Backsliding

{{Short description|Abandonment of the practice of Christianity through sin}} {{Redirect|Backslide|the song by Twenty One Pilots|Backslide (song)}}{{About|the theological phenomenon|the political science concept|democratic backsliding|the 1992 Australian film|Backsliding (film)|the dance|Moonwalk (dance)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2018}} [[File:Sebald Beham Der verlorene Sohn hütet seine Schweine.jpg|300px|thumb|Engraving of the Prodigal Son as a swineherd by Hans Sebald Beham, 1538]] '''Backsliding''', also known as '''falling away'''<ref>{{cite book|last=Ernest Frederick Eilert|title=Luther league review: Volumes 23-34|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sOBLAAAAMAAJ&dq=falling+away+backsliding&pg=RA1-PA14|year=1910|publisher=Luther League of America|quote=In spite of this covenant and God's many promises, Israel was constantly falling away — backsliding, but the time of the final backsliding came and God spoke to them through his prophet: "Return, ye backsliding children."}}</ref> or described as "committing apostasy",<ref> B. J. Oropeza, ''In the Footsteps of Judas and Other Defectors: The Gospels, Acts, and Johannine Letters''. Apostasy in the New Testament Communities, Volume 1 (Eugene, OR: Cascade Boos, 2011), 1-2.</ref> is a term used within Christianity to describe a process by which an individual who has converted to Christianity reverts to pre-conversion habits and/or lapses or falls into sin, when a person turns from God to pursue their own desire.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rice|first=John|title=Backslider |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a43CvKCJygUC&q=backslide|accessdate=14 June 2012|year=1943|publisher=Sword of the Lord Publishers|isbn=0873980506|quote=But one who is truly born again, a child of God who falls into sin, is a backslider. It may be outrageous and gross sin known to everyone, or it may be merely coldness of heart, a lukewarmness of heart instead of the burning fire of love for God. But when a Christian loses any of his joy, or loses part of his sweet fellowship with God, or falls into sin, then he is a backslider.}}</ref> To revert to sin or wrongdoing, especially in religious practice, someone lapses into previous undesirable patterns of behavior.<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to "3 Excuses of Backsliders" |url=http://heavens-beauty.info/3_excuses_backsliders.html |website=www.heavens-beauty.info/ |accessdate=2 July 2019}}</ref> To be faithful, thus to believe backsliding is a reversion, in principle upholds the Apostle Paul’s condition in salvation: "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." ({{Bibleverse|Romans|10:9|NIV}})

