Re: How many JesusPeople & Charismatic converts finish the r
Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2015 1:01 pm
[user account removed]
Interesting. Apparently, God isn't the only spiritual power who can make use of the "randomly open the Bible and point to a verse" method when it suits his purposes.dizerner wrote:One backslider shared with me that he was trying to come back to God and randomly opened his Bible to this verse—with a sickening feeling he felt shut out of heaven forever.
I have a little bit different take on Heb. 6:4-6. In context, the writer is talking to Christians who were once spiritually mature, but have backslidden to a state of spiritual infancy, yet think they're still mature and growing. In v6, "seeing they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame," is speaking of such people in their current state -- not of what would happen if they did try to repent, as it's commonly understood (Robertson says the verbs are in the present tense). In my experience, it really is impossible to bring such people back to a state of spiritual growth toward maturity, because they simply can't be made to see their need. The only way I've found to have a chance of reaching such people is interaction on spiritual things over a long period of time. Many of those who chase after all the new-age teachings that permeate the church these days ("Jesus Calling" being one recent example) are in this category.