Am I saved, or have I lost salvation?

DBurrage · Apr 29, 2020

Am I saved?
Have I lost salvation?

I ask for your guidance.

My first experience with any Church was with a Hillsong Church here in the UK.
This was a pretty bad experience, as two threads that I have authored will testify (I urge you to read at least the original posts so that you have context):

https://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/hillsong-a-cult.191745/

https://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/tithing.191733/

I feel like I was baptised too early, before I had really started to get to know Jesus.
It's not that I didn't want to be baptised because I did, but I felt that I was rushed through a kind of process rather than given room to grow.

I was left very hurt from my Hillsong experience, to the point that I no longer wish to ever set foot inside a Church again.
I haven't even read the Bible since that experience.

So, was I ever really saved? Have I lost salvation?
Or was I saved, and will Jesus understand why I'm feeling the way I do about Church?

Thoughts?

Nehemiah6 · Apr 29, 2020

DBurrage said:

Only God can know who is genuinely saved and who is not. There's no point in asking strangers. You are supposed to have the witness of the Holy Spirit within you.

Whispered · Apr 29, 2020

DBurrage said:

Am I saved?
Have I lost salvation?

I ask for your guidance.

My first experience with any Church was with a Hillsong Church here in the UK.
This was a pretty bad experience, as two threads that I have authored will testify (I urge you to read at least the original posts so that you have context):

https://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/hillsong-a-cult.191745/

https://christianchat.com/bible-discussion-forum/tithing.191733/

I feel like I was baptised too early, before I had really started to get to know Jesus.
It's not that I didn't want to be baptised because I did, but I felt that I was rushed through a kind of process rather than given room to grow.

I was left very hurt from my Hillsong experience, to the point that I no longer wish to ever set foot inside a Church again.
I haven't even read the Bible since that experience.

So, was I ever really saved? Have I lost salvation?
Or was I saved, and will Jesus understand why I'm feeling the way I do about Church?

Thoughts?

Once you put your faith in Christ and are reborn in Him, nothing changes that. You're not saved through church affiliation. You're saved by the grace of God through your faith in His only begotten son, Jesus Christ.

blueluna5 · Apr 29, 2020

DBurrage said:

Everything you're mentioning is physical, not spiritual.

Do you have faith in God?
Faith= trust= love. Faith is unconditional. So in the same way God loves you, you should love God so to speak. (In reality God loves more since he is love though.)

Trust in God is not the same as agreeing with your circumstances. You may say, "I don't understand why this is happening Lord, but I know you are good and working all things for good." Such a statement is a person with a lot of faith. It's not just the faith for believing you will go to heaven. It's trust in the present and future.

Relationship is important as well.
How do you develop your relationship?
You draw near to God. Depends on your personality. But the main ways are to read the Bible (some may prefer to listen to Bible, watch it (make sure it's correct though! Hollywood changes things), songs with lyrics from Bible, games, and a combination is great.) Also some people like watching pastors preach online. There are cliff notes, though sometimes that takes away. The ideas are endless. It's great to get creative with it and helps you retain it.

Praying is also important. Thank God for all the blessings you have and even be specific with it. Being thankful has a dual effect being both loving to God and healthy for our mental wellbeing. Ask God for you requests as well and believe its possible.

Ask God your questions... Things you're curious about and share your thoughts and ideas. He'll answer you randomly throughout your day, in the moment, in your dreams, in a conversation, in the Bible. The answer will come, so enjoy the connection. And hey have another thing to give thanks for.

As far as the things you mentioned. I know people are the church. However people do not save you spiritually. Only God can do that, specifically through Jesus. So luckily... You don't have to rely on other people for your salvation. Whew 🙏

Also you can and should get baptized again if it was not what you wanted. It won't save you but it should be a beautiful experience.

Pemican · Apr 29, 2020

DBurrage said:

If ever in your life you believed in the person and work of Christ, you are saved. Once a person believes in Christ he becomes a child of God forever, and God never lets that person go. Only you can answer this question. Salvation is trusting in what Christ has done for us rather than trusting in ones own merit or works.

