? A Question For All Former Christians Who Fell Away ?

YahDough · Post by **YahDough** » Mon May 06, 2013 11:06 pm

This is a question addressed only to former Christians who have left the faith.

Why did you become a Christian?
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YahDough · Post by **YahDough** » Sun Aug 11, 2013 10:08 pm

OnceConvinced wrote:
YahDough wrote:
Being indoctrinated into something with no other options sounds like a hard way to have to begin your walk with God, especially when the doctrine isn't exactly accurate.

And exactly what doctrines was I taught that you believe weren't accurate?
It was a statement that pertains to all denominational dogma that undermines sound doctrine, but I was also commenting on what you wrote in that first post, and I said wasn't "exactly" accurate.

You said, regarding your childhood indoctrination that you were taught: "There was no difference between the teaching that Jesus was the one true God and 1 + 1 = 2."

Christ Jesus is the Son of God and the "one true" Mediator between God and man.

OnceConvinced · Post by **OnceConvinced** » Tue Aug 13, 2013 11:28 pm

What, so you take the trinity as being false doctrine?

YahDough · Post by **YahDough** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:05 pm

OnceConvinced wrote: What, so you take the trinity as being false doctrine?

No, but I would call the "Trinity doctrine" dogmatic, divisive and not sound doctrine. The Father (God) is greater than Jesus. Jesus declared it. (Jn:14:28:)

OnceConvinced · Post by **OnceConvinced** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 4:47 pm

YahDough wrote:
OnceConvinced wrote: What, so you take the trinity as being false doctrine?
No, but I would call the "Trinity doctrine" dogmatic, divisive and not sound doctrine. The Father (God) is greater than Jesus. Jesus declared it. (Jn:14:28:)

The trinity aside, my parents taught me that Jesus is the only way to God. All other Gods are false ones. Would you say that was a false doctrine?

YahDough · Post by **YahDough** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 11:18 pm

OnceConvinced wrote:
YahDough wrote:
OnceConvinced wrote: What, so you take the trinity as being false doctrine?
No, but I would call the "Trinity doctrine" dogmatic, divisive and not sound doctrine. The Father (God) is greater than Jesus. Jesus declared it. (Jn:14:28:)
The trinity aside, my parents taught me that Jesus is the only way to God. All other Gods are false ones. Would you say that was a false doctrine?

No. Jesus Himself declared it in Jn:14:6.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

OnceConvinced · Post by **OnceConvinced** » Wed Aug 14, 2013 11:40 pm

YahDough wrote:
OnceConvinced wrote:
YahDough wrote:
OnceConvinced wrote: What, so you take the trinity as being false doctrine?
No, but I would call the "Trinity doctrine" dogmatic, divisive and not sound doctrine. The Father (God) is greater than Jesus. Jesus declared it. (Jn:14:28:)
The trinity aside, my parents taught me that Jesus is the only way to God. All other Gods are false ones. Would you say that was a false doctrine?
No. Jesus Himself declared it in Jn:14:6.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."

So then the doctrine I believed was NOT incorrect. There is only one God and all others are false. There are no other options.

YahDough · Post by **YahDough** » Thu Aug 15, 2013 11:35 am

OnceConvinced wrote:
YahDough wrote:
OnceConvinced wrote:
YahDough wrote:
OnceConvinced wrote: What, so you take the trinity as being false doctrine?
No, but I would call the "Trinity doctrine" dogmatic, divisive and not sound doctrine. The Father (God) is greater than Jesus. Jesus declared it. (Jn:14:28:)
The trinity aside, my parents taught me that Jesus is the only way to God. All other Gods are false ones. Would you say that was a false doctrine?
No. Jesus Himself declared it in Jn:14:6.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me."
So then the doctrine I believed was NOT incorrect. There is only one God and all others are false. There are no other options.

Options for who? Those who leave that "only one God" and His Son seem to have chosen other options.

we-live-now · Post by **we-live-now** » Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:29 pm

OnceConvinced wrote: I was indoctronated into it from birth. I was given no other options. Jesus and the bible was taught as fact along with everything else you learn as a small child. There was no difference between the teaching that Jesus was the one true God and 1 + 1 = 2.

At 7years old I fully beleived in Jesus and believed that I needed to give my life to Christ. I continued to believe without question and as a teenager began to grab the bull by the horns" as it were, serving God because I desired to (I genuinely believed in and loved Jesus) not just because my parents expected me to.

OnceConvinced, John 6:44 says that "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him". Thus, no matter how much your parents tried to indoctrinate you into their beliefs or religion, if the father didn't draw you, it can't happen - you won't believe. It is impossible to believe unless God causes it to happen; a true believer was drawn inwardly by the Spirit of God the father. There is an appointed time set by the father for everyone to believe, some in this life and most in the next. Most will need to be removed from their natural bodies and brains before they see truth and that won't occur until after physical death.

we-live-now

McCulloch · Post by **McCulloch** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 5:53 am

we-live-now wrote: John 6:44 says that "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him". Thus, no matter how much your parents tried to indoctrinate you into their beliefs or religion, if the father didn't draw you, it can't happen - you won't believe. It is impossible to believe unless God causes it to happen; a true believer was drawn inwardly by the Spirit of God the father. There is an appointed time set by the father for everyone to believe, some in this life and most in the next. Most will need to be removed from their natural bodies and brains before they see truth and that won't occur until after physical death.

I have a serious problem with this line of reasoning. How can it be that the god who who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth and who is said to be all knowing and all powerful, neglect to draw any individual to him? If I cannot come to God without God drawing me, and God wants me to be drawn to me, then why wouldn't God draw me to him? I can only see two possible logical alternatives for those who believe what is written in the New Testament:

Calvinism where God is said to explicitly chosen some for redemption and some for damnation or
Universalism where God is said to redeem everyone, no one is lost.

olavisjo · Post by **olavisjo** » Fri Nov 08, 2013 6:54 am

.

McCulloch wrote: If I cannot come to God without God drawing me, and God wants me to be drawn to me, then why wouldn't God draw me to him?

Is it possible that God knew you before you were born? Even though he wants all men to be saved, he still gives them the ability to choose, knowing that some will choose not to be saved. So, even if he did call you, he foreknew you would reject him, as some do. But the door is still not closed, you still have time to choose God. So, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart.

Is this not what the Bible says...

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

Romans 8:28-30 NIV