{"id":996,"date":"2014-08-08T20:00:42","date_gmt":"2014-08-08T20:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/?p=996"},"modified":"2014-08-09T04:20:40","modified_gmt":"2014-08-09T04:20:40","slug":"what-is-backsliding-and-are-you-doing-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/2014\/08\/what-is-backsliding-and-are-you-doing-it.html","title":{"rendered":"What Is Backsliding, and Are You Doing It?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Golden<\/a>
In the waters of life, Jesus — not men with loud, strident voices — is the one who commands the wind and the waves. Golden Sea, original oil painting by Steve Henderson; licensed open edition print at Great Big Canvas, iCanvasART, and Framed Canvas Art.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Too many of us are acquainted with the word, “backsliding,” which, in its purest form, means to lose one’s resolve to follow\u00a0a chosen path. A recovering alcoholic who re-enters\u00a0the bar circuit is an example — surrounding oneself\u00a0by\u00a0temptation, and resuming behavior that one is trying to overcome, isn’t a particularly successful\u00a0business plan.<\/p>\n

Within Christianity,\u00a0backsliding\u00a0applies, theoretically, to believers who no longer walk the narrow path of following Christ, reading His word, listening to His voice — in essence, being His disciples\u00a0and serving Him as master. I say theoretically, because in\u00a0the real life of too many people,\u00a0backsliding is defined not by God but by other human beings, who\u00a0establish a system of customized rules for\u00a0determining what is, and isn’t, a\u00a0genuine\u00a0walk with God.<\/p>\n

No Church, No God<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

For example, in many Christians’ eyes, not attending church is a clear sign that one is backsliding since (and this structural phrasing of the argument is extremely common):<\/p>\n

“If you really loved God, then you would attend church.” Ergo, that you don’t attend church is evidence that you don’t love God. \u00a0Alternative options, such as\u00a0your being tired of the corporate religious system that passes for spirituality these days, and opting to go another way, are impermissible.<\/p>\n

Here are some more:<\/p>\n

“If you really love God (and are a true Christian),<\/em><\/p>\n

“You will speak in tongues.”<\/p>\n

“You will never doubt. You will never feel fear or anxiety.”<\/p>\n

\"Grace<\/a>
Steve called this painting Grace, because the woman is happy, free, secure in knowing that she is loved. Grace, original oil painting by Steve Henderson; licensed open edition print at Framed Canvas Art.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“You will tithe, faithfully, to your church even if you don’t have enough money for groceries this\u00a0month. That you don’t have enough money is evidence of your lack of faith.”<\/p>\n

“You will not sin.”<\/p>\n

“You will feel joyful.”<\/p>\n

“You will not swear.”<\/p>\n

“You will not be tempted to drink, smoke, or break any law found in the Old Testament, or unwritten — but understood — by the ‘Christian community.'”<\/p>\n

It goes on, but the upshot is, if you do not adhere to either 1) selective laws of the Old Testament and\/or 2) the silent rules and regulations put forth by the\u00a0voices of authority\u00a0talking at you once, or more, each week, then you are said to be backslidden. And once you are backslidden, you are considered damned.<\/p>\n

The Caressing Hand That Slaps<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

On the gentler end, backsliders are considered lesser Christians, while the more extreme view (which I fervently hope is rare) is expressed in this excerpt\u00a0I stumbled upon at a Yahoo Answers site:<\/p>\n

“God hates to see people’s back sides, and when He does, He usually gives them a good quick hard stiff KICK in the butt that sends them sprawling back into the slime pit from which they came for another good bellyful of it, hoping they’ll get so sick of it THIS time, they’ll never look back at it again!”<\/p>\n

Is it any wonder that people have so much trouble grasping, understanding, hanging onto, and believing in the love of God when we are so adept at distorting it?<\/p>\n

Okay, let’s spit\u00a0out the bile from that kick butt paragraph, take a sip of water, and consider this\u00a0statement from FlyALittleHigher.com<\/a>, which posted this\u00a0Facebook meme<\/a>:<\/p>\n

“While I had chosen to trust God, to hope rather than despair, fear still reared up inside of me. The practical part of trusting God is hard and takes practice.”<\/p>\n

Life. Is. Excruciatingly.\u00a0Difficult.<\/p>\n

The Love, not Hate, of Christ<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Every single human being battles individual temptations and life circumstances, armed with an emotional, physical, and spiritual make-up that is unique to each one of us. While Jesus alone is able to\u00a0get into the soul of another human being, and understand why that person thinks, acts, and lives the way he does, this doesn’t stop us from bursting in, and stating, explicitly, to others, what they must and must not do to be a true follower of Jesus.<\/p>\n

This is why we need to read Scripture for ourselves, growing in wisdom and becoming adept in learning what the Word says,\u00a0thereby\u00a0freeing ourselves from\u00a0relying upon\u00a0others to interpret it for us. I’m sure it’s no surprise that there are a whole lotta wrong interpretations out there.<\/p>\n

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest,”<\/em>\u00a0Jesus tells us in Matthew 11: 28-30.\u00a0“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Our Teacher is gentle, not harsh; meek, not arrogant; forgiving, not delighting in seeing us squirm in the\u00a0slime pit into which His well-placed kick landed us. When you start reading for yourself, begin with this verse: close your eyes and absorb the meek, gentle, and rest for your souls, part.<\/p>\n

Thank You<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for joining me at Commonsense Christianity, where I seek to separate truth from myth. Obviously, I’m not infallible, but if being perfect were the requirement for us to embark upon any endeavor, then none of us would be doing anything.<\/p>\n

Posts similar to this one are<\/p>\n

Do You Long for the Love Christianity Promises?<\/a><\/p>\n

Thriving on Spiritual Abuse<\/a><\/p>\n

The Misfit Christian<\/a>\u00a0(Do you not fit into today’s church culture? Have you ever considered that the problem may not be you, but today’s church culture? The Misfit Christian is a book of bloggy essays designed to encourage ordinary, regular Christians into realizing that they’re not such awful people after all.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Too many of us are acquainted with the word, “backsliding,” which, in its purest form, means to lose one’s resolve to follow\u00a0a chosen path. A recovering alcoholic who re-enters\u00a0the bar circuit is an example — surrounding oneself\u00a0by\u00a0temptation, and resuming behavior that one is trying to overcome, isn’t a particularly successful\u00a0business plan. Within Christianity,\u00a0backsliding\u00a0applies, theoretically, to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":561,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,88,5,1026,13,2,10,11,58,3,15,7,4,8,6],"tags":[1149,148,1644,34,19,72,26,22,62,247,203,837,303,93,1150,360,28,345],"class_list":["post-996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-bible","category-christianity","category-church-2","category-encouragement","category-faith","category-family","category-home","category-hope-2","category-inspiration","category-lifestyle","category-personal-growth","category-prayer","category-spiritual-growth","category-spirituality","tag-backsliding","tag-believer","tag-bible","tag-christ","tag-christian","tag-church","tag-god","tag-grace","tag-jesus","tag-life","tag-love-2","tag-meek","tag-pray","tag-scripture","tag-speak-in-tongues","tag-tithe","tag-trust","tag-word"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat Is Backsliding, and Are You Doing It? - Commonsense Christianity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/commonsensechristianity\/2014\/08\/what-is-backsliding-and-are-you-doing-it.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is Backsliding, and Are You Doing It? - Commonsense Christianity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Too many of us are acquainted with the word, “backsliding,” which, in its purest form, means to lose one’s resolve to follow\u00a0a chosen path. 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