Sinning

[John T]

Hi all,

No doubt this subject has been raised before, but on sinning, which is a very serious business, Jesus must have spoken many similar words such as the following (and no doubt to many other people too, but obviously not all are recorded), that they should "go and sin no more" (John 8:11) and following a cure, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." (John 5:14)

Now, for those of us that have have repented and accepted Jesus Christ, I am sure like it or not, that we all go on sinning, for no one is perfect.

The worst sin in my view, whatever that sin might be, is sinning knowingly.

Repentence in my understanding, is not just the utterence of some very sincere and pious words towards God (through Jesus Christ), or going to church every Sunday etc., but involves a complete change of action too demanded by a change of heart through the power and guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

I must admit that at times, this is a very hard doctrine to follow, especially when confronted with the various ways and rules of this world which we must all live by in our particular ways, but of course I do realize that we must utilize the powers of discernment when deciding which aspect might be right or wrong.
This obviously applies in a very personal manner too, between oneself and the Creator, particularly in regard to ones bad habits etc., which no doubt we all possess and are guilty of.

Each day, a Christian will pray for forgiveness of their sins and ask to be given the strength to "sin no more", but I am sure that we all sin again as I well know from experience.

This being the case, does this mean that we have truly repented in the first place, or have we been kidding ourselves all along that we are saved and because of our continual sinning "a worse thing [will] come unto thee"?

Personally, on judgement day, I don't want to be one of the ten virgins (Mathew 25) who after the bridegroom came were told "I know you not"

Your views appreciated.

John

[B. W.]

Hi all,

No doubt this subject has been raised before, but on sinning, which is a very serious business, Jesus must have spoken many similar words such as the following (and no doubt to many other people too, but obviously not all are recorded), that they should "go and sin no more" (John 8:11) and following a cure, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." (John 5:14)

Now, for those of us that have have repented and accepted Jesus Christ, I am sure like it or not, that we all go on sinning, for no one is perfect.

The worst sin in my view, whatever that sin might be, is sinning knowingly.

Repentence in my understanding, is not just the utterence of some very sincere and pious words towards God (through Jesus Christ), or going to church every Sunday etc., but involves a complete change of action too demanded by a change of heart through the power and guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

I must admit that at times, this is a very hard doctrine to follow, especially when confronted with the various ways and rules of this world which we must all live by in our particular ways, but of course I do realize that we must utilize the powers of discernment when deciding which aspect might be right or wrong.
This obviously applies in a very personal manner too, between oneself and the Creator, particularly in regard to ones bad habits etc., which no doubt we all possess and are guilty of.

Each day, a Christian will pray for forgiveness of their sins and ask to be given the strength to "sin no more", but I am sure that we all sin again as I well know from experience.

This being the case, does this mean that we have truly repented in the first place, or have we been kidding ourselves all along that we are saved and because of our continual sinning "a worse thing [will] come unto thee"?

Personally, on judgement day, I don't want to be one of the ten virgins (Mathew 25) who after the bridegroom came were told "I know you not"

Your views appreciated.

John

You ask a very good question and one that needs to be discussed further as many feel as you do and many are secretly troubled by their actions, thoughts, leading to sin.

1 John 1:8-10 and 1 John 2:1-6 instructs us on this matter and should be the direction we take. In this mortal life we have an Advocate with the Father - Jesus Christ the Righteous.

There is no such thing as sinless perfection in this mortal life. You will never attain that this side of heaven; therefore, never try to become sinlessly perfect. Instead, think of sinning less than the day before and you will do well. Make it your aim to become mature and level headed in Christ and you will do well.

Shine the life of God to those around you, where ever you are at: reflect Christ and walk as he would - giving life. This comes about by acting decently, being fair-minded, kind, lending a helping hand, giving your spouse a break from the kids, bandaging your child's scraped knee, laughing with those that laugh, mourning with those that mourn. Just as Jesus walked — walk as he where ever you've been assigned to trod —giving life and not death. In this you will sin less than you did the day before.

Remember, God has assigned you to live where you are at in the times you live to be an extension of his hands. Always preserve what is good no matter the afflictions and heartaches that befall your path. Shine Life and never let your life preserving salt go bad.
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[John T]

Thanks B.W. for your kind, considerate and supportive words.

I've recently been away, hence the late reply, but I am sure you are correct in what you have said.

You see, virtually every Christian website that I have visited mostly have a singular message of repentance which is to accept Jesus Christ NOW.
For sure, I do agree with this approach, but the message it seems is specifically meant for unbelievers.

I see "repentance" as a one-time acceptance of Jesus Christ because such a one-time acceptance cannot become a two-fold experience (Hebrews 6: 4-6)

Therefore having repented, an individual thenceforth becomes a Christian for life, for the Holy Spirit has been received and works in the life of that individual throughout all manner of trials and tribulations.

But (and as I said in my first post), like it or not, being fully human, that converted individual will for sure continue to think, do and say wrong things (sinning).

Perhaps I've missed something here on these various websites (including this one), but there appears to be little or no concern it seems for those Christians who having once repented, repeatedly continue to sin in their lives (and sometimes knowingly, which to my mind is the worst kind of sin) and this applies to preachers and the ministry too.

Shouldn't such sincere websites (as I am sure they all are) address this particular issue in order to remind those Christians, that even having once repented and accepted Jesus Christ, further sinning could leave one still in danger of eternal hell-fire ie "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12)?
Accepting Jesus Christ is a very serious business indeed.

A preacher once said that it is a lack of fire from the pulpit that does not melt the ice in the pews, or words to that effect.
This might apply to some Christian websites too.

regards

John

[bizzt]

You may want to read this discussion... it might help understand the position that websites take

http://discussions.godandscience.org/vi ... sc&start=0

[phoney]

Hi all,

No doubt this subject has been raised before, but on sinning, which is a very serious business, Jesus must have spoken many similar words such as the following (and no doubt to many other people too, but obviously not all are recorded), that they should "go and sin no more" (John 8:11) and following a cure, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." (John 5:14)

Now, for those of us that have have repented and accepted Jesus Christ, I am sure like it or not, that we all go on sinning, for no one is perfect.

The worst sin in my view, whatever that sin might be, is sinning knowingly.

Repentence in my understanding, is not just the utterence of some very sincere and pious words towards God (through Jesus Christ), or going to church every Sunday etc., but involves a complete change of action too demanded by a change of heart through the power and guidance of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

I must admit that at times, this is a very hard doctrine to follow, especially when confronted with the various ways and rules of this world which we must all live by in our particular ways, but of course I do realize that we must utilize the powers of discernment when deciding which aspect might be right or wrong.
This obviously applies in a very personal manner too, between oneself and the Creator, particularly in regard to ones bad habits etc., which no doubt we all possess and are guilty of.

Each day, a Christian will pray for forgiveness of their sins and ask to be given the strength to "sin no more", but I am sure that we all sin again as I well know from experience.

This being the case, does this mean that we have truly repented in the first place, or have we been kidding ourselves all along that we are saved and because of our continual sinning "a worse thing [will] come unto thee"?

Personally, on judgement day, I don't want to be one of the ten virgins (Mathew 25) who after the bridegroom came were told "I know you not"

Your views appreciated.

John

I think you are right on track, I found this and thought it shows some insight to this subject. HEB 10: 26-27