Backslidden?

[just-us-2]

I would seriously like an answer to this question: What does it mean to be “backslidden” or as they say here in the south, “backslid as a convict”? I am very curious as to what professing believers think this is.

Hosea 11:7 (KJV)
[SUP]7 [/SUP]And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
Jeremiah 3:22 (KJV)
[SUP]22 [/SUP]Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Hosea 14:4 (KJV)
[SUP]4 [/SUP]I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Jeremiah 3:22 (KJV)
[SUP]22 [/SUP]Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

 

[dcontroversal]

Peter said you can backslide and forget that you have been purged of your sins......

 

[Jon4TheCross]

"Backsliding" is turning your back on God as priority (to love with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength), and placing anything else before Him.

Ephesians 4:17-19New King James Version (NKJV)

The New Man
17*This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of[a] the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, 18*having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; 19*who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

 

[thisgirl]

One of my best christian friends had a year of horrible trials, she still loves God but now focus's on music first & moved in with her boyfriend who is not a believer. She stopped going to church functions and now attends music festivals. When her & I talk about how she dicipled me in my early trying to please God years and how every time I'd go to her home the christian music station would be on... when we speak of these things she cries. She miss's the Lord. My times with her are few now as I do have these discussions with her as she would have them with me if I needed it. I wish she were closer (or seeming to be closer to God) but ultimately what is in her heart is a heart for God but a walk without Him. I know that though she has seemingly in world view walked away from God I know she still has relationship with Him. Who am I to judge her faith based on church attendance or what she talks about now. We used to sit & fellowship, now we talk music. I try to fellowship but it ends in tears. So I will pray. God bless you. I'd call her backslidden but I dont think God backslides in our times of trial

 

[maxwel]

just-us-2,

It seems like you have an opinion.
Why don't you start by giving us your opinion?

 

[peacefulbeliever]

I would seriously like an answer to this question: What does it mean to be “backslidden” or as they say here in the south, “backslid as a convict”? I am very curious as to what professing believers think this is.

Hosea 11:7 (KJV)
[SUP]7 [/SUP]And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
Jeremiah 3:22 (KJV)
[SUP]22 [/SUP]Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Hosea 14:4 (KJV)
[SUP]4 [/SUP]I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Jeremiah 3:22 (KJV)
[SUP]22 [/SUP]Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

Probably the same as being out of fellowship in the NT. [1 John]

When we let ANYTHING come before our relationship with God, i.e. God not being first in our lives.

 

[InSpiritInTruth]

Backsliding can be sliding back into old sinful ways, and being unfaithful toward the Lord like a woman playing the Harlot as shown here.

Jeremiah 3:6
The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

Jeremiah 3:8
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

 

[Jon4TheCross]

One of my best christian friends had a year of horrible trials, she still loves God but now focus's on music first & moved in with her boyfriend who is not a believer. She stopped going to church functions and now attends music festivals. When her & I talk about how she dicipled me in my early trying to please God years and how every time I'd go to her home the christian music station would be on... when we speak of these things she cries. She miss's the Lord. My times with her are few now as I do have these discussions with her as she would have them with me if I needed it. I wish she were closer (or seeming to be closer to God) but ultimately what is in her heart is a heart for God but a walk without Him. I know that though she has seemingly in world view walked away from God I know she still has relationship with Him. Who am I to judge her faith based on church attendance or what she talks about now. We used to sit & fellowship, now we talk music. I try to fellowship but it ends in tears. So I will pray. God bless you. I'd call her backslidden but I dont think God backslides in our times of trial

I do believe that some can truly love God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, and still be found in a temporary situation and circumstances in which they do not know how to perform what is good. Especially when considering the mainstream example of "unity" being taught through the body language (and othrr language) of mainstream christianity. God knows the real person who approves of love and hates evil. If that person does what that person really does not want to do...then it is not that person who did the evil, but the sin in the flesh not fully purged that did it. I beelieve the real eternal person you speak of (the one less than 2 hrs old, not male or female, not jew or gentile) has not backslidden...because tears show what is approved...and those tears mean something for sure. That person is still family.

