Deconversion experiences

Hi Meldinoor. It's great to have you back. I hope you'll remain active.Over the decades I've counseled many in a non-professional manner as a layman in business dealing with the public. During the Viet Nam War I counseled newly recruited Marines in a Ca. Christian Servicemen's Center This was near Camp Pendleton were young newly trained Marines were about to be shipped out to the lines in Nam where things were hot and heavy, thousands of GIs coming back in body bags. Many of these men received Jesus as Lord (I say Lord/master) and Savior, committing their lives and souls to him, being anxious no doubt, about their destiny.While in the USAF myself I was an activist apologist for the Biblical record and was the religious guy in the barracks who some came to on occasion to talk religion etc.I've done some jail volunteer counseling and witness over the years with some of the church men who did that sort of ministry. In the jail ministry, quite often I encountered men who had once made a profession of faith of some sort. I would i ask questions as to what faith they had been in etc. For those who had professed a spirit born experience, i.e. born again I would tell them where I guessed that they had began to fall away from their commitment.I would suggest three things which evangelical Christians needed in order to remain strong in the faith and to grow spiritually. First, read a chapter or more of the Bible daily. Second pray to the Father in the name of Jesus daily in a pattern somewhat like the Lord's Prayer as a model, but pray long enough to offer praise to God, to thank God for all blessings which come from him ultimately and to make request for all of their needs and concerns for that day. Thirdly, attend some assembly of believers at least once a week.Invariably, in the jails, the men would admit that it was when they began to get lax on one or more of the above three things, they began to fall away from the faith.Without being too nosey, I'm wandering what sort of faith and doctrine you originally had? Was there a specified time of conversion when you could say from that point you had become a Christian? What was the criteria for your conversion to Christianity in the first place?Perhaps your faith was shallow and had never reached a significant amount of depth. Jesus spoke of the different soils which the sown seed fell on, some on rocky, some dry, some by the wayside, etc and some on the good soil where it took root. Did you ever have the assurance that your faith had taken root? Did your religion even practice and teach the need for a conversion experience?I hope this helps in some way. I will have you on my prayer list as you go your way, trusting in God to, by his Holy Spirit, to nudge you in the way you should go. Often God works in interesting and unusual ways when we ask him. Perhaps he will bring about something unique for your ultimate good, in a manner so that you will know it came from the living God, Jehovah.

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The Immeasurable Present Eternally Extends the Infinite Past And Infinitely Consumes The Eternal Future.
Time Relates To What Is Temperal. What Is Eternal Is Timeless.

You've just hit on one of the evidences of the veracity of the Biblical record. Cultures and families within those cultures, by and large, have fared the best, overall, of any cultures in the history of mankind.

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The Immeasurable Present Eternally Extends the Infinite Past And Infinitely Consumes The Eternal Future.
Time Relates To What Is Temperal. What Is Eternal Is Timeless.

Frako, click on my profile and find all of the evidence I have cited At EvC over the past seven years supportive to the existence of the Biblical god, Jehovah. Refute any or all of them. LoL!

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The Immeasurable Present Eternally Extends the Infinite Past And Infinitely Consumes The Eternal Future.
Time Relates To What Is Temperal. What Is Eternal Is Timeless.

Meldinoor, that makes good sense. There's no one here at EvC that I would prefer for a Great Debate on evidence of the existence of Jehovah more than you.Fulfilled Biblical prophecies would be among the topics to be debated. For an opener I would cite the phenomena of the restoration of Israel as a nation after some nineteen plus centuries of global dispersion.This is a busy time for me, with winter coming on. I'm re-roofing some buildings along with other activities in my busy life as sole proprietor. My responses would be sporadic time wise. This would necessarily be ongoing for some time, catch as catch can, so as not to limit input in other threads etc. On that basis, how about it?

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The Immeasurable Present Eternally Extends the Infinite Past And Infinitely Consumes The Eternal Future.
Time Relates To What Is Temperal. What Is Eternal Is Timeless.

I wish I knew. He is missed. Perhaps he's lurking without logging in. I pray for him.

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The Immeasurable Present Eternally Extends the Infinite Past And Infinitely Consumes The Eternal Future.
Time Relates To What Is Temperal. What Is Eternal Is Timeless.

I've debated the Israel phenomenon in past threads. Since nobody acknowledges it as viable evidence, this will be a good venue for debating whether that be so.Thanks for accepting the challenge. You have shown yourself to be a formidable and reasonable opponent.I'll begin working up an opener.

Faith, however, can be dangerously blind, void of evidence. I think of the 30 or so intelligent Heavens Gaters at Rancho Santa Fe, CA who poisoned themselves to death, having faith for Haley's Comet to transport them to Paradise.

Meldinoor, there is an open thread which covers the prophet Ezekiel's predictions. Perhaps this thread could be moved by an admin to the Great Debate. Message 1 could become the OP for our debate.This would avoid duplicating material already posted. It would also afford us both the opportunity to debate arguments already posted and to interject new points pertaining to our respective positions.As an opener, my focus in our debate would pertain more to the Ezekiel prophecy and corroborating prophecies of other prophets than on the Lebanon. The Lebanon issue would, nevertheless not be off the table. Edited by Buzsaw, : Gramatical error.

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The Immeasurable Present Eternally Extends the Infinite Past And Infinitely Consumes The Eternal Future.
Time Relates To What Is Temperal. What Is Eternal Is Timeless.

Regarding the yet to be fulfilled part, the SM makes predictions based on researched evidence as I understand SM predictions.The most unlikely aspects of the prophecies cited in my OP of the current thread have been fulfilled in my opinion. As SM predictions go, I believe I have enough empirical fulfillment to be able to predict that the rest of the given prophecy will come to fulfillment.Ezekiel, chapters 34 though 39 have a sequential time frame. These are the chapters which I want to debate. I will propose a new topic. In the OP I will post an introduction to these chapters, citing significant verses in the texts of each chapter to focus our debate on.Though this prophecy is debatable, I consider it to be the most significant example of a phenomenal and observable fulfillment of Biblical prophecy pertaining to the end times.. It is the one which we have been watching on our TVs since Israel's restored nationhood.Interesting it is that TV and Israel arrived on the world scene at about the same time. Providential? Methinks perhaps.This topic, which I regard as very significant, is among the ones which skeptics consider to be irrelevant prophetically.If this would be agreeable to you, it will be great to learn what your responses will be as iron sharpens iron here. Edited by Buzsaw, : delete phraseEdited by Buzsaw, : fix gramatical missed in preview

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BUZSAW B 4 U 2 C Y BUZ SAW.
The Immeasurable Present Eternally Extends the Infinite Past And Infinitely Consumes The Eternal Future.
Time Relates To What Is Temperal. What Is Eternal Is Timeless.