Apostasy is a fall away from Christianity. Apostasy is the situation where one ceases to follow Christ. It is also defined as a divorce from Christ. Apostasy happens in many ways such as living in sin after conversion, denying Jesus, embracing false doctrines, etc. Eventually, apostasy is the situation where the Father-son relationship between a Christian and God is broken. Apostasy is a sin possible only to Christians since they are the only people who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Unbelief is the state in which one does not accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Nearly all the religions in the world believe in Jesus Christ in one way or another. However, except for Christians, the other religions do not accept or acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, to whom they should surrender their lives. Unbelief is a sin. All people who have not believed in Jesus are unbelievers. However, not all unbelievers are guilty of the sin of unbelief. This is because, it is possible to run into someone, young or old, who has not as yet heard of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and hence cannot be accused of unbelief. But for all those who have heard the Gospel being preached via television, radio, social networks, etc., and have not believed as yet, they are guilty of unbelief.
To show the contrast between unbelieve and apostasy, let me use this illustration to explain the two terms.
Zayven
When Zayven turned 30, he went to the Thean Hou Temple to burn incense in thanksgiving to Buddha. This is something he has been doing year after year on his birthday. Zayven was born into a Buddhist family, both parents are Buddhist. He was raised a Buddhist and he loved his religion very much.
Zayven knows about other religions too such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc. Nonetheless, Nothing has been able to move him from his Buddhist position as yet; he has been devoted enough for many years now.
Many times, he has said, “No.” to evangelists who came preaching to convert him to Christianity. He pays no heed to the pictures, audio, videos, and GIFs that are targeted at proselytizing none Christians. He has received many Christian tracts, but he barely reads them, and even if he reads, he pays no heed to what they say.
From time to time, churches hold large crusades in the city. Sometimes, curiosity draws him closer to see what goes on there, but he has never been touched to give his life to Jesus.
In addition, whatever evangelism that goes on on radio and TV has had no lasting impression on him. He still keeps his Buddhist faith.
Zayven is guilty of unbelief for, not that he has not heard, he has heard of Jesus many times via the media, etc., yet he has not accepted Him.
Bongani
Bongani was born into a Christian family; his parents were Christians. He has passed through Sunday School from childhood, and has learned about Jesus, believed in Jesus, sang songs about Jesus, participated in the Nativity play during Christmas, etc.
He was made to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior before many witnesses in his transit from Sunday School to adult service. He took a keen interest in playing instruments, and loved drumming for the church; hence, he never missed church service, morning or evening.
Along the line, he had college admission. There, he met all manner of people. Some individuals appeared to be carefree – free to do anything their heart desired to do. And such persons caught his attention so much. All this while Bongani has been careful of his ways – his words, his actions, and his taught – so that he would not do anything to sin against God.
However, these individuals do not think to know God, nor think to do His will. He joins their ranks. To be able to fit into this new friendship, he had to forgo his Christian virtues and forget about Jesus. Eventually, he was not a Christian anymore, rather, he chose to be an atheist so that he could altogether forget about God and walk in his own desires.
Bongani is guilty of apostasy, for he was a Christian and follower of Jesus, but he abandoned the Christian faith to become an atheist.
Which one is a worse sin, apostasy or unbelief?
Both apostasy and unbelief are sins – sins that lead the soul of man to eternal damnation. However, the Bible gives us enough reasons to believe that apostasy is a worse sin than unbelief. We do not have much to say about unbelief; anyone guilty of unbelief has sinned against God by not believing in his son Jesus. But the person who is guilty of apostasy has committed many more grievous sins. They are guilty of crucifying Jesus again and they are guilty of putting Jesus to open shame.
The Jews and their leaders rejected Jesus as the long-awaited Christ and even took Him for a deceiver and an imposter of the true Christ. Therefore, they handed Jesus over to the Roman authority, and in unison, they cried, “Crucify Him!” insisting that Jesus should be nailed to the cross. Any Christian who commits apostasy, openly rejects Jesus and he is equally as guilty as the Jews who had Jesus crucified; for if he too had been there at that time, he would have joined those who rejected Jesus and cried, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Therefore, the Bible says that any Christian who apostatizes has crucified Jesus again. Hebrews 6:4-6.
When a person comes to accept Jesus Christ, receive salvation and the Holy Spirit, and experience what there is to experience as a Christian, and still he commits the sin of apostasy, he has put Jesus Christ to shame before the world, for he has created an impression to the world that something else is better than following Jesus. The Bible says in Hebrews 6:4-8 that such a person has put Jesus to open shame. Therefore, if a Christian abandons Christianity to become, let’s say, a Buddhist, he has shamed Jesus publicly, for he has created the impression that it is better to follow Buddha than Jesus. Reference Hebrews 6:4-6
Though an apostate can return to Christ, many of those who commit apostasy never return to Christianity and receive Jesus’ salvation because they have crucified Jesus to themselves again and have put Him to public shame. However, people who are living in the sin of unbelief have the chance to accept Jesus and receive His salvation. These tell us that apostasy is a grave sin than unbelief.
Conclusion
The subject of apostasy is hardly taught in the church today. Many Christians scarcely know what it means to commit apostasy and the dangers and effects thereof. Everything in the Bible, including apostasy, is worth teaching so that Christians would take caution. Christians would do themselves a lot of favor to study and know much about apostasy, for apostasy is real and it is happening and it is the worst sin a Christian can commit. Apostasy is a door of no return, for once a staunch Christian commits apostasy, he has no chance of returning to Jesus again.