My Christian Answers

I have written a few articles about the Forgiveness of God now. If you have not read them you can read them here:

Forgiveness of God

Some people may read these things and still not be convinced that sin was taken care of on Calvary and everyone’s sins were paid for (meaning completely forgiven). This is going to be a short article just asking a couple of questions. I want you to search and find the answers to these in the word of God.

Here are the questions:

1) When do you think your sins were forgiven?

For most people the answer to this question is “when I asked him to forgive me.”

2) Why do you think your sins are forgiven?

Most would say to this question that they are forgiven because they asked him to forgive. I want to know why you think he forgave you when you asked. If I asked you that you should say, “Because Christ died for my sins”. Christ died for you sins before you asked him to forgive you. So this leads me to another question:

3) Why did God not forgive you before you asked?

If the reason God forgave is because Christ died for your sins, then why must God wait on you to ask him? The work of Christ concerning Salvation is finished; it has been for two thousand years. If “the Lord hath laid on him the iniquities of us all” (Isaiah 53: 6), then how would God be just in not forgiving those iniquities laid on Christ. If God were to punish the same iniquities twice, would he be just? “NO”. That would be like giving you two speeding tickets for one violation. God because of his perfect justice cannot punish my sin or yours twice. He judged it in the body of Christ so can he judge it in you? NO he cannot. I have one last question.

4) Will you believe it?

The Bible paints a bloody picture of the payment for sin. God the Father beat his only begotten Son to death. Isaiah 53 says that it pleased God to do it. God hates sin so much that he chose to kill his Son, Jesus Christ, in order to pay for it. John 4:10 says that the Samaritan woman had to know two things to be saved: who Christ is and what the gift of God is. If you think you are saved you must question yourself, after all Paul did tell the Corinthians to examine themselves. What did I know when I made my profession? Did I know who Christ really is? Did I know that the gift of God is forgiveness of sins (for Christ’s sake, not because I asked)? Did I think that I could earn salvation?

Many people say a prayer and tell God that they know there is nothing they can do to be saved. The funny thing is that when the are praying that prayer, they are doing something to be saved. They think they are saved because they prayed. That is a big misunderstanding that is sending people to hell. If you think that what you do (works) gets you into heaven, then you are not truly resting in the finished work of Christ; you are resting in your works. Thinking that a prayer will get you into heaven is no different than thinking that giving to the poor will get you into heaven. Both are good works, but neither merit heaven. “For to him that worketh it is no longer grace…” (Romans 4:4) and “by grace are ye saved through faith, not of works”. If your claim to heaven is in what you said, did, or felt, then it is not by grace and you will find out the hard way unless you change your mind about how you view salvation.

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There are many questions that I have seen as I have looked around the internet about forgiveness. I decided to write a series on forgiveness to address many of the questions I have seen.

Maybe you have a question. Many questions I have seen and will answer in this series include:

1:)How could God ever forgive me after what I have done?

2:)Why does God forgive sins?

3:)Can I ever do something that God will not forgive?

4:)Why do people go to Hell?

And hopefully many more questions will be answered in this 3 part series.

Please read about the forgiveness of God

Part 1 When God forgave man

Part 2 Who did God forgive?

Part 3 If God forgave man, why do people go to Hell?

Most professing Christians today, at least in America, have never faced this thing called suffering. In fact many believe that becoming a Christian makes everything peachy in life.

Biblical Christianity is far from a peachy life. The reason Christians do not suffer as much in America as Paul and others did is that Christians do not stand up for the truth of the Gospel. Probably because most don’t know the truth. Today’s “Christianity” is an easy one, “abc or 123″ and you have it. Witnessing consists of nothing more than asking someone to come to church (because most don’t know enough of the word of God to be a witness themselves), salvation consists of simply praying a prayer any time you choose and being baptized, and being”Christ like” only matters on Sundays. If there were more to Christianity than what we see today then there would be suffering.

For the true follower of Christ, suffering is not a possibility it is a certainty and a privilege (Phil 1:29). The apostle Paul invited suffering in his life, Phil 3:10 he says “That I may know…the fellowship of his sufferings”.