Joh 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

Act 16:30-31 "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved . . ."

Joh 10:27-29 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."

As to not wanting to ever go to church again, there are many churches that can be "attended" online, there are Bible studies on disc you can order through the mail, there are many good publications you can read to further your understanding of the Bible. I personally do not attend a church because I am too far away from any church that teaches the Bible in the detail and depth that I like. Instead I listen daily for about an hour to recorded teachings from a great pastor. If that is what you want, ask God to lead you to a source of sound biblical teaching.

Blain · Apr 29, 2020

I got baptized when I was a kid but only did it for the attention I never was into God and yet my mom swears she saw the holy spirit glowing off me that day. But I never changed I didn't think about God or cared about him and I actually did soem really horrible stuff that I am ashamed of in my life. But one day I was alone in my room and I felt so alone and uncared about my family had changed and it seemed like no one cared about me I even daydreamed what it must be like to be loved and cared about especially by a mother.
I honestly had no reason to live I looked at my life and saw it as trash and I bursted into tears begging God to please come into heart, I told him how I was so alone and felt so unloved I tried to bargain with him offering everything I have even my own life because death seemed far better than this existanse

The next morning after I went to bed still in tears I jumped aout of bed and danced around my room. I am not a morning person at all but the joy and life I felt in me just made me move. It was never a matter of water it is a matter of the heart.

Roughsoul1991 · Apr 29, 2020

DBurrage said:

This is often the top 10 questions people ask on this site. Assurance of salvation. Am I saved. Or how do I know. Am I supposed to feel differently.

The Bible in perspective has nothing to do with modern church interpretation as in we know our Bibles are accurate due to the many manuscripts. So we can trust the Bible. Of course people can twist or misinterpret but the Bible itself is trustworthy.

Salvation is more of a heart thing than a list of steps. Is your heart after Jesus. If yes then it simply becomes the process of healing the damage done by false teachers.

The only way to heal from the damage is to begin reading the Bible. Make it your foundation. Make it your filter for all outside information.

Once you do this then you can seek out churches. Always remember that church is made up by people so none will be perfect. But if you use the Bible as a filter and find one with sound doctrine and the people feel like family then I would call that a church home.

If your heart is not after Jesus as your life is still more important than following Jesus then it wouldn't hurt anything to start fresh. Really dive into repentance, renew your faith in Christ, and accept to follow Him. Get baptized if you need to. Whatever it takes to satisfy your soul so you can move forward to a focused without doubt type of faith.

DBurrage · Apr 30, 2020

I do feel that Jesus is Lord and saviour, and is the way to reconcile humanity with God.

I feel that my experience with Hillsong has damaged my perception of Church as well as my desire to read the Bible.
How do I deal with this?

Dave-L · Apr 30, 2020

DBurrage said:

Something to take note of, there are few real Christians. Narrow is the way and few there be that find it. And many Tares who are not saved but choose to act like Christians, thinking they are. I found there are entire Churches made up of Tares. If you believe in Christ without choosing to do so, it's because he saved you and you have the witness of his Spirit in your heart. This experience causes you to believe. And if you experience this, you have the eternal life that cannot be lost.

DBurrage · Apr 30, 2020

Dave-L said:

The Hillsong Church I was at basically equated having faith in Jesus with attending their Church.
Of course they didn't state this explicitly, but when I left it was basically made out that I had fallen from faith in some way.

Micaiah-imla · Apr 30, 2020

DBurrage said:

Do not let anything in this world to cause you to lose a desire to read the Bible; NOTHING! Not even you own fleshly mind.

blue_ladybug · Apr 30, 2020

Hi DB, you CANNOT lose your salvation.

If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, and believe on Him, you are saved. The ONLY way to lose salvation would be to commit the unpardonable sin: denying that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit exist..

