How do christians view apostasy

[professor]

Polar Bear, you are one of the type of people I was referring to who have been mashed by believers.
The response you got is what we are not supposed to do.

I came close to a response like that when some JWs came to my house.
I was angry they twisted the bible into their lies.
I was angry the young guy (who was with the guy speaking) was being sucked in to their crap.
Later (much later) I realized my response should have been different because they are deceived (I am not good at confrontational stuff- abused people go into fight mode quickly) .

Then there are the impostors.
Whether the agents of Rome (who backed off openly killing those who won't bow to them- to the Jesuit order of assassins who do it quietly),
to the Islamic murderers of history and today.
ALL these are impostors.

The greatest triumph of satan (besides non-belief in him) is to use believers against God's way.
I am not making excuses. I am telling it as it is. We all fail.
In general, most Christians I know were among the most messed- up of people prior to conversion.
I am one of them, we now have to make the transition to godly people-
voluntarily unlearning lots of bad behavior.

Guys here stumble over free will, claiming there isn't any.
If that was the case- we would go from whacked- out to triumphant in one fell swoop.
It don't happen.

[Nope]

My first thought was "None of my children are stupid enough to fall into that". But it was just a thought.
There is a difference between having a knowledge of God and knowing God.

To reject a kid because he falls into a trap is not only dumb, it is against Christian or Jewish principles.
Yes, I know of some of the experiences you guys have had in this regard to yourselves.
The dealer of that experience was wrong, probably resentful and in a failure of faith (in the context of whatever faith they have).
We overcome by faith and patience.
And patience is faith in action.
I apply that to my kids, grandkids and you guys.

That is good. I have a dear older aunt who expresses a lot of concern that I won't be in heaven with her. Her fear is real and I know she loves me. Beyond writing me a couple of worried notes, she still continues to support and care for me. It bothers me that I am causing her unnecessary worry at her late age but I do appreciate that she probably hasn't even considered cutting me out of her life. Your post reminded me of her.

[Silver]

There is a difference between having a knowledge of God and knowing God.

There is also no such thing as knowing god. He can no more be known than one can know a unicorn.

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Who does not employ faith in their everyday life?
Faith is walking out on what you know.

There is a major distinction between secular faith and religious faith. I honestly tire of having to explain the difference, but to retain my intellectual integrity I must.

Secular faith is a belief that is confidence or trust in something that is based on proof. I have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow. That kind of faith is based on facts because the sun rises around the same time everyday, and we have witnessed this to be true.

Religious faith is a belief in something that is not based on proof. I have faith that god exists. There is no evidence to support the existence of god.

[Schwa]

Your simile is apt, Tonus but let's take this a step further.
Christians have deep faith in what is AT BEST non contemporary second and third person hearsay none of which is corroborated by any rigorous scientific examination and in fact some of which has been item by item specifically debunked. Moreover, the story of Jesus was likely no more than a repetition of myths that had been lore in many societies, virtually verbatim, for some 2000-3000 years prior to 1AD.

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As were the tale of the flood, the character of Moses, etc. etc.

Almost as if it were some sort of amalgamated, one world religion. Ironic, isn't it?

[Tonus]

Guys here stumble over free will, claiming there isn't any.
If that was the case- we would go from whacked- out to triumphant in one fell swoop.
It don't happen.

It seems that research into psychology is showing us why we act the way we do, and scientists are starting to understand that the idea of going "from whacked-out to triumphant in one fell swoop" almost never happens thanks to the way our beliefs and behavior are learned and the way our brain processes information. There are ways to effect that change in such a short time, but they are usually traumatic in one way or another.

In any case, "free will" is another of those terms that religion has (IMO) co-opted for the sake of convenience; it's a simple and easy way to clear god of blame for the mess that the Genesis story describes, where the people HE created interacted with the serpent HE created and ate of the fruit that HE put within reach... but none of it was HIS fault. It's an awfully poor excuse, but when the Bible gives you lemons...

[Godscreated]

There is a difference between having a knowledge of God and knowing God.

There is also no such thing as knowing god. He can no more be known than one can know a unicorn.

I get it, you do not believe and so you can't accept the possibility of God. That in itself is not a reason a spiritual being can't exist, by necessity it is reason to believe one does. We can't experience this type of being unless it approaches us, and being a spiritual being we can't have a physical experience, so the only thing left is a mental and spiritual experience. This being said, science can't prove or disprove God, nor can it disprove the experience Christians have with their God. So to deny that we do, isn't a reasonable assumption, to deny the unexplained is actually deferring from the scientific process.

---

Who does not employ faith in their everyday life?
Faith is walking out on what you know.

There is a major distinction between secular faith and religious faith. I honestly tire of having to explain the difference, but to retain my intellectual integrity I must.

Really, I mean really. We also get tired of explaining the same things over and over, you do not seem to think what we say is intellectually memorable, so tell me why you believe we should think any higher of you, just because you believe your intellectually superior.

Secular faith is a belief that is confidence or trust in something that is based on proof. I have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow. That kind of faith is based on facts because the sun rises around the same time everyday, and we have witnessed this to be true.

Your witness of the sun rising every morning, does not mean it will rise tomorrow. Science nor your faith in it will guarantee the sun will rise in the morning. The one thing you would never know, that the sun didn't rise in the morning. That type of faith is placed in the physical and the physical can fail at any time without warning. We see that type of faith as temporary, there is a promise of failure at some point.

Religious faith is a belief in something that is not based on proof. I have faith that god exists. There is no evidence to support the existence of god.

It's not based on your accepted proof, that still doesn't mean God does not exist. You are the one who has no accepted proof, I as a Christian have the proof I need from God and the Bible does teaches we can know God and when one knows God, one knows He exists. Science can't disprove good and what science can't disprove will always have the possibility of existence. Science can not absolutely prove the Big Bang, that means there's the possibility it did not happen. I actually have no problem with the Big Bang, my problem is how science says it happened. Genesis actually describes the creation of the universe as a possible Big Bang.
So science and the Bible could have this in common, the difference is how it got started, and the Bible actually described this several thousand years before science even had a notion.

GC

[robvalue]

I am utterly sick to death of the abuse of two separate definitions of faith to imply that belief without evidence is entirely equivalent to belief on good evidence.

It's a cheap semantic trick, and really if that's the best people have got it's time to grab the free t shirt and head home.

Death penalty from now on.

[Ryantology]

Your witness of the sun rising every morning, does not mean it will rise tomorrow. Science nor your faith in it will guarantee the sun will rise in the morning.

Congratulations, GC. You've just admitted that what guarantees your god's existence to you is your faith in its existence, and not because that god is an objectively real thing. Even accidental honesty is refreshing.

[robvalue]

"You can be certain of nothing, so just make stuff up."

[Nope]

Did GodsChild answer the Op's question? I am curious about his/her answer.