Christians in America need to change their thinking. A man that realizes that temporal things are not important and lay up treasures in heaven (Matt 6:20) would have a powerful impact on the lives around him. We need to challenge people as Christians, shaking the foundations that their faith is grounded in. Many professing Christians need to check their own foundations. I thought I was saved for years before someone challenged my faith. They told me things in the word of God that I could not refute. The things they told me went against what I had my faith grounded in. If it had not been for that person shaking my foundation I would not have found out that it was faulty.

Tell people the truth, invite suffering in your life. Tell someone that there is nothing they can do to earn salvation. Tell them that Christ finished the work of salvation when he put away sin (Heb 9:26) and all that’s left is to trust in the living savior. Tell someone that there is not a prayer that can save, there is not a baptismal pool that can save, and there is not one good work that can save. Tell them the truth, that only true faith allows salvation to take place, nothing more and nothing less. Tell them this and you will suffer for Christ’s sake and blessed are they that suffer (Matthew 5).

Two choices

1.) Invite his suffering into your life by standing on truth

2.) Do nothing

The choice is yours!

Finally we get to the last article in this series (maybe). Why do people go to hell? To most anyone the answer to that question is simple. Most would say people go to hell because of their sins. This is wrong. If you have not read parts 1 and 2, please read them before going any farther.

To summarize parts 1&2, God forgave mankind two thousand years ago. We do not have to ask for God to forgive us as lost people. Instead we believe that God has forgiven us, and that Christ’s work is complete.
Realizing God’s complete forgiveness the question of why people go to hell becomes a little more tricky. To say that Christ paid the price for the sins of the world then to say we go to hell to pay for our sins does not make sense.

This is the reason people go to hell. Jesus put a stipulation on his forgiveness. He said all manner of sin and blasphemy would be forgiven. That prophecy came true when he placed his blood on the mercy seat in heaven. He follows that statement in Mark 3:29 with, “but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation”. So, there is one thing and one thing only that will cause someone to go to hell. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. The meaning of blasphemy is debated among most commentaries. Some because of the context of this passage say that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is ascribing a work of God to Satan. But, taking this passage in the context of the entire New Testament we can conclude that calling God’s work Satan’s work is not blasphemy. Jesus was accused of committing blasphemy because he made himself equal with God.

Christ making himself equal with God in the pharasee’s mind was blasphemy. Making himself equal with God was in their opinions synonymous with rejecting the deity of God thereby rejecting God. The scribe’s in Mark 3 did not commit blasphemy because they called the work of Christ the work of the devil. Instead, they said that Christ had a devil in order that they would not have to accept that Christ was equal with God. Because of pride they said the only thing they could say and still reject the message of Christ as being from God. Thereby committing blasphemy. They said what they said in order to reject Christ.

So, the only thing Christ said would never be forgiven is rejecting the Holy Spirit. That is not my words, but Christ’s. Take the Bible for what it says or not at all. Sin has been taken care of. The worst men in history are not in hell for what they did, but for the one thing they did not do. That is to seek Christ. The reason that someone goes to hell is not because they are sinners, but because they reject the drawing power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works in the hearts of individuals telling them to seek and accept the finished work of Christ, to stop working and just believe the work has already been done. The reason anyone goes to hell is that they do not accept that.

Because of what is said in Mark 3 we know that blasphemy is not a one time event, but more of a path. It says in verse 29 that one in this condition is not condemned to eternal damnation, but is in danger of eternal damnation. I know that this article is short and does not do the topic justice, but it does give the simple truth from the word of God. If anyone is reading this article and is doubting their salvation, if you are wondering whether or not you are going down the wrong path in your beliefs, if you are unsure in any way, you don’t have to be. The Bible in Isaiah says that the effect of righteousness is quietness and assurance forever. If you don’t have quietness and assurance then you don’t have righteousness. Romans 4 says that it is imputed to us righteousness when we have saving faith. So, if you know enough to get you to heaven then you will know it and nothing will be able to shake your foundation.

If not, maybe it is because you are rejecting the light that the Holy Spirit is trying to reveal to you. If this is true then you are in grave danger. Seek Him while he may be found, HE PROMISES that you will find him.

