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4 Reasons why Denying Christ is not the Unforgivable Sin

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Denying ChristSome believe that the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a verbal denial of Jesus Christ. In Matthew 12:31-32, which talks about the sin that will not be forgiven, it is true that some sort of denial is taking place by religious leaders who accuse Jesus of performing His miracles by the power of the devil.

Some believe that the religious leaders are actually denying Jesus, and that this is the unforgivable sin.

Further support for this view is sometimes found in the statement by Paul from 2 Timothy 2:12 where he writes, “If we deny Him, He will also deny us.”

Problems with this View

Yet there are numerous problems with the view that the unforgivable sin is denying Jesus Christ.

First, the concept of “denying Christ” is quite vague.

What constitutes a denial of Christ, and what does not? How would one know when they have denied Christ? Do they have to say the words, “I deny Christ”? Do words have to be spoken at all? Could denial be some sort of action or thought?

Second, the most famous example of someone who rejected and denied Christ is Peter.

Peter even used profanity and curses in denying any connection to Jesus Christ. Yet we know that he was forgiven by Jesus. If denial of Christ was the unpardonable sin, then certainly Peter was guilty of it, and yet we all fully expect to see Peter in heaven.

Third, while the passage in 2 Timothy 2:12 does say that God will deny us if we deny Him, it also says that if we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.

In other words, whatever the denial of 2 Timothy 2:12 is, it is not taking eternal life from someone who already has it, for this would amount to God denying Himself, which He cannot do.

Fourth, denial of Christ doesn’t even fit the context here, since such a denial would be a blasphemy against Jesus, which He says will be forgiven.

If blasphemy is actually a form of denial (which I think it is), it would have to be against the Holy Spirit, not against Jesus Christ.

So in light of these four truths, denying Christ cannot be the unforgivable sin. If you have denied Christ, you are forgiven!

Do you fear that you have committed the Unforgivable Sin?

Fear not! You are forgiven. You are loved.

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Suicide is not the unforgivable Sin

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hope-suicideIn a previous post, I wrote that suicide is not the unforgivable sin.

In the past when I have taught this in various churches and conferences, I have been warned afterwards that I should not teach such things. Why not? Because even if it is true, I am told, such a teaching will encourage people to commit suicide.

Apparently, some people fear that if we teach that people can go to heaven even if they commit suicide, those who are thinking about suicide will be more likely to go through with it. It is better, they say, to teach that suicide is unforgivable because this idea will hopefully keep people from committing suicide.

I strongly disagree.

We should never use a lie to encourage people to do what is right.

Nor should we use fear as a basis for obedience.

If God is any guide, truth and love always provide the best motivations for obedience.

The truth, if properly taught with love, encourages right living and behavior. This also goes for the truth that suicide is forgivable.

The Truth Prevents Suicide

When a person is contemplating suicide, there are numerous things going on in their minds and lives which lead them to think that taking their life is the best solution to their problems.

They may be dealing with deep depression, or feeling that nobody loves them, or that their best years in life are behind them, or that every day is worse than the one before and it would be better to just end it all right now before things get even worse.

I have dealt with suicidal depression in the past, and these are some of the things I thought and felt.

One thing that helps people overcome suicidal depression and anxiety is the knowledge that they are loved, needed, and wanted. People struggling with suicidal thoughts need to know that there is hope for their future, that life will get better and is worth living.

While there are numerous possible sources for such love and hope, the greatest source of all is God.

God loves us more than we can possibly know, and He has plans for our life and our future that are far beyond anything we can ask or imagine. He has a grand purpose for each one of us in life, and this purpose never includes ending our life through suicide. He has a goal and purpose for our lives on earth, and if we commit suicide, we will miss out on fulfilling His perfect plan for us.

This is the truth presented in Scripture, and this is the view of God which will help people work through their depression and anxiety about life without giving in to suicide.

Lies Do Not Prevent Suicide

But when we tell people that God will not forgive them if they commit suicide, we are giving them a terribly dangerous and destructive picture of God.

By teaching people that God does not forgive suicide, we are teaching them that God only loves and forgives them as long as they do not sin. But as soon as they do sin, they must go begging to God for forgiveness, and if they fail to ask for forgiveness, He will send them to hell for eternity.

