The Fallacies That Stumble

Have you ever considered why we back-slide now and then and fall away sometimes, or just don’t have the motivation to read the Bible, pray and sing praises to God?

While it’s a fact that we all go through dry spells, why then do some of us slip away so much that there’s an actual term for the condition, i.e. ‘backsliding’.

I got to thinking about this issue, because it’s not a unique problem to most Christians, including myself. I backslid down the slippery slope for years from my late teens after I left college and enlisted in the Army, and have just recently started to once again reach for the peak.

Here are some bad messages from Christian missionaries and pulpits that I believe are what snares us and why I think that most of us are unable to truly change our mindsets that lead to issues like backsliding:

I Found God

The first fallacy that comes from many giving testimonies is that they are the ones who found God.

This mindset gives rise to the fallacy that you by your own ’search and rescue mission’ stumbled upon God’s promises and accepted His free gift of salvation.

Yet the Bible tells us a different story: that you cannot find God if He doesn’t first make Himself known to you. And He is the one who reaches out to you, not the other way around!

God, in His infinite mercy, reached out to you and saved you.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 2:8-10

I believe the works here don’t just refer to whatever good works we might have done, but that they also refer to how we think we are really seeking God and found Him. I mean, don’t we hear or read of testimonies that claim to have found God?

What’s the difference then?

When you acknowledge that it is not you who found God, but that He found you and saved you from eternal damnation, only then can you truly be thankful for what He has done for you. That’s where praise and thanksgiving shall flow unceasingly from!

Look at it this way, if someone on the street today were to give you a shove and push you out of the way of an oncoming speeding car which might have killed you instantly if you didn’t move out of the way in time, won’t you be grateful to that person for the rest of your life?

It’s the same principle: you need to first acknowledge that God is the one who found you and saved you from eternal damnation. Not the other way around. Only then can you truly appreciate His mercy and grace, and only then can you really thank Him and seek to follow Him.

Jesus-Shaped Hole In The Heart

This should sound familiar to a lot of us, where many missionaries and pastors invite you to go forward to be saved because despite all the good in your life right now, you still have that Jesus-shaped hole in your heart or soul.

Well, there isn’t!

There’s no such thing because, for one, it just isn’t mentioned in the Bible anywhere! Yes, the Bible tells us that we are lost without God, but that’s not a Jesus-shaped hole.

And you need to know that there is absolutely no Biblical basis when you are given the invitation to invite Jesus Christ into your heart because He is knocking on the door of your heart. That stems from a verse in the book of Revelation, but notice that in no way does it mention that its the door to your heart.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Revelation 3:20

Remember the warning given: don’t add (nor subtract) words to (from) God’s Word! In fact, Jesus Christ said if we hear His voice, then shall He come in to dine with us. What, then, is His voice?

It is the Gospel, that gives shape to faith, not a Jesus-shaped hole in your heart or soul!

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Romans 10:14-17

So, what’s so wrong with this approach?

Again, it is placing the act of salvation in man’s hands. It portrays God as constantly knocking on this ‘door’ and just waiting for you to respond.

Moreover, the Gospel is not preached in most of these instances, but just that one needs God as some bling bling (accessory) in their already ‘wonderful’ life. Is it therefore any wonder that many that receive in such fashion fall away when tribulation and trials come hard and fast?

The focus is taken away from you acknowleding that God has saved you from eternal damnation for His glory and His pleasure.

Lack of Conviction of ONE’s SinFUL STATE

In relation to the Jesus-shaped hole syndrome is the absence of conviction of sin. Sadly, sin is not something that many pulpits warn of nor condemn nowadays.

If there is a lack of the acknowledgement of what wretched sinners we are, where then is the real need that arises in a person to truly have a contrite heart and seek forgiveness while crying out in total repentance to God?

It therefore is not surprising that young Christians who are not convinced of their sinful state continue to love the things of the world, do not learn to hate sin, but continue to be fully immersed in the world and know not better?

I can personally testify to that, because I have been down that slippery slope so far I know how bad it is down there and be among the swine and wallowing in the mud (drawing an analogy from the parable of the prodigal son).

In the back of my mind then I knew that God was beckoning me back through numerous warnings and messages that came my way, but I ignored all of them simply because my heart was bent on loving the world.

The fact that I was sinning so much didn’t bother me one bit, because I wasn’t fully convicted that I was such a sinner. And because I had not learned to hate sin as God does, sinning didn’t grieve me at all as I now know that it grieved Him who loves me.

The “sinner’s prayer” doesn’t do anything for anyone. Not familiar with it? Well, for those who were witnessed to via those tracts that proclaim “Steps To Peace With God”, you might know that prayer like I do. In fact, I still have one tract with me tucked within the pages of my first Bible — The Good News edition.

It didn’t occur to me then nor at any time along the way of my Christian life, but simply repeating a simple prayer isn’t going to convict one of one’s sins. No wonder it was that, after a period of euphoria and enthusiasm, there’s no real growth!

Because, like how it is with those highs one might experience at a rock concert, things just go back to being normal right after you step out of the concert hall. You are moved by the experience, but not by true conviction.

Here’s what a heart of contrition sounds like — just listen to Paul Washer’s testimony.

What Needs To Be Done Then?

If you have benefitted from this little piece, I pray that you take time to get it right with God right from the beginning, i.e. beginning with how you see your state as a Christian, and how you relate to God.

As Paul so succinctly put it, we need to test ourselves.

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

2 Corinthians 13:5

The first thing is to examine if you have gotten the dynamics of your relationship with God right — did you find Him, or was it God’s infinite love, grace and mercy that looked on a sinner like yourself, reached out, and saved you from eternal damnation?

You need to recognize that none of this is of your doing, but that God reached out to you, and gave you eternal life when you believed, for His glory and pleasure.

The second thing is to realize if you have truly repented of your sins with a contrite heart and called out to God for forgiveness. You need to also acknowledge that God loathes sin, and as one who follows Christ Jesus, you need to start learning to hate sin with the help of the Holy Spirit.

And that’s where the fear of the LORD comes in, for you know that our God is holy and a just God, and being a good judge, He does not tolerate sin and His full wrath on the unrighteous shall be poured out.

Then, and only then, will you realize the full effect of the Apostle Paul’s words when he encouraged thus:

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Philippians 2:12-13

As long as you’re breathing and alive, it’s not too late to re-learn and get on the right footing in your Christian walk. To borrow a wise saying from days of old: “A good start is half the job done”.

Shalom Aleichem.

Photo by Random Curiosity.