Difficult questions: “Can God truly forgive every sin?”
A lot of the difficult questions I deal with when trying to describe my faith can be summed up in just a few small questions in one batch. So, I’ll attempt to answer them one at a time.
One of the most common questions I get from many people both secular and Christian is “Do you honestly believe God forgives every sin?” My answer unequivocally has been “YES!”
Down through centuries, man has attempted to usurp the message of the Gospel by adding his or her own commentary on Jesus’s original message. Through that commentary, we have found people justifying horrible atrocities in the name of “Love”. Every few decades, we find that some “sins” become more forgivable and others move to the top of the list of unforgiveable. In the 90’s, murder ceased to be the unforgiveable sin and was quickly replaced by homosexuality as the fad sin to persecute. In the 2000 decade, homosexuality became more accepted among protestant churches and pedophilia along with adultery moved back up to the list of people God “Cannot Forgive”.
The key to remember is that these so called “unforgiveable sins” are really someone’s attempt to cover up their own insecurities and prejudices rather than face the real message of the Gospel.
There is only ONE unforgiveable sin. Mark 3:28-29 “28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
So if “Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” is the only true unforgiveable sin, then what does it really mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?
Years ago, a misguided and ill-educated but very passionate atheist youth decided that he was fed up with Christianity. He pointed to this same passage and on YouTube created a following of people who simply stated they renounce the Holy Spirit and condemn themselves to hell. He missed the whole point of the passage. Much like people have done for centuries to justify their own means and aims, he took a bible scripture out of context.
In context, Jesus is addressing the council of Pharisees in regards to the subject of Forgiveness. Jesus states that the only unpardonable sin is to be face to face with the messiah and reject him outright. What he is addressing, is showing the learned council that they are rejecting the very being they claim to be waiting so urgently for. And that they… Alone… in rejecting the messiah is guilty of the unpardonable sin.
For some reason, I seem to trust the scholarly voice of a British accent over a deep American southern accent. Here’s a good explanation online. http://youtu.be/K9k5CmR2U40
With that in mind… If there is only one unpardonable sin, and you and I cannot commit it, shouldn’t if logic applied in context dictate that all other sins could be forgiven?
Too often, I meet people who have been hurt by others in the church largely because of the issue raised by verbally abusive members saying “God cannot forgive you!” In reality, what there really saying is “I cannot forgive you!”
The first thing I freely admit and will apologize to my Non-Christians friends for is that we forget that when we say anything, we say it as if Jesus was saying it to someone too. Everything, EVERYTHING we say, we say as if we speak for Jesus. When you say to someone “God hates sin and so do I”, you are saying to someone that God first cannot forgive their sin, because you cannot. And you are saying God hates that person too. Communication is by far more than verbal.
I’ve been reading a lot of information and watching interviews with Jeffrey Dahmer. Here is his last on camera interview. http://youtu.be/ErB0R4wlB64
Dahmer expressed remorse after his sentence and asked to speak with a minister. Roy Ratcliff from the Church of Christ responded. Dahmer repented of his actions, requested to be baptized, and began a life in prison serving out his life sentence to try and serve people as best he could. Many times he was assaulted, nearly murdered by inmates, until finally a prison inmate believing himself to be the reincarnation of Jesus beat Dahmer to death with a broomstick. All the while, Dahmer refused to recant his faith in Christ and God’s forgiveness of his sins.
Ted Bundy… Also a vicious sexual predator in his own right, repented of his actions and turned to Christ.
Here is an on camera interview with him talking about his Porn collection. http://youtu.be/jAHgJFPcOvY
What these men did was horrific and deplorable. However, they both upon gaining a faith in Christ acknowledged they had a responsibility for their actions and therefore had to serve out their sentence. They acknowledged that nothing they could do would bring back the people they murdered nor take away the grief that they inflicted on their families or the families of their victims. I don’t endorse their prior actions either. But here’s the rub, I believe and hold to wholeheartedly that God forgave them their sins.
Being forgiven of sins by God doesn’t absolve you of the responsibility you have on Earth for the sins you commit. If you rape, murder, lie, cheat, steal, covet, commit adultery, you have repercussions for each of those actions that you have to deal with. Part of a faith in Christ is letting God change your heart to deal with those actions and own them. All while he forgives the mistakes you’ve made and heal your broken heart.
Now… I freely admit, it’s pretty easy for me to sit on this ugly brown tweed couch I own and type out words like “God forgives serial killers and rapists.” But let’s change it up a bit. I believe God forgives the brothers and sisters who have wronged me as much as I believe God forgive me my mistakes. And… I am called to forgive others or I cannot be forgiven my mistakes.
Matthew 6: 14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
For those of you out there skeptically reading this article and saying “I still can’t forgive my Ex-Husband and Neither can God!” I would take a moment to re-read that above passage. If you call yourself a Christian and telling people God cannot forgive you, you are saying that God cannot forgive your own mistakes.
If I am to sum up everything this article is about, it is this. God forgives every sin. if we call ourselves Christians and no matter how difficult it may be for us to swallow the idea, we need to forgive everyone their sins. We need to embrace and bless those that hurt us and seek to do us harm. There are many ways to bless others and I’m not saying be stupid about it and let yourself be walked on (That’s another sermon entirely). I’m saying forgive those people who have wronged you, no matter how “Unforgiveable” you think their mistake might have been. God has already forgiven you your mistakes.
God’s Peace.
Music in my head:
Faith Falling? By The Awakening
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