Such an idea is more likely to create and amplify suicidal depression than help it! Which is more likely to help a person out of suicidal depression: The idea that God loves you and is on your side no matter what … or the idea that God might love you, but only if you can obey Him completely and hold your life together as He demands?

I submit to you that it is only the first portrayal of God, the God of unconditional love and forgiveness, which helps people through the deep sadness, the great despair, the black hunger, the dark night of the soul, and the feeling that nobody loves, nobody cares, and nobody wants you around.

The second portrayal of god, the god who only loves the obedient and only cares for those who don’t make mistakes, is a petulant god, like a spoiled child who wants everything to go his way all the time, or he won’t play. This is a power-hungry god, who wants to keep people squirming under his ever-watchful eye as he waits for them to mess up so he can pounce on sinners and condemn them to everlasting hell.

This second view of God confirms to people their deepest, darkest suspicion: God hates them.

And if God hates them, it is no wonder that other people hate them also, and they might as well hate themselves.

Do you see how lying about the complete love and forgiveness of God for those who commit suicide does not actually keep people from committing suicide, but will only make them more likely to take their own life?

Give Hope and Love to Prevent Suicide

hope-love-truthIf we really want to help people through suicidal depression, they need to know the truth about God and how much He loves them and forgives them … no matter what.

When people are dealing with deep depression, the anxieties of life, ruined relationships, lost jobs, the death of a child or spouse, or ongoing health problems, the last thing they need is the idea that God hates them.

How much better it is to know that even though they are going through some of the worst things that can be experienced in life, God still loves them, and is still with them, and will continue to be by their side for the rest of their life and for eternity—no matter what?

The view of God as an ever-loving friend who is on your side no matter what does not encourage people to commit suicide, but rather encourages people to have hope for the future and to believe that there is a purpose in life for them.

So teach people that suicide is forgivable, not just because this is true, but because this it tells others what kind of God we serve.

God is a loving and compassionate God, full of understanding in our times of weakness, tenderness in our times of pain, and present with us in times of abandonment.

The knowledge that God forgives suicide does not encourage people to commit suicide, but helps keep them from it.

Do you fear that you have committed the Unforgivable Sin?

Fear not! You are forgiven. You are loved.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me which explains how you can know that you are loved and forgiven by God.

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Is Suicide the Unforgivable Sin?

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suicide-unforgivable-sinIt is popular in some churches to teach that suicide is the unforgivable sin. There is, however, no Bible verse in Scripture to support this view. So why is this view so popular?

The reason people feel that suicide is the unforgivable sin is because there is no opportunity to repent from this sin after a person commits it.

Many people wrongly believe that if you die with unrepented and unconfessed sin in your life, God will not let you into heaven. Obviously, when someone commits suicide, their last living action was the sin of self-murder, and since they are unable to repent of this sin afterwards, some people feel that suicide will keep a person out of heaven.

Tragically, due to this idea, many surviving families of suicide victims not only have to deal with the terrible loss of losing a loved one in such a horrible way, but also have to deal with the pain, fear, and incredible sorrow of thinking that their loved one is now in hell, even though they may have been a wonderful Christian for most of their life.

The pain of losing a family member to suicide is hard enough. The pain of losing a family member eternally to the fires of hell because of suicide is too much to bear for most families, and it often destroys the rest of their lives.

This should not be, especially since it is not true.

Suicide is forgivable

How do we know that suicide is forgivable?

First of all, as with every sinful action we can possibly commit—including suicide—Scripture is clear that God forgives all such sins. I have discussed this in other posts, as well as why confession and repentance are not required to receive divine forgiveness of sins.

But specifically regarding the sin of suicide, Scripture records several examples of men who committed suicide, but who will be in heaven with God for eternity.

For example, Samson committed suicide (Judg 16:29-30) but Hebrews 11:32 lists Samson as a great example of a man of faith. Would God include someone in a list of people of great faith who actually ended up in hell? Of course not. What kind of example would that be?

King Saul also committed suicide, but various Scriptures by King David indicate that King Saul also will be in heaven. (The explanation is rather long, and so I am not including it here. It can be found in my book on The Unforgivable Sin.)

Anyway, have you ever been told that suicide is the unforgivable sin? Why do you think people teach this? Provide your input below.

