Question:

Hello, recently, I was looking at a site that has quotes of the bible and a list of activities that keep people out of heaven. I was reading them and I was very shocked to see that I do around 6/26 things that keep people out of heaven. I know deep inside that I can stop doing what I am doing and that some of the things I have done that are on that list, I did them when I was only a child. So my question is : if I stop doing this will it be to late to be able to go to heaven? And will god forgive me for what I did when i was a child? I am only 15 by the way. One that really impacted me was that idolatry is in the list, I am a HUGE fan of Michael Jackson, and I don’t worship him, I don’t think he is God or Jesus, I just think he was a great human being, I do videos about him, and have many posters of him in my room, but I don’t worship him. I was wondering if loving someone a lot like I do him, will keep me out of heaven. When I was 13 I got very mad and I was going through a hard time in my life, during that time I wanted attention and people to comfort me, when I didn’t get the amount I wanted of that, I falsely declared to my mother and father that I didn’t believe in God, which was a lie, I just wanted attention. So my question is: Will God forgive me? I have already asked for his forgiveness and I am ashamed for what I did. Thank you, in advance, for taking your time to answer my questions.

Answer:

There is no sin big enough for God not to forgive.  The only unforgiveable sin is the one for which no forgiveness is asked.  God forgives if we truly repent and ask for forgiveness.  So the only reason why people go to hell is that they choose not to turn their lives over to God and ask for forgiveness.  Clearly you love God and have chosen to follow Him so you can be assured that you will be in Heaven if you continue to follow God and be guided by His Holy Spirit.  The reality is, “All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God”  Romans 3:23.  The site you write about could have millions of sins written on it as sin is sin.  All of us are sinners and sin comes in lots of different shapes and sizes!  The ONLY thing that fits us for Heaven is the sacrifice of Jesus.  He died for our sins. All of them.  Anyone who believes in Jesus, has eternal life! (John 3:16)

1 John 1: 9   If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Isaiah 55         6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him;
And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

Some people have the idea that some sins are so huge that they cannot be pardoned.   But if we look at the great Biblical characters we will see that they were all sinners as we are, and yet God forgave them when they repented and confessed.  Noah was a drunk, Moses a murderer, David an adulterer and murderer, the apostle Paul had many Christians killed, etc.  In fact it is almost impossible to find people of God in the Bible who did not at some stage commit some grievous sin.

Remember, God has given each human being the power of choice. He forces no-one; each person must make his or her own decision.   In arguably the most well-known text in the Bible, Jesus gives the two big choices which everyone has to make:

John 3: 16   For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

As far as the “unforgiveable sin” is concerned, this comes from the following passage:

Matt 12     31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

This sin is committed in the following way. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to point out sin in your life:

John 16    7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

The Holy Spirit accomplishes this by speaking to you in your mind, which you perceive as your conscience.  If you listen to this voice and obey it, and ask for forgiveness, forgiveness is given.  It also means that the Spirit’s voice will be heard clearer the next time.   But if the Holy Spirit’s voice  is ignored and the sin is committed time after time, His voice will become less and less clear.  In time, the Spirit’s voice will become dim, and the conscience blunted to sin. This turning away from the Spirit, ignoring the call to abandon the sin, will eventually lead to total lostness. It is this continual rejection of the Holy Spirit’s call that is the unpardonable sin, not because God cannot pardon any sin, but because the person no longer perceives it as sin, and no longer asks for pardon.  God cannot pardon what we do not ask for.

And when we ask for pardon, God’s spirit does the “clean up job” in our lives which means we won’t willingly do those things again.

I hope that this answers your question, and that you never ever believe that there is a sin big enough for God not to be able to forgive.  As is says in John 3: 16, God loves us so much that Jesus came to make it possible for us to have all our sins forgiven, and to live with Him forever.  God bless as you study these passages of Scripture!

Continue to love Jesus and He will guide your life. He has a great plan for you!  Read Jeremiah 29:11:

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

We trust this Bible based answer brings you comfort and peace.

Remember the key text

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

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