Have you ever walked away from God?

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Jullianna

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I would be interested in knowing how many christians here have walked away from God at some point in their lives. I did it. These sounded like pretty good excuses to me for doing so at the time:

- A pastor who was the father of a seminary student who forcibly impregnated a teenager I was close to suggested an abortion when he found out about the pregnancy
- Women I thought to be pillars of the church were gossiping about the apparel of an asian visitor who barely spoke English
- Some folks wanted me to fake certain things so I would fit the mold of a certain denomination
- I was told by my best friend's dad that I couldn't be in her wedding because I'd worn pants to high school to climb up on a ladder to change stage light gels

I wasn't wise enough to know this at the time:

MATTHEW 13: 24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ 29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

I'd heard the parable in Sunday School, of course, but lacked the wisdom for practical application. Regardless, the fault was completely my own. Rather than looking to other people, I should have looked to my Savior and been the change in the Church that I wanted to see.

Needless to say, doing things my own way created chaos that nearly drove me to suicide...which would have been successful without divine intervention.

Even within the past couple of years, at a very vulnerable time in my life, I took unwise counsel from those who had not yet sold out completely to the Lord and made compromises that changed me in ways I deeply regretted. BUT, God is faithful. In the past year, He has changed me in ways few people would notice. But I know it. And it has changed my life.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has experienced this. Please share as a warning to others. God will honor your testimony.

God put it on my heart to post this here. So, if you find yourself in either of these situations, I would love to pray with you.
 
I did. I dated a non-christian guy for almost two years, and it kept aparting me from God each day more. I would go to church, my body was there, but my heart and soul was somewhere else.
I used to say I would bring him to church, but, when I realized, I was out of church myself.
Just like you, I wasn't wise enough to hear my family's word, my friend's word or not even my pastor's word. It's incredible how we stay totally blind for so much time.

And here am I, choose to learn by the hard way, but learned the lesson.
 
I just want to say, that persevere... If you trylu knew God and all He is... You'd never walk away, let God amaze you in His ways and so much more... Those who turned away or walked, I would say never really knew Him, or got to Him, before they made their choice!!! But if you did, you would have had to be severely hopeless, and against Him!!...lol
 
asd101. exactly! I didn't know who God is. I'm getting to know Him now and I'm amazed. I didn't know Him as a friend, as a father, as someone who I could talk with. Just as someone up there whom I should fear, with no reason. That was the image I had about Him. Why would I want to stay close?
 
delive said:
asd101. exactly! I didn't know who God is. I'm getting to know Him now and I'm amazed. I didn't know Him as a friend, as a father, as someone who I could talk with. Just as someone up there whom I should fear, with no reason. That was the image I had about Him. Why would I want to stay close?
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I know for me, it was the same... but to hear the testimonies of others that knew him... I was amazed... Why don't I know God like this, I asked myself... Who is He really??? Does He really love me?? As I began to ponder this and read my Bible, and pray, I asked Him to show himself to me, on some level inside, and He did!, He showed me love, things I never had, things I couldn't see, my sins, who I really was!!! And Icould never be good enough but He loves me the same anyways!! Began to guide me to see the light and the Truth!!! Now I see everything for what it truly is... A world without God, is a LOST!! Worsld indeed!!! I could wite more but I think that would be too much!!! LOL!!
 
Exactly, you guys. I'd done Sunday School, studied the Bible all of my life, knew the stories, sang the hymns, went to church on Sunday and Weds, did youth group, followed the "rules", sang from Jr High on, been to the altar to pray for salvation and accept Him as my Savior....I had the knowledge, but not the wisdom that comes from actually KNOWING Him as Savior and King, and having the Holy Spirit to teach and guide me.

An old pastor I know calls this "The 18" Difference". The average distance between a person's brain and their heart is 18". To truly know Him, that distance must be traveled.
 
Jullianna said:
- A pastor who was the father of a seminary student who forcibly impregnated a teenager I was close to suggested an abortion when he found out about the pregnancy
- Women I thought to be pillars of the church were gossiping about the apparel of an asian visitor who barely spoke English
- Some folks wanted me to fake certain things so I would fit the mold of a certain denomination
- I was told by my best friend's dad that I couldn't be in her wedding because I'd worn pants to high school to climb up on a ladder to change stage light gels
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I walked away in so much as I stopped attending church as soon as my parents gave me the right to choose.