In Christianity, within the Roman Catholic Church as well as those denominations which teach Arminianism (such as the Methodist churches), backsliding is a state which any free-willed believer is capable of adopting.<ref name="Thigpen2019">{{cite web |last1=Thigpen |first1=Paul |title=Are You Falling Away?: Three Warning Signs |date=29 July 2014 |url=https://www.catholiceducation.org/en/culture/catholic-contributions/are-you-falling-away-three-warning-signs.html |publisher=Catholic Education Resource Center |accessdate=5 June 2019 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Leach2019">{{cite web |last1=Leach |first1=Michael |title=Sin makes guilt and guilt makes fear, and fear and guilt make more sin |url=https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/soul-seeing/sin-makes-guilt-and-guilt-makes-fear-and-fear-and-guilt-make-more-sin |publisher=National Catholic Reporter |accessdate=5 June 2019 |language=English |date=19 May 2015}}</ref> This belief is rejected by Reformed Christians endorsing the perseverance of the saints doctrine.<ref name="Teaching">{{cite book|author=Loyal Jones|title=Faith and Meaning in the Southern Uplands|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a43CvKCJygUC&q=backslide|accessdate=14 June 2012|year=1999|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn=0252067592|quote=Sanctification and Backsliding I have often heard the term "to backslide" in Arminian-type churches, such as Methodist and Pentecostal-Holiness, and it is linked to the idea of perfection, the notion that if you are truly saved, you may have a second blessing-sanctification-that can perfect your life and enable you to live above sin; conversely, if you do sin, you have backslid from what is expected of you as a Christian. It is preached further that if you should die while you are in such a lapsed state, you are in danger of going to hell.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Langan|title=The Catholic Tradition|url=https://archive.org/details/catholictraditio0000lang|url-access=registration|accessdate=14 June 2012|year=1998|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=0826211836|page=[https://archive.org/details/catholictraditio0000lang/page/214 214]|quote=Protestants and Catholics alike today distinguish clearly "justification" from "sanctification" And all agree that our sanctification begins with the forgiveness of sins through God's totally gratuitous act, that through subsequent sinning we can "backslide," and that God further extends His forgiveness, and helps us back up onto the difficult road to personal sanctity.}}</ref> In these denominations, it is taught that the backslidden individual is in danger of eventually going to Hell if he does not repent (see Conditional security).<ref name="Teaching" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=4746357&ct=5571239 |title=Do United Methodists believe "once saved, always saved" or can we "lose our salvation"? |last=Burton-Edwards |first=Taylor |year=2012 |publisher=The United Methodist Church |accessdate=14 June 2012 |quote=But we can “fall away” from it. Or to use another metaphor, we can move so far from the saving streams of God’s love and power that we parch and spiritually die. The consistent focus of Wesley’s teaching, however, is far less the warning about the possibility of such death and thus ultimately Hell (though he does not shrink from offering such warnings upon occasion, even as noted in the quote above), but rather upon the consistent, unfailing grace of the God revealed in Scripture and in the person of Jesus Christ, the God who is abounding in mercy and steadfast love. |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121201025815/http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=4746357&ct=5571239 |archivedate=1 December 2012 }}</ref> Historically, backsliding was considered a trait of the Biblical Israel which would turn from the Abrahamic God to follow idols.<ref>{{cite book|author=Milton Jacob Firey|title=Infant salvation: or, The passivity of infants, the key to this perplexing subject|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eK0TAAAAYAAJ&dq=backslide+israel++idols&pg=PA328|accessdate=14 June 2012|year=1901|publisher=Funk & Wagnell's|quote=The prophets refer to the idolatry and wickedness of Israel and Judah repeatedly, but always as the wickedness of those who were once in a state of grace. Their sin is that of "backsliding," "departing from God." This is the case even where the whole nation is addressed. Hosea says" "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone" (Hosea iv:17). By Ephraim is meant all that belonged to the ten revolted tribes-all Israel. This idolatry which joins them to idols the same prophet denominates "backsliding." "And my people are bent to backsliding from me" (Hosea xi:7).}}</ref> In the New Testament church (see Acts of the Apostles and Christianity in the 1st century), the story of the Prodigal Son has become a representation of a backslider who repented.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Alexander McConnell |author2=William Revell Moody |author3=Arthur Percy Fitt |title=Record of Christian work, Volume 18|url=https://archive.org/details/recordchristian00unkngoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/recordchristian00unkngoog/page/n365 371] |accessdate=13 June 2012|year=1899|publisher=Record of Christian Work Co.|quote=The tenderest, yearningest words of Scripture are for backsliders. Remember the parable of the prodigal son is a backslider's parable.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Edwin Davies, D.D.|title=Holy thoughts on Holy Things|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQUDAAAAQAAJ&dq=prodigal+son+backsliding&pg=PA35|accessdate=13 June 2012|year=1882|publisher=Ward, Lock, & Co.|quote=Backsliding, — The Folly of When a Christian backslides, it is as if the prodigal son had re-acted his folly, and left his father's house a second time. — Dr. Kevins. Backsliding}}</ref>

==Non-Christian religions== Backsliding, or sometimes entropa, is also used by Buddhists and Zen practitioners, there is optimism in making oneself resolved in following a way and in practice; "Making a resolve, even if we fall down, generates its own merit which will bear fruit in our future success if we do not give up."<ref>{{cite web |title=Making and Backsliding On Resolutions |url=https://portlandbuddhistpriory.org/blog/2017/02/03/making-and-backsliding-on-resolutions/ |website=www.portlandbuddhistpriory.org |date=3 February 2017 |accessdate=2 July 2019}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-86-a-call-to-backsliders/ A Call to Backsliders (Sermon 86)], by the Rev. John Wesley (Methodist) *[https://companionscross.org/homilies/fr-simon-lobo-cc/how-avoid-backsliding How to Avoid Backsliding - Companions of the Cross] (Catholic)

Category:Apostasy Category:Christian soteriology Category:Christian terminology Category:Methodism Category:Arminianism