Do you fear that you have committed the Unforgivable Sin?

Fear not! You are forgiven. You are loved.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me which explains how you can know that you are loved and forgiven by God.

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Is Abortion the Unforgivable Sin?

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abortion unforgivable sinSome people believe that abortion is the unforgivable sin.

However, there is no biblical or theological support for this idea. Some might argue that killing a baby is one of the worst types of murder since babies are innocent, but if this were so, what would make abortion worse than infanticide? Nobody claims that infanticide is the unforgivable sin. Do children somehow become less innocent the moment they depart the mother’s womb?

No, I suspect that most who teach that abortion is unforgivable are simply trying to scare women into not having an abortion.

If life begins at conception, then abortion is a form of murder. Sure, it may not be the same as shooting someone with a gun, but at its core, abortion is one person taking the life of someone else.

Therefore, if abortion is unforgivable, then we must also argue that all forms of murder are unforgivable, and this view cannot be defended from Scripture.

To the contrary, numerous people in the Bible committed murder and were forgiven by God and accepted into His family.

Murder is a Sin, but it is Forgivable

Moses murdered an Egyptian (Exod 2:12), David had Uriah killed (2 Sam 11:14-17), and even Paul went about arresting and killing Christians before he became one of the greatest missionaries the world has ever seen (Acts 8:1-3). When it comes to killing children, many Israelite people fell into the sin of sacrificing their children to false idols (Ezek 16:21). Nevertheless, such sin did not keep God from promising to remember His covenant with the people of Israel and provide atonement for them (Ezek 16:60-63).

If God can forgive people like Moses, David, Paul, and the idol-worshipping Israelites, God will also forgive every mother who has had an abortion.

Abortion is not the unforgivable sin. There is grace and forgiveness for all who have had an abortion.

If you have had an abortion

If you have had an abortion, do not worry that God has not or cannot forgive you. He can, He will, and He already has. And since your unborn child is already with God, then your unborn child has forgiven you as well. They both understand the situation you were in, and the fear, guilt, and shame you went through. Both God and your child forgive and love you.

The important thing now is to make sure you now live for the living. Do you have a spouse? Do you have children? Live for them. Love them. Serve them.

You have been forgiven, so live in light of that forgiveness.

Do you fear that you have committed the Unforgivable Sin?

Fear not! You are forgiven. You are loved.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me which explains how you can know that you are loved and forgiven by God.

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Is Adultery the Unforgivable Sin?

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adultery unforgivable sinRelated to the view that divorce is the unforgivable sin, some people believe that adultery is unforgivable.

Note, of course, that adultery is different than premarital sex. Most Christians believe that God does forgive people for premarital sex. This doesn’t mean that such behavior is okay, for premarital sex is physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually destructive. There is forgiveness and restoration for such sin, but it often comes with numerous long-lasting consequences.

So adultery itself is when a married person has sex with someone who is not their spouse. But even here, most Christians believe that there is forgiveness for adultery. Most believe that if a married person commits adultery, they too can be forgiven by God and the marriage can be restored. However, just as with premarital sex, there are lots of long-term and destructive consequences for engaging in adultery. Even though God forgives adultery, this does not mean He erases the consequences that might come from adultery. The danger of the sin of adultery is not that God cannot forgive it, but that adultery destroys marriages and destroys lives.

Nevertheless, there is a specific form of adultery that many Christians think God does not, will not, and cannot forgive. Some argue that there is a type of adultery which can never be forgiven.

This type of adultery is the one that comes as the result of divorce and remarriage.

Adultery and the Unforgivable Sin

Some people believe that although God makes allowance for people to get divorced (Matt 19:1-10), such people may not get remarried as long as their ex-spouse lives. Why not? Because marriage lasts as long as both the husband and wife live. If someone gets remarried after a divorce, then, according to this view, that person is living in a state of constant adultery.

The logic for this view is drawn from Matthew 19:9 where Jesus says that anyone who is divorced and marries another commits adultery. People who hold this view further state that since a person who is divorced and remarried is living in a state of adultery, they can never properly confess or repent of this sin unless the get re-divorced and then re-marry their first spouse. Of course, then the person has two divorces instead of one, and … well … the “sin” only amplifies in seriousness.

