What if you get saved, but then fall? Need Christian advice.?

Question

Way back in about 2000-2001, I was lucky to have a few people "pray" for me, that I may be able to see "the truth," find the religion that preaches it, and get "saved" from it all, and end up having a wonderful relationship with God, and what not.

I was totally immature, a high school student, and an unbeliever. Then somehow, someway, I ended up going to a christian private school for college, met the right people, came across the right literature, and literally discovered God. I knew somehow after about a year and a half of actually living the way God would want me to live, that I was "saved." Whatever you want to call it. I don't want to discuss heaven/hell all that here, b/c of the MANY unbelievers. It can sound corny.
Lets just say I was a good person, however I had one big problem.

I was very curious as to how evil operated, because I wasn't evil at heart ,and wanted to discover their ways, and was actually impressed by the "power" of evil. So, out I went

trying to get inside of the heads of sinners/evil people, and met many of them, and somehow, it seemed that the moment I started getting GOD in my life, I started having everything possible go wrong in my life. I somehow screwed it all up, lost many friends, stopped going to that school b/c of outside influences, and even lost my family eventually. I became bitter, cynical, and evil intended myself b/c I was convinced that 80% of the people out there were not of God, and hated them, for possibly contributing to my own life's miseries.

Anyways, long story short, I discovered alot about evil/not-of-God people and life in general, but I lost myself in the process, and haven't felt God's presence within me and my life for a long time.

Does this mean that I'm now fallen?

And if so, how do I get back on the right path?

I feel lost, and even when I reach out to God, I feel like..nothing's happening like it used to lol.

HELP!

(d@mn my stupid curiosity to find out about evil

Answer 1

Lucas,

Scripture states that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory, and that the heart is quite evil. You think you "were" good, in reality... your heart was deceitful with you. Because no one is good save God. These things I am saying to you come straight from the Word of God. I would suggest to you several things to do...

1. Read your bible. Open it up and read it. Perhaps a great place to start - the book of John. It is about belief. We must not only believe in God, but in His promises to us. But, to do that... you need to study the Word of God. The bible was written as a guide for us to reach out to God.

2. Pray for forgiveness for your sins, and repent of them. Spend time in prayer with God. Be humble... understanding that you do not deserve God's grace, but you have it given to you anyway.

3. Take communion and think about the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. He made this sacrifice for us, whether we choose to follow Him or not.

4. Find a congregation to meet with... I do not know what church you were affiliated with, but you need fellowship with believers. You need to be able to be a part of the good things that are going on around you, rather than evil.

If this sounds simple... it really is...

To find God, all you have to do is seek Him. God is NOT a feeling. He is your Creator, and your saviour. It sounds to me like you were more interested in "power" and "feelings" - rather than knowing your Creator. Adam and Eve... were told not to touch a certain tree or its fruit... the devil deceived Eve by telling her, "...you will not die, your eyes will open and you will be able to discern good and evil." Funny, that sounds a great deal like your statement..."I was very curious to see how evil operated..;" Honestly... your saying you were not evil at heart, is lying to yourself. Your heart tricked you into believing you could play with it, and it would not harm you or your relationship with God. We are rather fickle people are we not?

I think you need to admit to yourself that you have most definetly been evil in your heart, and it is in that you need to repent.

You have not lost the ability to have a relationship with God, you have turned away from Him. His hands are still stretched out to save, you must look to Him, and seek Him.

May God bless you in your search, feel free to write to me if you would like to ask further questions.

Answer 2

Your faith is incredibly simplistic. You feel the need to sort people as either "good" or "evil", and you need to be able to blame misfortune on someone rather than accept it as a part of life in an imperfect world. And all of this is part of your problem. You are afraid that you are now somehow intrinsically evil.

No one is categorically evil. People choose to perform evil acts out of fear or selfishness, but each act is a choice. One can get into a bad habit, but they are still in charge of their own lives. And when things don't go well, you can contemplate how your treatment of others may have contributed, or just accept the fact that life is sometimes random, but you will need to decide how you are going to respond. It is sheer arrogance to assume that God is micromanaging the petty circumstances of your life.

Don't wory about God's forgiveness. It's automatic. But it's always up to you to decide what you're going to do next. If you are acting selfishly for no good reason, you are not acting like a Christian. If you are reaching out in service to help someone else, you are. I'm not promoting extemism, but those are the directions the moral compass points, and everyone is always in the middle of that choice.

Life is not a game. Faith is something you live, not subscribe to. And evil is not a system but a series of small, cowardly choices that only appear to hold together because of their proximity to each other. Everyone always has a choice. Start acting like Christ and you'll be a Christian.

