Can you be forgiven of sin if you plan on doing it again?

If your a mobster asking forgiveness for murder knowing full well you'll commit murder again should you need to for your "family".
Or a homo for being gay but still planning on being a practicing homosexual.

Don't you have to repent. ie. plan on never doing that sin again to be forgiven?

 

I believe so, to be truly forgiven. Still, if you repent and then you do do it again, I believe you can still repent again and keep trying. Still, you cannot be truly forgiven if you do not actually intend to stop what is is that you've sinned.

 

To be forgiven requires repentance. To repent is to turn from which means to have no desire to do that sin again.

 

So homosexuals are doomed to hell unless they quit being homosexuals. Murderers too.

 

As well as gossips, liars, theives, etc. This is not to say that my intention to never do what ever it is again will keep me from occasionally falling back upon the path of my former sin. Ultimately sin is placing one's self and/or one's desires first.
Man, in this life, is neither perfect nor ultimately perfectable, thus the cross.

 

Bot how can someone be so pure of thought as to truly rule out the possibility of recommitting the sin? Maybe the sinner is just being honest with himself, ie saying, "I wish I could stop. I need forgiveness, but I am probably to weak and sinful to keep myself from doing this again."

What then? Are the liars who declare they will become sin-free more worthy of salvation? I thought lying was a sin too.

 

I will take a different approach to this question. I think real regret and remorse is the key.

You might ask how can you regret and remorse and still do it again?

Human nature.

I think remorse and regret is more important then simply stopping with no real remorse and regret.

After all what good is forgiveness if it's simply out of fear? Even if you never do it again.

Has to come from the heart, be real.

IMHO

 

Well put Indie. Further I can fully intend not to do something and still find myself doing it regradless of my wish to do so. In fact Paul has a whole chapter on that in the New Testament.

 

But doesn't having that experience cause you to doubt your future intentions? So that you are never able to repent with a straight face, because you have the experience which leads you to believe you will probably fail again?

 

Intent is the key word I believe. If someone intends to do harm, I cant see how any God forgives that, no matter if that person begs for mercy or not. I would think there has to be some sort of personal responsibility involved. Too many religious people believe that their actions mean nothing so long as they say they will repent

 

saying that God hates sin, but loves the sinner is ‘technically’ true, but it is misleading without the qualifying statement that He loves sinners enough to help them out of the sin He hates. Does that make sense? God will not allow those who are determined to cling to their sin (habitual/practicing sinners) into His Heaven, but He does love them enough to make a way for them to overcome their sin and join Him in Heaven. Scripture says it this way:


1Cor 10:13b And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

 

It is an interesting verse, as the reality is that no one finds that "way out" consistently. We are all, every one of us, tempted beyond what we can bear. Or so says scripture elsewhere. "No one is without sin, no not one."

 

I compare it to learning to ride a bike. Eventually, pretty much every kid learns to ride a bike, but they still have scrapes along the way, no matter how careful they are. Repenting is compared to when they get back up on the bike, and non-repentance is when they kick the bike and leave it there. You will still sin, but if you continue to repent, you'll keep learning and growing and getting better.

 

Perhaps we are tempted beyond what we can bear if we ignore HIS way out. He always provides it. Maybe you just don't recognize it as such and consider it a momentary interruption rather than the escape.

 

So the passage about forgiving someone seventy times seven is just a joke?

Matthew 18:21-23 (NKJV) = 1 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.

There's nothing in that story that says that a person has to repent. The injured person is supposed to do the forgiving without being asked. If the person has to repent and ask for forgiveness then he's begging.

 

How about people who misspell 'thieves'? Where is God when we truly need him?!

 

interesting question, can one be forgiven for bearing false witness again and again?


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that doesn't negate 1Cor.

 

Paul isn't the most credible guy in the Bible. Consider 1 Corinthians 1:14-16 (CEB) = Thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you, except Crispus and Gaius, so that nobody can say that you were baptized in my name! Oh, I baptized the house of Stephanas too. Otherwise, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else.

 

If a person repeatedly lies about you it's up to you to forgive him for it. Maybe you have been doing something wrong that has caused him enough to care about you to constantly tell others about you, even if it's nothing but lies. You should seek to understand why he cares so much about you. Maybe you need to improve your behavior.

 

Or confront him about it.

The only benefit to forgiveness is your own piece of mind, but obviously it can be rather difficult to actually forgive someone - particularly when one bears some personal fault in a given matter, since forgiveness would also require admitting and dealing with that fault.

 

Big difference between you a mortal forgiving someone and expecting forgiveness from God.

 

I find forgiveness for someone who doesn't repent hard.
Should I forgive my father for having sex with my 12 year old sister 30 years ago?
Should I forgive my father for again having sex with a different 12 year old sister just last year and this time he's in jail for it?

(*)(*)(*)(*) em.

 

The story says that if a person expects God's forgiveness then he needs to forgive other people himself. Why should God forgive you if you have never forgiven anyone in your life?

 

Well, you can always forgive him for not having sex with you, unless you're jealous? Remember Lot and his skanky daughters. They are cited in the Bible as being righteous folk.