 

[MarcR]

I would seriously like an answer to this question: What does it mean to be “backslidden” or as they say here in the south, “backslid as a convict”? I am very curious as to what professing believers think this is.

Hosea 11:7 (KJV)
[SUP]7 [/SUP]And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
Jeremiah 3:22 (KJV)
[SUP]22 [/SUP]Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Hosea 14:4 (KJV)
[SUP]4 [/SUP]I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Jeremiah 3:22 (KJV)
[SUP]22 [/SUP]Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

To be backslidden IMO means to have made a genuine profession of faith in Jesus; and to later live contrary to your profession.

I believe that the Lord will chastise such a believer until he returns to a fruitful walk with the Lord.

 

[84Niner]

I would suppose that being backslidden would mean that one has gone back to a degree from whence he/she came. I would also say that it is a relative term. There would be different degrees of a backslide. Having said that, It is not a positive thing other than that it may ultimately open ones heart once again to the Lord in a way that it may never have been before the backslide.

Sometimes we have to go through utter failure in our walk with the Lord to fully grasp the unsearchable grace and mercy granted to us in Christ. I am not recommending that people should pursue a backsliding life to find this grace, but it's just something that many of us must go through. Especially many young saints who were brought up in a "christian home" where they may have gotten saved at a very young age. Unlike some of us who got saved out of a very sinful worldly living at a later age, these young ones really didn't experience being saved out of the world, thus there wasn't really a repentance experience when they got saved. And because of that, there experience with the Lord is not that real, deep and intimate. Thus, there is not that much there inside to keep them from fulfilling a desire to test the world and all it has to offer.

So, when they reach college age they drift away from the Lord and "backslide". It is just not that uncommon. If the Lord has His way, after these ones fall on their faces in failure to the Lord they will once again turn unto Him to receive His grace and mercy only this time it will be very real and their relationship with the lord may blossom into something that would have been hard to attain otherwise. Then, they will truly know they are saved and their walk with the Lord will have a much more sound foundation.

 

[just-me]

I look a back-sliding in metaphor or parable. You're climbing a rain soaked hill endeavoring to get to the top. The only way to stabilize yourself is to grab on to what is firmly rooted in the ground, but you haven't learned or originally understood what is really stable. Henceforth, backsliding is not a purposeful incident.

On the other hand, not understanding the depth of commitment being more serious than what was originally was explained the person may not and probably is not born again. If it sounded good after all is said and done, and the individual was led to believe he/she could go against the grain and still be covered despite their actions, it is not backsliding, for they had nothing to fall or slide away from in the first place..

 

[just-us-2]

just-us-2,

It seems like you have an opinion.
Why don't you start by giving us your opinion?

Thank you for your patience waiting for my reply - things have been a bit hectic lately. Yes, I do have an opinion. It is a legitimate question though, as I have been contemplating some situations recently and genuinely questioned the state of being backslidden, and how extensive the definition would be as 21[SUP]st[/SUP] century believers understand it.
I do not/never did intend this to be an in-depth word study but I found that the term isn’t used in the New Testament that I could find, which left the definition from Hebrew. That came up as “turning away, defection; specially the turning away from Jehovah” when I looked online.
I thought about it for quite some time and came to the conclusion that even neglecting to take the time to pray and cultivate our relationship with Christ is being backslidden, not just going back to our previous evil ways, etc. although that would obviously be backsliding also. But beyond that, I have formed the opinion that even if I were to read a chapter from the Bible every day, yet continue my daily life as if the Bible were merely the irrelevant symbol it was as I grew up in a mainstream protestant church, I would really be backslidden because what the New Testament teaches is that we are to be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29) and to have the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5).