Also, water baptism doesn't do anything to give us salvation. Getting dunked in water doesn't save us..

Dave-L · Apr 30, 2020

DBurrage said:

God removes his people from false churches. He delivered me from one of the worst. I began staying away from churches and studying on my own until now.

DBurrage · Apr 30, 2020

blue_ladybug said:

I don't believe that believing God/Jesus/Holy Spirit to exists the unpardonable sin.
I believe that the unpardonable sin is attributing evil deeds to the Holy Spirit.

If you were right about the unpardonable sin being unbelief, then no unbeliever could ever be saved.

blue_ladybug · Apr 30, 2020

He delivered me from the mormon church that I was attending services at.

Though at the time, I didn't know they were a cult. Boy am I glad I got removed from there..

blue_ladybug · Apr 30, 2020

DBurrage said:

I'm not talking about unbelief. I'm saying that some people don't want to acknowledge the fact that those 3 are real, and they do exist. People tend to want physical and/ or visual proof before they will accept what they don't want to acknowledge. Modern-day people didn't see Jesus die on the cross, nor have any ever seen God.

DBurrage · Apr 30, 2020

blue_ladybug said:

Yep, plenty of cults around the world, SOME of which misuse the Lord's name:
Mormons
Scientology
Hillsong
Other false teachers

mlssufan01 · Apr 30, 2020

So, we have to separate the issues of salvation and the issues of being hurt at church, because they are 2 different things.
Firstly, while I don't know Hillsong myself, I know the last church I was a member at would have vehemently labeled them heretics. I'm not sure I agree...but that's lack of knowledge on my part.
I don't think there has ever been a true Christian who has not been hurt; and more often than not the hurt comes inside the church. I don't understand it, and I never will. But, the Bible does tell us there will be false teachers. Is this a possibility?
However, the Bible does also tell church leaders to expel the immoral brother for serious sins...so I would also say examine yourself and see if there is any justification for them removing you.
But most importantly; salvation has nothing to do with any of the above. Salvation is through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone; who died for the forgiveness of your sins and asks people everywhere to repent of their sins, and trust in the work of his death on the cross and his resurrection; and in that moment will be saved and reconciled to God through Christ, and you will have new life and be a new creation.
You can trust me when I say, I know the feeling, and not from one church--from almost every church I have ever attended; in fact all but the last one; which I only left due to moving away, and is the first and only one I left from on good terms with all members.

JeremiahsCup · Apr 30, 2020

It is not the baptism of water where you are saved. Consider what the baptism of water represents, being buried and the resurrection. It is at the resurrection that those that believed in Jesus' resurrection, he being the first fruits of it, that the faithful shall be saved.

DBurrage · Apr 30, 2020

mlssufan01 said:

So, we have to separate the issues of salvation and the issues of being hurt at church, because they are 2 different things.
Firstly, while I don't know Hillsong myself, I know the last church I was a member at would have vehemently labeled them heretics. I'm not sure I agree...but that's lack of knowledge on my part.
I don't think there has ever been a true Christian who has not been hurt; and more often than not the hurt comes inside the church. I don't understand it, and I never will. But, the Bible does tell us there will be false teachers. Is this a possibility?
However, the Bible does also tell church leaders to expel the immoral brother for serious sins...so I would also say examine yourself and see if there is any justification for them removing you.
But most importantly; salvation has nothing to do with any of the above. Salvation is through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone; who died for the forgiveness of your sins and asks people everywhere to repent of their sins, and trust in the work of his death on the cross and his resurrection; and in that moment will be saved and reconciled to God through Christ, and you will have new life and be a new creation.
You can trust me when I say, I know the feeling, and not from one church--from almost every church I have ever attended; in fact all but the last one; which I only left due to moving away, and is the first and only one I left from on good terms with all members.

Thanks for your reply.

To clarify, they didn't remove me, I left.
See my 'Hillsong a Cult?' thread.

Yes you're right, salvation is different from being hurt at a church.

Am I saved, or have I lost salvation?

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