Satan is a schemer, if he want to mess people up, he confuses reality. Confuses right from wrong. Causes them to question the validity of the scriptures and their faith.
Granted it is good to know what constitutes a sin. You missed church last Sunday or you are responsible for the genocide of 20,000 people....there is a little difference in the severity of sin. There are grey areas, it Hitler would have found Christ and believed in the last 30 seconds of his life....would he be saved?
Molest your daughter during the week and get forgiveness on Sunday. Habitual sin is a mockery of salvation.
"If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. Matthew 18:9
A guy gets up in the morning and has his coffee and breakfast, and goes to work to murder babies...day in and day out. When he asks forgiveness each Sunday at church....is he forgiven? Can there be repentance if it is a lifestyle or a job, with no intent of changing?
There are people that murder due to a mental disorder, some of it falls in the category of sociopaths.
1st Corinthians 5:5 In this instance the Apostle Paul made the judgment to render an end for these men. "I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Why? He made a decision for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." So Hymenaeus and Alexander are delivered unto Satan, not for their final perdition, but that they may be taught, through this terrible discipline, not to blaspheme.
A lot of Christians do not understand what was going on there. A lot of people do not take a lot of stock in Christian history. But in the biblical era and after, there were Christians that would kill a person to save there soul. It did not matter if it was a kleptomaniac, a person that molested children, or homosexuality, knowing that the person could not control themselves they would allow them to repent one last time and ask forgiveness and then kill them, so that they would not end up in hell. There have been child molesters and child killers that when they were up for parole, they would tell them not to release them because they could not stop doing what they do.
Of course churches do not kill people anymore. It is considered more heartfelt to watch a person work their way to hell. We will pray for you man! Do you need some barbecue sauce for your sizzling?
A relationship with God is a serious business, sin is a serious business. They say that most sins can be forgiven, but repentance and forgiveness is nullified if there is no intent or possibly of stop sinning. I am not trying to be legalistic here but common sense prevails. An alcoholic or drug abuser can repent and get forgiveness and still backslide as he works out his (or her) addiction through counselling...but there is an intent, and an effort and an end of substance abuse that has to happen. The same thing goes for homosexuality, transsexuals, child abuser, and kleptomaniacs.
In the Old Testament, homosexuality was one of many things that they would execute you for. The Jewish Apostles felt the same way and the Apostle Paul felt the same way. Paul had special issues with the Pagan converts to Christianity because of their culture.
Homosexuality is a serious sin and the deeper you look into it, the nastier it gets. Giving them a free pass is a free pass to hell. At least make sure they know it is wrong. Let them work it out with Christ. If they cannot, just like any other sin it will be up to Christ where they end up. In the meantime there is no reason for a church to be tolerant of homosexual activities. Homosexuals in the church go to the rest rooms with your kids. Transsexuals in church go to the rest rooms with your kids. When put in motion, it is just not practical. These people are very bold and many times cannot control themselves. Homosexuals sitting together holding hands and kissing in church...in front of your kids. There is no upside to this.
All sins are not equal.
1. John 19:10-11 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
2. Matthew 12:31-32 Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
3. Matthew 11:21-22 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you.
5. 2 Peter 2:20-21 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
13. 1 John 3:8-10 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
14. Hebrews 10:26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.
15. 1 John 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
