What do the scriptures tell me to do after committing a sin?
score:3
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9, ESV)
Anyone can be tempted as long as we live in this world, anyone can make mistakes. All we need to do is confess our sins and ask for forgiveness. While Catholics need to confess there sins to the priest, Protestants may simply confess it directly to God. If you have wronged someone, some Protestant Churches may require you to confess it publicly to that person and ask forgiveness before God and men.
Does it mean we can keep on sinning and always ask for forgiveness? Not at all. A born-again Christian can no longer live according to worldly patterns, his character must be changed.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4, ESV)
However, when things are beyond your capacity, when things are beyond your limit, when things are beyond your ability, and you failed, there is always hope, for Jesus can forgive us whenever we come back to him. Jesus himself taught us to forgive 70 times in a day. How much more can Jesus forgive!
and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” (Luke 17:4, ESV)
Upvote:2
1 John 1:8-9 "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When you sin, first, repent of your sin and ask God for forgiveness.
John 8:4-11 (ESV) "The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery ... he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” ... And Jesus said [to the woman], “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Then, don't repeat the sin.
Of course we are humans and we fail and we will repeat the sin.
Luke 17:3-4 (ESV) If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, 4 and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
While this is advice to people and not a description of God, it was the first verse that popped into my head at the moment. If someone sins against us, we should forgive him over and over. It stands to reason that if God demands this behavior from us, he must act it out himself.
As a couple of side notes on the specifics:
Looking at a woman and saying "wow, she's really pretty" is not necessarily lust, and I wouldn't beat myself up every time I notice a woman is pretty. This is certainly debatable, but I think what Jesus meant was that if you look at a woman who is not your wife and want to have sexual relations with her, then the fact that when you asked she slapped you in the face and told you to get lost rather than agreeing has nothing to do with your guilt. You wanted to sin. The fact that you were unable to follow through does not make it okay. Similarly if you are angry and want to kill someone, but his bodyguards stop you from entering the building, you are just as guilty as if you had pulled it off. CS Lewis once wrote that some men are in a position where, when they get angry, they can have thousands of people killed. Others are in a position where, when they get angry, people just ignore them or even laugh at them. But in both cases, they had the same sinful desires in their hearts, so their guilt is the same although the results are different. I think there's nothing wrong with thinking a woman is pretty, as long as you are not wishing to have illicit sexual relations with her.
But that said, if you're married, I would certainly make every effort to concentrate your sexual interest on your wife. That's what marriage is for.
More post
- 📝 Was Noah and/or his family fully or partially descendant from Cain?
- 📝 What did the Apostolic Fathers believe regarding the state of the dead and the afterlife?
- 📝 According to the Protestant faith, was God grieved when He cast Satan out of Heaven?
- 📝 According to Calvinism, is God always loving?
- 📝 How do Christians who believe in libertarian free will explain the large imbalance in the ratio of people saved vs. condemned?
- 📝 According to Emanuel Swedenborg, who is the man Jesus, born of a woman, who died and then was resurrected?
- 📝 Is God a Legislator or Executive? Or both?
- 📝 Should Catholics ignore Hebrews 13:3 if a Prisoner is excommunicated?
- 📝 How is the Catholic belief in Purgatory supported?
- 📝 What is the origin of holding hands when praying around a circle before a meal?
- 📝 What does Mormonism have to offer in regards to salvation through Jesus Christ that was not already taught in the New Testament?
- 📝 Is the Catechism of the Catholic Church considered scripture?
- 📝 Who were the "wise men from the east" (Magi) spoken of in Matthew 2?
- 📝 Has there ever been an exorcism conducted by the Mormon Church?
- 📝 How are the Communion wafers handled?
- 📝 Where did viruses come from, according to Young Earth Creationists?
- 📝 Which version of the Gospels do the authors of the Philokalia refer to?
- 📝 How does Westboro Baptist Church support the idea that soldiers will go to hell?
- 📝 If someone doesn't know about Christianity, and they sin, do they go to hell?
- 📝 Do the Catholics have any letters addressed to Linus, or to any of them, from an Apostle?
- 📝 Is there a concept of Christian State in Christianity?
- 📝 Have there been cases in church history of revival occurring in times of prosperity and general peace?
- 📝 Does voting for a pro-abortion candidate constitute formal cooperation in his crime of promoting child killing?
- 📝 According to Creationists, what are the strongest arguments against abiogenesis?
- 📝 What is the fewest number of cardinal electors are needed to validly elect a pope?
- 📝 Can a Catholic priest adopt a child?
- 📝 100 Year Anniversaries? - Sacred Heart of Jesus
- 📝 What is a Christian's justification for a legal prohibition of h*m*sexual marriage?
- 📝 Was there a special Sabbath in addition to Passover when Jesus was crucified?
- 📝 Is it ever possible to tell the purpose-driven purpose (in general sense) of a respected distressed disabled person?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What do the scriptures tell me to do after committing a sin?
- 📝 What is the significance of Noah, after the flood, getting drunk and cursing his son who saw him Naked?
- 📝 What do Protestants who deny transubstantiation do with the remainders of wine and bread after the Eucharist?
- 📝 What is the Catholic understanding of the first sin committed by Adam and Eve?
- 📝 What is the basis for the belief that the wise men did not arrive in Bethlehem until several months after the birth of Jesus?
- 📝 What is the interpretation of the bow in the cloud after the Flood?
- 📝 What is the significance of the three different gifts (gold, frankincense and myrrh) given to Jesus by the Magi after his birth?
- 📝 To what are the scriptures referring when they speak of the books of the "chronicles of the kings"?
- 📝 What is the scriptural basis for the idea that salvation can still be obtained after death?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying that we won't have a second chance to be saved after we die?
- 📝 What is the theological basis for readmitting a Protestant preacher to preaching after divorce?
- 📝 What is the Catholic Church's stance on baptism after death?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for multiple judgments after death?
- 📝 What process will be followed for the Anglican Covenant after its rejection by the Church of England?
- 📝 What was St. Thomas Aquinas's view on the difference between punishment accorded to original sin and punishment accorded to individual sin?
- 📝 What is the basis for the Roman Catholic teaching regarding the Sin of Presumption?
- 📝 What was the Sin of Gomorrah?
- 📝 What is the origin of the tradition that Mary lived in Turkey after John took her there?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for humans becoming angels after they die?
- 📝 What is the rationale for not making the Sign of the Cross after receiving Communion?
- 📝 What were the common exonyms of the Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches leading up to and after the Great Schism (1054)?
- 📝 What happened to the resurrected after death?
- 📝 What is the biblical support for the original sin being an infinite sin?
- 📝 What is the biblical & patristic basis for the belief that the saints go to Heaven instead of Sheol after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus?
- 📝 What happened to the apostle John after the Biblical account of his life ends?
- 📝 What is the significance of the angelic visitation of the shepherds after the birth of Jesus Christ?
- 📝 What is the significance of what Jesus ate after his resurrection?
- 📝 What Biblical evidence is there that the Apostles feared for their lives after Jesus was crucified?
- 📝 What are the arguments that the book of Acts was written after 70 AD?
- 📝 What is an overview of the similarities and differences between the Catholic doctrine of Original Sin and the Reformed doctrine of Total Depravity?