Originally posted by KellyJay
Many people think they are Christian because they were born into it, or they
are faithful church goers. Neither of those things are what makes someone
a Christian, so if all being a Christain is, is being a social being in that you
belong to some group then when something real in life comes along they will
find that it isn't enough and they quit what they thought was the faith, when
in fact they never had to begin with.
Kelly
I'm pretty sure that's false.
I wasn't
just a church-goer or
just a 'religious baby' - I actually believed that God existed and that I needed to be saved through Jesus. I prayed the prayer and meant it. I lived as uprightly as I could. I was willing to stick up for my faith and debate people even at risk of harm to myself at times [when I condemned the catholic church, the catholic kids almost beat me up over it, for example...] At my first real job, a co-worker paid me the complement 'of all the Christians I've met, you are the only one who takes it seriously'.
The whole 'if you lose it, you never had it' argument is BS and was only invented to get believers out of the once-saved-always-saved vs. lose-able salvation doctrinal argument. It allows one to support OSAS without conceding the ugly implications brought up by the other side. [For example, that a person can be 'saved' and later do the most horrible things without losing it.]
However, it also useful in boosting the false confidence of believers. If they admit that their faith is not strong enough to attract people for life, they might have to admit the disconcerting possibility that they, too will lose their faith someday. It's much more re-assuring to say that the apostate never had any real faith to begin with.