Is it impossible to lose religious faith?

@pettytalk said
I note that you prefer to piecemeal your responses.

I am merely sifting through the stuff you posted and responding point by point.

@pettytalk said
I said: You claim to have been a man of faith at one time, but are not now, since you say that you wised up, and deemed the faith you had acquired unworthy of your newfound "intellectualism."And you said: No. I have made no claim like this.

I have never claimed that I'd "deemed the faith [I] had acquired unworthy of [my] newfound intellectualism". I have never said anything like this. Perhaps you should try addressing the things I actually do say.

@pettytalk said
I'm now asking again, of what faith are you an ex from?

I believed in Jesus for the better part of 30 years of my adult life.

@pettytalk said
I now need to rephrase the question, for clarification, since I don't claim to be an intellectual either, although I got the impression that you were. By your comments I was assuming that you were. I had to assume because I would not know one, even if I were to bump into one on a public street, or on a public forum. Unless, of course, they had a sign hung on heads that rea ...[text shortened]... d politely, and respectfully respond with, excuse me, my fault, but glad to know you, just the same.

This is unfunny drivel.

@pettytalk said
Do you retain, if you can remember, that you were any wiser then, than you are now?

I'm asking for your own judgement, as to whether or not your level of knowledge

This is a matter of faith rather than knowledge. One's faith ~ however strong it is, or however much it may grow, shift, or weaken, or end up being lost altogether ~ is rooted firmly in the realm of subjectivity.

The "knowledge" here ~ that is relevant to this question of my lost faith ~ is my knowledge of myself. I came to realize that I no longer believed the same things about the Bible, Jesus, and myself that Christians believe about the Bible, Jesus, and themselves. Thus: I no longer identified as a Christian.

@pettytalk said
This is what you previously said on believing, in past tense.FMF said: I believed that Jesus was the Son of God who was sent to save us from our sins. I believed in justification by faith and that his death and that because of his resurrection ~ if I was repentant ~ I could be forgiven for my sins. Given what I believed Jesus had done for me and for all of us, I strived to ...[text shortened]... ual nature of which, I did not know], something made possible by Jesus’ sacrifice and my repentance.

Yes. Unless you have changed any of the text, that is what I posted.

@fmf said
I am no more or less able to do this than you can prove to me that you are not a fake Christian, something I am not asking you to do.

I said: Then prove to me that you were not a fake Christian, to begin with, and truly had what it takes.

You said: I am no more or less able to do this than you can prove to me that you are not a fake Christian, something I am not asking you to do.

I now say: You are not able, or just refuse to tell me, if you were a true Christian?

On the contrary, and without the asking, I'm perfectly able to prove to you that I'm not a true Christian. And by the same standard, you can prove to me, and to yourself, if you were a true Christian, or not.

Do you recall, from your past days of belief, what the makeup is for a true Christian? Let me rephrase it, because I don't like the makeup of the question. Have you the faintest idea, as to what constitutes, more or less, a true Christian?

I'll accept even a guess from you right now. And then I will try to coach you along the way to the making of a true Christian, if I'm able to get you to follow my train of thought.

@pettytalk said
You are not able, or just refuse to tell me, if you were a true Christian?

I believed I was.

@pettytalk said
I'm perfectly able to prove to you that I'm not a true Christian. And by the same standard, you can prove to me, and to yourself, if you were a true Christian, or not.

OK, well, I don't really care if you are or are not "a true Christian". As for whether I was "a true Christian" ~ in your estimation ~ it is not something I need to prove to you.

@pettytalk said
Have you the faintest idea, as to what constitutes, more or less, a true Christian?

Being a Christian involves faith connected to the beliefs I outlined earlier in answer to your request on page 2: "Please give me some details of the faith you had". As for what your definition of "true Christian" might be, that is a matter for you.

@fmf said
I am merely sifting through the stuff you posted and responding point by point.

That's OK. I have already agreed to the use of my many-pointed points one by one, or even two by two. But we must be careful for the integrity of the overall meaning, when we put the points back where they belong, with each point taken and made.

I'm trying to sift my memory, to strain out all your main views on faith, and on the faithful ones. It's an effort to better stake your claim for myself. And I'm certain that we can will help each other if we work at sifting together, because it's for your sake, and mine. Or rather for truth's sake. Which here is actually for Christ's sake, since you must have also believed that he was the way, the truth, and the life?

@pettytalk said
That's OK. I have already agreed to the use of my many-pointed points one by one, or even two by two. But we must be careful for the integrity of the overall meaning, when we put the points back where they belong, with each point taken and made.

I didn't perceive the long post I was responding to as having much "integrity of overall meaning". It seemed to be mostly some sort of banter.

@pettytalk said
I'm trying to sift my memory, to strain out all your main views on faith, and on the faithful ones. It's an effort to better stake your claim for myself. And I'm certain that we can will help each other if we work at sifting together, because it's for your sake, and mine. Or rather for truth's sake. Which here is actually for Christ's sake, since you must have also believed that he was the way, the truth, and the life?

I've given you my encapsulation of my faith. You can refer to that.

@fmf said
Being a Christian involves faith connected to the beliefs I outlined earlier in answer to your request on page 2: "Please give me some details of the faith you had". As for what your definition of "true Christian" might be, that is a matter for you.

You are making it too easy for me. I can be general here and just say that a true Christian is one that follows in the footsteps of Jesus. No details required. Unless you want to go step by step, along the way to finding a true Christian.

Just to appease your curiosity, let me just say that the faith I had could have moved mountains, if I actually had it, to begin with. But now I have brought obstacles into the discussion of whether or not one can lose the faith they had, or still have.

I say obstacle, because we have to quantify the religious faith we are seeking. Obviously it's easier to lose, or misplace objects which are smaller. You would agree that it's much easier to lose your ballpoint pen than to lose your car, right? Provide you have a pen or a car to lose. The same goes for misplacing them, which will be a million times easier to find where you parked your car at the big shopping mall, if you don't remember where you parked it, when you come out after the pre Christmas shopping frenzy to buy gifts for family and friends. Finding a misplaced pen, which may have fallen out of your shirt pocket while in the parking lot or in the mall, will take a miracle to find it, if you were to find it on your own.

@pettytalk said
Just to appease your curiosity, let me just say that the faith I had could have moved mountains, if I actually had it, to begin with. But now I have brought obstacles into the discussion of whether or not one can lose the faith they had, or still have. I say obstacle, because we have to quantify faith. Obviously it's easier to lose, or misplace objects which are smaller. Yo ...[text shortened]... en out of your shirt pocket while in the parking lot or in the mall, will take a miracle to find it.

As I said earlier, my faith permeated every aspect of my life. So an analogy that compares having/losing a ballpoint to having/losing a car is a dud.