Answer 3

It's ironic I came across this post, I was there as well, The neat thing about being saved is that your always saved from there on in. I've discovered that when you start your walk with God, satan and his crew seem to want to bring you down fast and hard and try to put you back in a state of disbelief, because if you doubt then why would you feel the need to repent? Tell God your sorry and truly want to come back into his presence and he will listen and welcome you back no problem. We all fall down at times, it's OK. Many righteous have fallen in the bible and God still loved them, so why not you?

Answer 4

First, you have to realize just like I and every other christian has to realize is that we are all sinners and we cannot do this on our own. It is a fact you will sin, and sometimes more than once with the same sin, as long as you continue to ask forgiveness and truly strive to not commit the sins again and again, God will forgive you. This is part of the wonder of God's mercy, He gave his son so that we can come to him through his son to ask forgiveness of our sins. (Isnt that wonderful) I am currently being mentored by my Pastor so that I can take the youth group and many times I have asked myself the question, How can I be a youth minister when I sin almost daily? As I am finding I am also human and will sin. As I pray for forgiveness I also ask that God will assist me in not committing the same sins again. And here is some hope for you. God has done that with me many times I start to get into a position where I can sin or make a better choice not to, and I get what I call a nudge from God. Where I am more aware of the choice at hand and then I can choose not to do the sin. So with that keep strong and persistant in your prayers and also stay in God's word which will help dramatically. God Bless you and Keep you.

Answer 5

Now you know what is good and what is evil. It was your choice to do good and to do evil. Which do you think is better?

You are old enough and mature enough to make your own decision. What would you like to do? If you now realized that evil brought about all of your sufferings and into your present state and would like to come back to God, He is there waiting for you to welcome you back, like the story of the Prodigal Son in the Bible (Luke 15:11-32) or the parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:10-14, Luke 15:1-10) or the parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10). God and His angels will rejoice for a sinner coming back to Him. Christians will rejoice too. I, for one, will rejoice of your coming back to Him.

Answer 6

What you have experienced is a taste of Satan's plan. you mentioned that when you started getting God in your life, things began going downhill. well, here's what you need to know: the moment you accept God into your life, or in fact, the moment you even think of doing it, you immediately become target practice for Satan and his army of evil. i know it sounds harsh, but it is reality. all that Satan wants is to destroy your relationship with God...to prevent you from being saved. do you remember what i posted in response to one of your questions about conquering sin and evil? the best way to defeat it, is to first know it. you said you were very curious as to how evil operates, and this may have spurred you to learn about it...and this is good. now, being faced with your present situation, it would really help if you get to know how Satan works...and indeed, through your experience, you can see what strategies Satan used to pull you away from God. i encourage you to use this new knowledge to your benefit, so you won't get caught in the same tra again. my advice - keep trying...keep growing in the Lord. but do be aware, that the more you grow in God, the more vicious will Satan's attacks be. but keep learning, and keep fighting.

Peace.

~PhoeniX~

Answer 7

You learned that sin is fun for a season. One thing the Bible says is not to make friends with worldly people, because they will pull you down.
Repent. Pray and tell God you are sorry for what you did. Search for Him. Seek God, and you will find Him. Draw near to Him, and He will draw near to you. Get a Bible and study the book of John. Go to a good church and get into the fellowship with believers. I believe God will send someone along to minister to you.

Answer 8

All you have to do in believe in the Lord, ask his forgiveness and be saved. If you stumble He will pick you back up. The fact that you are asking is knowledge that you have that longing to be in fellowship with God. Just start praying and seeking and asking for understanding..God is faithful, He will give you that calm assurance of your salvation.

Answer 9

#1 You can't base your salvation on feeling.That is the first place Satan will tell you to look."See",he will say,"You're not really saved,it doesn't feel like it ,does it?"
Remember this,Jesus said "ALL that the Father has given me I will in no wise cast out."
Which means ,like the 'Prodigal Son" you are welcomed back .When Jesus told Peter about forgiving ,not 7 times but 77 x 7 times .He wasn't kidding.If you were truly saved before and repent,the angels will rejoice.If you were saved and don't repent ,you may make it ,but there will be no reward waiting for you.As you pass through the testing fire you might smell very smokey.

Answer 10

If God had abandoned you, you wouldn't feel moved to ask this question.
Keep praying...but remember that a conversation works two ways. If you want God to speak to you, you'll have to be quiet and give Him time...and (this is the hard part), you'll have to listen. Even if He's saying something you don't want to hear...