The underlying premise behind the idea that adultery is unforgivable is based on the belief that in order for a person to go to heaven when they die, they must not have any unconfessed sin in their life. But if a person is divorced and remarried (which leads to adultery), then even if they confess of this sin, they are still living in this sin, which means they can never fully confess or repent of it.

Do you follow the logic there?

Though a person who has been divorced and remarried may be sorry for what they have done, they cannot ever fully repent of this sin because they are living in a constant state of adultery. In this way, divorce and remarriage becomes the unforgivable sin because the one who does this is in a constant state of sin.

So those who believe that adultery is unforgivable are not basing this view off of the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 12:31-32 about the unforgivable sin, but are basing their teaching off the belief that if a person dies in a state of unconfessed sin, they will not spend eternity with God.

Let us see how we can know that adultery is not the unforgivable sin.

Why Adultery is not the Unforgivable Sin

As with the view that divorce itself is unforgivable, the idea that adultery is unforgivable is based on a faulty understanding of God’s grace and the infinite forgiveness that is in Jesus Christ.

When we remember that there are two kinds of forgiveness, one which is unconditional and freely given to all, and the other which grants release and deliverance from the enslaving power of sin, we see that this idea that God does not forgive ongoing adultery is false. God does forgive adultery … all forms of adultery. Nevertheless, there are ongoing consequences to adultery, many of which God wants to deliver us from, but He can only do so if we confess and repent of our sin, and seek to work with Him to restore the broken relationships in our lives.

Aside from the theological truth of the infinite forgiveness of God, numerous Scripture passages clearly refute the idea that adultery is not unforgivable.

First, pretty much all of the forefathers of Israel had numerous wives. While many try to explain this behavior as a practice that was normal at that time, we cannot explain away the fact of God’s original plan for marriage was that it should be between one man and one woman (Gen 1:24). Therefore, even though the culture might have allowed a man to have more than one wife, the instructions of God did not.

So when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob took more than one wife for themselves, they were committing adultery. The same thing can be said for nearly all the kings of Israel, who were specifically commanded to not take multiple wives for themselves (Deut 17:16-17). Yet even King David, a man after God’s own heart, had multiple wives (2 Sam 11:4; 1 Chr 3:1-9). And nearly all Christians believe that we will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and Solomon in heaven. There is also the possibility that Moses got divorced and remarried.

When we get into the New Testament where the prohibition against adultery is more clearly and frequently stated, there are numerous examples of Christians who commit adultery and yet are still considered eternal children of God.

One example is in 1 Corinthians 5:1-8 where a man sleeps with his father’s wife, and yet Paul clearly identifies him as a brother in Christ who has been led into serious sin (1 Cor 5:11). When confronting the rampant sexual immorality that was present in the Corinthian church, Paul does not threaten them with hell and everlasting destruction, but with the theological truth that as believers in Christ who have been raised with Him, we should not behave in such a manner (1 Cor 6:12-20).

Scripture is clear that while adultery is a sin, it is forgivable, for people like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David lived in a lifelong state of adultery, but they were forgiven and accepted by God. There were even adulterers in the early church, and they too were forgiven and redeemed.

Adultery is forgivable. Adultery is not the unforgivable sin.

This doesn’t mean that we can just commit adultery all we want though, for remember that even though God forgives us of this sin, there are long-term and devastating consequences to adultery which can affect our lives, our family, our finances, our health, and our emotional and spiritual well-being. These are some of the reasons God instructs us to not commit adultery. It is not because He will send adulterers to hell, but because adultery is so destructive and damaging for the real joy and pleasure God wants us to experience in life.

If you have committed adultery, do not think that God has rejected you. He has not. He loves you, accepts you, and forgives you.

But at the same time, healthy and loving relationships are achieved only in the way God designed them: when they are between two people who love each other and are committed to each other no matter what. This is the sort of relationship God wants for you if you will let Him lead you toward it. (Go read the post about the woman caught in adultery.)

Do you fear that you have committed the Unforgivable Sin?

Fear not! You are forgiven. You are loved.

Fill out the form below to receive several emails from me which explains how you can know that you are loved and forgiven by God.

(Note: If you are a member of RedeemingGod.com, login and then revisit this page to update your membership.)

 

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