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Doubting your salvation - B-Ray - 05-08-2012 09:37 PM
since i got saved three years ago i have had serious questions to my salvation to the point of pure nervous breakdown. I have since been given assurance, and i stand firmly on the Rock. But i feel that all those feelings were unfounded due to the simplicity of the Gospel.
I think it was a result of Fundy Preaching.
Did you guys have the same experiences?
RE: Doubting your salvation - Natalie - 05-08-2012 09:44 PM
I used to doubt my salvation all the time in Fundyland. The emphasis on saying a prayer "right" or believing a certain doctrine made me crazy.
After leaving and after learning about God's true Grace, I've never doubted it since.
RE: Doubting your salvation - beth - 05-09-2012 12:15 AM
(05-08-2012 09:44 PM)Natalie Wrote: I used to doubt my salvation all the time in Fundyland. The emphasis on saying a prayer "right" or believing a certain doctrine made me crazy.
After leaving and after learning about God's true Grace, I've never doubted it since.
Same here. The pressure fundy preachers place on their followers, especially on kids and teens, is unreal. They're so driven to get people to the altar so they can get bragging rights that they forget/don't care that they're screwing up real people with real lives and real souls.
RE: Doubting your salvation - NotUnderLaw - 05-09-2012 02:58 PM
Yep. The emphasis on "did I say the right prayer" or "did I mean it enough" or "had I repented properly" or "was I 100% sure, not 99% sure with a bit of doubt", "was I reading my Bible daily", "was I doing devotions", "did I cry over the lost" etc etc all of that stuff only bred more doubt.
But in reality, it isn't MY salvation. It's God's. And he can't mess it up. It's finished. Done deal. I'm saved.
RE: Doubting your salvation - beth - 05-09-2012 03:27 PM
(05-09-2012 02:58 PM)NotUnderLaw Wrote: Yep. The emphasis on "did I say the right prayer" or "did I mean it enough" or "had I repented properly" or "was I 100% sure, not 99% sure with a bit of doubt", "was I reading my Bible daily", "was I doing devotions", "did I cry over the lost" etc etc all of that stuff only bred more doubt.
But in reality, it isn't MY salvation. It's God's. And he can't mess it up. It's finished. Done deal. I'm saved.
There was also that whole "You need to write the date and time in your Bible, so you have assurance. Your date and time of physical birth is recorded. You need to do the same for your spiritual rebirth." Well, that always gave me problems, because I was 7 when I trusted Christ, and wasn't exactly writing very well, and had been taught to only put my name in a Bible, and not write all over it. And that whole recording your date and time of "the prayer" really wasn't an issue at the SBC church we attended, pre-cult. So imagine the problems I had when we went to one of the cult churches where the preacher was fishing for "decisions" and started up that mess.
RE: Doubting your salvation - Jenni - 05-09-2012 07:26 PM
Yeppers. Doubted it all the time, was TERRIFIED that I hadn't said the words right or read the right verses or had the right attitude or really understood or really meant what I said. Super scared of the consequences of that kind of mistake.
Then I saw what that kind of thinking did to my students at the Fundy Christian school. I had some kids who "got saved" every year. I finally started counseling AGAINST an additional salvation experience whenever the question came up. If a kid understood the gospel and could explain it to me, I steered them away from praying the prayer again and towards the idea that God is going to keep His/(Her, although I wouldn't have said that then) word and that S/he is good.
RE: Doubting your salvation - B-Ray - 05-09-2012 09:07 PM
Yeah, it was always at my church "was ther a change?" If there wasnt then you didnt get saved. But not a lot of emphasis on what kind of change. the feeling was if you didn't quit drugging, drinking, wearing shorts, smoking cigarettes, etc... then you didnt get saved.
My problem wasnt this, i was radically transformed. I did quit all those things at one time (except smoking, that came later) My problem was not being properly taught the Grace of God. therefore, because of the duel nature within me (sin still ever present with me) coupled with the "if you are only 99% sure your saved, then im 100% sure your LOST," type preaching, i doubted.
God was so good to us that He made a plan for our salvation that is so simple, we can't even wrap our heads around it. We almost just beg to work our way to God. But im glad of the day I fully realized the Grace of God. And thats when i was able to have an heart open to the truth. This has only been a couple of weeks ago for me. Ive lived in pure misery for 3 years, and then i got the victory over doubt. And i also found SFL. He trully will lead us to all truth.
RE: Doubting your salvation - beth - 05-09-2012 11:13 PM
(05-09-2012 09:07 PM)B-Ray Wrote: Yeah, it was always at my church "was ther a change?" If there wasnt then you didnt get saved. But not a lot of emphasis on what kind of change. the feeling was if you didn't quit drugging, drinking, wearing shorts, smoking cigarettes, etc... then you didnt get saved.
My problem wasnt this, i was radically transformed. I did quit all those things at one time (except smoking, that came later) My problem was not being properly taught the Grace of God. therefore, because of the duel nature within me (sin still ever present with me) coupled with the "if you are only 99% sure your saved, then im 100% sure your LOST," type preaching, i doubted.
God was so good to us that He made a plan for our salvation that is so simple, we can't even wrap our heads around it. We almost just beg to work our way to God. But im glad of the day I fully realized the Grace of God. And thats when i was able to have an heart open to the truth. This has only been a couple of weeks ago for me. Ive lived in pure misery for 3 years, and then i got the victory over doubt. And i also found SFL. He trully will lead us to all truth.
So what do they say if someone was a small child when s/he trusted Christ? Kids don't exactly have easy access to alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and the big sins. Most things kids do (lying, stealing legos, and talking back to parents) are part of normal development. The worst is when parents use a child's event of salvation as a weapon to shame them later ("You said you got saved, but you stole a lego? Are you into lying, too? Did you lie about getting saved?").
RE: Doubting your salvation - Natalie - 05-09-2012 11:17 PM
The way I was taught that when a person gets saved at a young age, they're being saved FROM sin. Like future sins.
RE: Doubting your salvation - B-Ray - 05-10-2012 04:14 AM
I know of one preacher who was so worried about his "children" (kids are baby goats), that he would often wake them up at 2 or 3 in the morning asking them are they sure if they were saved. That same preacher also believes that it may take many professions of salvation to "get it right."