“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

Still not convinced? Click here to read on further.

There are a few main beliefs about the forgiveness of God and to whom it is given. First, there is the belief that anyone who asks for forgiveness is forgiven. This point of view puts the work of forgiveness in the hands of the person asking. If he wants it, he can get it. If not, he won’t. That is where this belief is extremely flawed. God gave the forgiveness of sins when he applied the blood shed on Calvary to the mercy seat in heaven (please see Part 1). Man has nothing to do with whether or not he is forgiven. God expects us to forgive others when we are wronged by them. Would God be just in asking us to forgive without others asking for our forgiveness if He did not do the same? If God wants to forgive, there is nothing in man that is going to stop Him.

Another belief that people hold is that of Calvinist doctrine. That belief states that the sacrifice of Christ atones, or provides forgiveness for, a limited number of people. They call these people “the elect”. While the bible does use the terms chosen and elect, that is an entirely different subject and deserves an article of its own. So, I will not go into that right now. Calvinist are right about when people were forgiven they just miss the mark a little bit when it comes to who.

Christ is portrayed as the second Adam. Adam messed us up and Christ fixed us up. “Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Romans 5:18). Adam, the first man, plunged all of humanity into sin. From Adam all the way up to this very instant, man is born into and lives in sin. Each of you reading this sin more often than you would like to admit. It all started because of Adam. Christ, like Adam, did something that would affect all of humanity. He, instead of plunging man into sin, redeemed man; he purged sin, put it away by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26). Just as Adam’s fall affected ALL, Christ’s offering affected ALL.

“Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life” (Romans 5:18)

The word used for justification in this verse is the Greek word “dikaiosis”, which means acquittal, or to declare not guilty. Notice that in this verse the righteousness of one, that is Jesus Christ, causes the free gift of being declared not guilty to pass upon all men. The Calvinist would say, “That really means that the free gift passes to all of the people chosen before the foundation of the world to be saved”. The person who believes you are forgiven upon asking would say, “That just means it passes upon whosoever will ask”. The bible does not support either of these answers. God inspired men to write this book; his word is perfect. Therefore, we should not have to explain anything in his word by adding something to it. We should be able to explain anything in his word by comparing scripture with scripture, no adding or subtracting. If God in verse 18 did not mean all men he would not have said all men. This passage proves something that most people would consider absurd; that removal of sin does not mean the addition of righteousness. Therefore, while all men are forgiven, not all men are saved. God said in verse 18 all men are declared not guilty, but in verse 19 many are made righteous. God used two different words for a reason. Some people will tell you that they are interchangeable words, but that is only to make the scripture fit their beliefs. People are not willing to just believe what the bible says.

Keeping in mind that God means what he says in his word let us look at another verse. “He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). God told believers that Christ was the propitiation for their sins and FOR THE SINS OF THE WORLD. Without adding or taking away from the word of God try to explain that verse. I have never heard a Calvinist try, but I am sure they have some very unscriptural explanation to give if you will listen to them. I know what most other people will tell you. They will tell you that by propitiation it is meant that Christ made forgiveness available for the whole world, but that is not what the word means. The word propitiation in the verse above means, “an atonement, or an expiator”. Look it up for yourself if you do not believe me. Atonement or an expiator is something or in this case, someone, that makes amends for or brings into concord. So Christ made amends for the sins of the whole world. The verse clearly states that. Why not believe it.

“Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). God took away the sin of the world. If he did not then this verse need not be in the bible. Many other verses tell us that Christ died for the world, by that I mean everyone. “For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe” (1 Timothy 4:10). Christ is the savoir of unbelievers according to this verse.

I could go on and on with forgiveness being given to the whole world, but that would do no good. If you want to find Christ, if you want to get out of traditional lies and believe the truth, then I have given you enough information to provoke you to look for yourself in the scriptures. Jeremiah 29:13 gives us the promise that if we seek him with our whole heart, we shall find him.

The big question going through many of the minds of the readers of this article is this, “If everyone’s sins are paid for, then why does anyone go to hell?”. I mentioned something a little earlier in this article that touches that topic, but if you will continue on to part 3 I will explain it in detail.