I realise looking back that I was trying to know God through others, and similar to the experiences you listed, people are scarcely representative of God's best.
What bothered my all my years of being made to attend was the prescence of so many 'Sunday Christians', it seemd that outside the doors the message just didn't carry and I grew to hate the hypocrisy, and like all young people, and many older people generally I responded in the wrong way, by closing the wrong doors.

It wasn't faith, Church or God that was a problem, it was me being surrounded by people not dedicated to their faith but straining for any sort of comfort.

As I've gotten older I've learned that finding faith in God requires us to look beyond all other humans, no other person can be a window, or a shortcut to faith, it's between me and God, and when I realised that, things started getting better, and I learned that while Church is an important part of a strong walk, faith is not bound too it, like I had been made to believe.
 
I don't really feel like getting too far into the details, but yes, I have walked away from God at one point in my life...foolish me.

It took a few years, many humiliating situations, and a few times of me waking up in the county jail ( not knowing exactly what had happened the night before) for me to snap out of it. I had received a lot of chastisement from God during those disobedient days in my life, and still do, but it has all been for my own good. However, I have also received an overwhelming amount of mercy from the Lord and I praise God that he brought me out of that hell that I was living in and shown me the way, truth, and life--Jesus Christ.

PRAISE GOD!
 
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Matthew said:
I walked away in so much as I stopped attending church as soon as my parents gave me the right to choose.

I realise looking back that I was trying to know God through others, and similar to the experiences you listed, people are scarcely representative of God's best.
What bothered my all my years of being made to attend was the prescence of so many 'Sunday Christians', it seemd that outside the doors the message just didn't carry and I grew to hate the hypocrisy, and like all young people, and many older people generally I responded in the wrong way, by closing the wrong doors.

It wasn't faith, Church or God that was a problem, it was me being surrounded by people not dedicated to their faith but straining for any sort of comfort.

As I've gotten older I've learned that finding faith in God requires us to look beyond all other humans, no other person can be a window, or a shortcut to faith, it's between me and God, and when I realised that, things started getting better, and I learned that while Church is an important part of a strong walk, faith is not bound too it, like I had been made to believe.
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I so get that, Matthew! I think this was my problem too. My mom was a christian, but my stepdad wasn't, and I didn't know anyone who lived it out 24/7.

I came to know how important this was a few years ago. On my last day of being a cop, a fellow officer hugged me goodbye and told me that I was the only christian he'd ever known who lived it out 24/7. He said that the same people who preached to him about God and parked in church parking lots on Sunday were doing the same things he was doing while hanging in the bars on Saturday night. He's since married, has a beautiful family and has become an associate pastor. :)
 
truthseeker said:
Sometimes I doubt His existence.
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Maybe you are the person this thread is for. :) Maybe God wants to protect you from the mistakes others have made, you know?

Will be praying for you! :) I would appreciate it if others would as well.
 
See_KING_Truth said:
I don't really feel like getting too far into the details, but yes, I have walked away from God at one point in my life...foolish me.

It took a few years, many humiliating situations, and a few times of me waking up in the county jail ( not knowing exactly what had happened the night before) for me to snap out of it. I had received a lot of chastisement from God during those disobedient days in my life, and still do, but it has all been for my own good. However, I have also received an overwhelming amount of mercy from the Lord and I praise God that he brought me out of that hell that I was living in and shown me the way, truth, and life--Jesus Christ.

PRAISE GOD!
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Amen! :) hugs!
 
Through hearing, you know, but, come to God with your heart, not your mind!!! Knowledge helps but only to guide you to get to Him, but the personal choice is yours on how close you want to get with God and to know Him! This is what the definition the personal relationship God wants with you!!! Get closer, you'll be amazed!! Get to know God!!! He created only one uu are unique!!!and He loves you!! :PPP!!
 
I don't know how much I would say that I walked away from God. I'm not really sure how to explain what happened, but I'll give it a try.

For several years I was attending church only scarcely. In that time I began dating a girl that said she was a christian, but who hadn't ever lived as one or really believed in much more than the idea of God. I had rejected her several times because of this, but kept her in my life. To make a long story short, we started dating, dated for quite some time. During that time I was far from a strong christian, but I still held strongly to my beliefs and always sought to show love to everyone I interacted with. I got in several theological debates over those years and read the bible and prayed. I certainly can't blame my ex, but over time the lack of church did seem to wear on me. I noticed that I had become surrounded by people who weren't the strong christians that I wanted to be, or that I wanted to be surrounded by.

