Christians, if you don't believe you can ever be "ex christian"?

Question

I have noticed many people on the board have said things like this

"There is no such thing as an ex-Christian, that is like saying, "I was once my Mother and Daddy's child, but I am not anymore." If you are not a Christian now, you never were. You may have known the Bible and the teachings forward and backward, but you never truly became and Child of God."

I have noticed this said many times, but none allow email. So why is it that you cannot be Christian and then decide to follow Judaism?

Scientists have learned they were wrong--earth is not the center of the universe, it is not flat, etc. Why are they allowed to learn more but if you are Christian you can never change your mind?

In the case of the woman converting to Judaism, it is not as if you are abandoning god or the principles of the bible. In fact the Ten Commandments were in the Old Testament, and given to Moses (a Jew).

It seems rather mean that a week ago you would have said this person was an excellent example of christianity and as soon as they tell you, suddenly they never were a "true christian" at all. Please only answer if you share this belief, that you don't believe you can ever turn away or be an "ex christian" since that is who I'm really wanting to know the answer from, and who I aimed the question at.

Guess I wasn't clear. I am ASKING those who have said that Christians can't be ex-christians to EXPLAIN why that is. Not just to say if you agree with that statement or not. IF YOU THINK THAT, please tell me WHY.

Answer 1

OK - I think I know where this comes from.

Hebrews 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

To me, this reads, if you fall away from faith after tasting the goodness of God, you can't get born again again. Most people then do the flip side and say that if you fall away, you couldn't have really experienced God in the first place. Most people I know that have truly encountered God would never think of turning away, myself included.

There are times that I think about committing a sin, and in that act of thinking about it, I know that I could never do it. The sins that most Christians engage in are the kind that come out of reaction or in the heat of the moment. Pre-meditated sin so to speak just doesn't really happen. In that same line, I don't think we could ever walk away either.

There are a lot of really good fakers in the church. You can fool a lot of people, appearing to be a "good" Christian. I was one for 25 years before I truly met God and came into a personal relationship. I could talk the talk and pretend to walk the walk really well. But I don't believe I was really a Christian until I was 25. I think that all these factors combine to make the statement that you are asking about. It isn't up to us to decide their fate, but we do try to understand and interpret the scripture to the best of our ability.

Answer 2

One who is truly a Christian can never become an ex-Christian. A person cannot lose his or her salvation. Salvation includes not only salvation from the penalty of sin, but also salvation from the sin of apostasy. I think too often Christians believe that accepting Jesus as Savior is just fire insurance. In doing this, they make the sinner's prayer into a work which, if it is performed, will result in that person's eternal salvation. But a biblical model of salvation includes salvation not only from hell, but also from sin. This would include (especially) the sin of leaving the faith. Before someone comes to faith in Christ, he is enslaved to sin. Such a one rejects God because he has no inclination towards God. Rather, his inclination compels him to find fulfillment in other things/religions/etc. These are the sins from which the Christian is being delivered. God, in his mercy, opens the blind eyes of a sinner to the truth of the gospel and gives him a heart that desires to live for him. Such a person then comes to trust in Christ and begins to choose to live in ways that reflect God's character. The new Christian, through the power of the Spirit, then continues to grow in holiness and righteousness over the course of his or her life. And while perfection does not come until we are given glorified bodies, the pattern of continual sin is broken and we the grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ. The one who may have attended a church at one time but who has left the church to embrace Judaism has revealed that the sinful inclination which compels a person to find his or her fulfillment in something other than Christ has not been broken. This person's greatest desire is for a sinful form of Christless religion. Thus they prove that they were never part of the true covenant community.

Answer 3

well, its just this logic.

When I was a baby, my parents had me committed to God is a ceremony called a "christening". Basically, my life was dedicated back to GOD.

Awhile back my mom said to me I can't ever escape GOD, I have no choice because I was dedicated, so his hand is over my life. My Grandmother said the same thing to my mom when she was little. While I do believe that, I absolutely have the choice of weather or not I will follow a christian lifestyle. I guess its just that GOD will direct my future somehow.

Once a catholic nun said "give me a child when its just born, and by the time he is seven, you will have a full fledged catholic". I'm reading about a Muslim woman, Ayaan Hisir (sp?) , who has spent her entire life grappling with what it means to be a good woman Muslim. Basically, she can't get away. She will never be an ex-Muslim because her past and her life was/is Islam ( submission).

Answer 4

All who come to God in The Way He prescribes receive His free gift of Salvation. Those become a part of The Body of The Church of which Jesus The Christ is The Head. Those are the ones of The True Christian Faith. Those of The True Christian Faith know The Truth. Once one Knows The Truth and has received God's gift of Salvation They are God's Forever... Here is a link to a page of mine that has some on the subject.... I also accept email via YA mail or from my site.
http://user1292138.sites.myregisteredsite.com/mikesinternetoutreach/id67.html

Answer 5

I don't understand the ex-Christian remark, really.

If I'm going to pack up and be Jewish, Wiccan, Atheist or what have you, I won't call myself and ex-Christian but the faith I am now following.

Some people believe that once a Christian, always a Christian, no matter what religion you change to. After all, it's like being born in a family and then deciding to live with your best friend. You are still your parent's child, right?

However, if you change your religion, yes, you are an ex. If an Atheist becomes Christian, s/he is an ex-Atheist, now a Christian. If a Jew decides to follow Hinduism, s/he is an ex-Jew, now Hindu. If a Christian decides to become a Wiccan, s/he is an ex-Christian, now Wiccan. However, they don't call themselves an ex, but by their new following.

Does that help?

Answer 6

"True" Christianity is a relationship with God, not a religion. If you "truly" are a Christian, (aka you have a relationship with God through his Son Jesus) then you cannot lose, or trade in that relationship. If you are a Christian by religion only, then yes, you can trade religions.

Answer 7

I've said it many times. You don't know what I believed, what I knew, what I felt so don't profess to.

EX-christian