Apostasy

*Apostasy, apostate(s), apostatizing

Apostasy, a turning away from or a departing, falling away, renunciation of the Faith (litt. to posit, to position yourself away from the Faith), is as old as the Fall (the greatest act of apostasy). At different times and for different reasons, the visibly faithful have departed from the Faith, whether that be in the time of Judges or under persecution in the early Church. On a mass scale, it could be argued, that the greatest apostasy in history has been the Christian West’s turning from Christ to other gods. On a more individual level, there are many who reject some nominal form of Christianity and so—lamentably—turn from Christ as well. Others depart so as to “freely” be greedy or lovers of pleasure. I would say that the number one reason why people apostatize today is because it is easier to go with the anti-Christian flow of culture than to stand in Christ against it. With the norms fast changing against Christian beliefs (the exclusive claims of Jesus, Hell, etc) and practices (marriage and gender and other high ethics), it is simply easier and more advantageous to capitulate than to remained steadfast to Faith. Covid has certainly accelerated the departure of those only nominally adhering to the Faith (T. Rainer estimates this, in America, to be as high as 20%).

Many Bible verses speak to this subject, though they tend to be neglected because we like to emphasis choice today and underplay accountability. Two stand out:
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·       And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. (Mt 24:10)
·       if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us. (2 Ti 2:12)

Let’s be frank; apostasy is a grave sin. We sugar coat it by giving it names such as “de-conversion” but it remains non-other than to turn one’s back, to shut yourself off from the truth of the Creator and Redeemer, the giver of life.

Coming soon…answering tough and pastoral questions apostasy raises.