Unsure how to make a change, and after a somewhat sudden breakup, things were not improving. I started getting some new perspectives on the Bible. I realized that I had always "believed" it as stories. I would apply those stories to my life, but they were only ever stories. It wasn't real. Unfortunately, instead of leading me closer to God, this new realization that it was REAL led me quite the opposite direction. I realized why they had always seemed like stories to me; I had no sense of supernatural acts that the stories talked about. I realized that if Jesus hadn't come until modern times, I would have discounted him as a crazy loon. My scientific mind would have sought natural explanations for his miracles and I wouldn't have believed or followed Him. This really weighed on my mind. I completely believed that Jesus was the son of God, that He did these miracles, but only because they were in the Bible. I wouldn't have believed them even if I saw them happen. Well, love was something that still remained. I spent a while accepting God as the embodiment of love, perfect love (not the new age idea of love)

Eventually, God brought someone into my life that brought a new perspective. God's timing was perfect. If Jesus came in our modern world, a lot more would be different than just whether I believed His miracles were real or not. Jesus' life and His death came exactly when they needed to. Exactly when they would work. It's foolish to embrace the idea "what if Jesus hadn't come until modern times" because it didn't happen. It's foolish to build your belief system on a hypothetical that you know can't happen.

Admittedly, I still struggle with grasping and experiencing the supernatural aspects of God. Though I'm sure it would further strengthen my faith and relationship with Him, I don't think I need to understand it to believe and live as He desires.

So did I walk away from God? I wouldn't say so, though I certainly tried.
 
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I wouldn't say that I completely walked away from God in that time. I still believed, I knew God was there. It just made it so much easier to do the things that I wanted to do if I had my back turned, even knowing that I could not hide from God. I didn't want to feel accountable for the immoral activities that I was involved in.

I think one of the things that keep athiests from wanting to believe in God, is that accountability. The thought of being responsible for one's own actions, and being held accountable for them. They don't like the idea of having a higher authority to answer to, they want to be the authority over their own life.
 
I already lived 18 years away from him,I don't know if that counts as walking away from him since I never accepted him as my savior before. Despite living in a very religious family where God was often mentioned, I never had a relationship with him, and I never really knew him.

As I grew up and my life started to become more of a mess, I started to wonder, who really was God? where was he? and did he really care about me? among other doubts I had. I prayed for my suffering to end and didn't see God answering me the way I expected, so I got mad at him and blamed him for not fixing my life when I needed it. I was too blind to see that what I needed was actually Him alone.

Why did I live most of my life walking away from God? in my case it was because:
a) Although my family was very religious, they were always arguing,fighting, and blaming each other for their own faults. This was my example of a family that ''had God in their lives''.
b) I never really knew him, I just heard what other people said about him without investigating if what was said was true. I think this is basically what lead me to my false faith, not knowing the real God.

A dear friend helped me open my eyes, and even though my walk didnt become perfect right after that(and we know it will never be until we are with the Lord :)), that truth remained in my heart. Over this last year, I've let that truth sprout in my heart finally and allow it to change me from the inside out. I hope I never walk away from him because that would be the stupidest thing I could do, I'm aware of it now. So if someone sees me walking away, please slap me, I wouldn't get mad (ok I would). :)
Btw, thanks for reminding me of those verses Jullianna, I think I needed it.
 
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Anyone ever see the movie Castaway with Tom Hanks? Remember when he lost his volleyball friend "Wilson" in the middle of the ocean and then tried in vain to swim after him knowing that he couldn't reach him and kept crying "Wilson!!! Wilson!! I'm sorry Wilson!! I'm sorryyy!" Thats how I felt after I walked away from God. :(
 
I walk away from God just about everyday; it's called transgression. But I walk straight back towards him by repentance.

But on a personal, somewhat more broad note, I walked away for about a year, trying to chalk things up to a "logical" manner.

I learned logic that goes against His word is not as logical as logic would like to have it. :)
 
My experience was very similar to what others have said. I grew up in church but I didn't see any godly example anywhere. People would preach one thing and then do the opposite. There was no consistency. Plus, there was much legalism and rules that were not biblical at all. I just thought that if that was the christian life I didn't want to be a part of that.

A few years later, God started working in my heart. I went through several difficult situations and He was there with me all the time. I felt Him like never before, His love, His strength, His compassion. It was amazing. My view of Him changed drastically. I always say like Job (42:5), "I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes". I realized (like others have said) that we should not focus on what other people are doing or how they're living their life. We should focus on God and in living a life that pleases Him :)
 
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