed to become stronger than the spirit and, the cares of this world, lust and pride cause a person to back slide. We must nourish our spirits with the word of God, prayer and attending the house of God to stay strong spiritually.

Answer 8

I don't walk away from God. Never have and never will.

But I walk (and sometimes run) away from those Christians who pick and chose, taking the teachings of Christ that are convenient to them and ignoring or downplaying those they find too uncomfortable or too inconvenience to deal with.

Like the stone casters: All those Christians who think they are without sin who think it's okay for them to cast the first stone.

Real Christians (like the Amish or Quakers) I admire greatly. The stone casters will have to explain to God themselves why they pick and chose from the Gospel Of Christ.

Answer 9

Some people walk away from God because they either had too much suffering and believe that if God loved them then they wouldn't be in that situation, or they just love the world too much.

Answer 10

Intelligence.