2012 Forgiveness?

[Bhavik]

Lets say some people believed in judgement day or such on Dec 21 2012, and when it came close to that time, lts say 4-5months before that date and people started praying and believing in God even though they may have sinned A LOT! would God still be in a position to forgive or would it be to late for the people?

Thanks for your time .

[RabbiKnife]

God will forgive up until you take your last breath, but that does not mean that the Holy Spirit will always call a person to repentance. Scripture teaches that there is a point, which is unknown, at which the Holy Spirit stops calling, thus making it impossible for that person to turn to God.

[embankmentlb]

True, Adolph Hitler could be in Heaven at this moment if he repented before his death in 1945. It's very unlikely but quite possible.

[Amos_with_goats]

Lets say some people believed in judgement day or such on Dec 21 2012, and when it came close to that time, lts say 4-5months before that date and people started praying and believing in God even though they may have sinned A LOT! would God still be in a position to forgive or would it be to late for the people?

Thanks for your time .

Hello again,

I moved this post to 'Christians Answer', as I mentioned in your intro post, this is the place for people who do not (yet) identify themselves as Christians to post and have their questions answered.

A VERY important principal in the life of the follower of Christ is the need to 'make things right' while it is still called today.
The 2012 date thing is of no significance to the follower of Christ, since the Lord reminds us that we do not necessarily know we have today, and none know when He might call us all home.

Forgiveness is a very important idea, and even secular psychology identifies it as such. If I harbour unforgiveness in my heart, as a believer, the Lord does not hear my prayers... that is REALLY significant! Christ gives a wonderful teaching about this here;

Matthew 18:26-28 (New King James Version)

26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!

Through the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross, we have been forgiven SO great a debt. We are not to be like this servant and fail to forgive the debt of others.... we are to do so while it is still today!

What is truly wonderful is that we need not try to forgive on our own, in our own power... The Lord gives us even the faith we need to forgive.

This faith, and all the other blessings from the Lord are available to us through the relationship we enter into when we accept the sacrifice Christ made for us on the Cross of Calvary. We need only humble ourselves, realize that we ahve sinned against the Lord, confess that sin and turn to Christ!

Please do write back if you have any questions, I (or most any other here) would delight in the privelege to share more with you about this.

Blessings,

[Bhavik]

Oh erm, so that means a person could be so sinful in his life? even if the person is sometimes mean to another , excuse this.. masturbate, making mistakes that are sinful and at the end still be forgiven as long as that person asks for forgiveness and accepts Jesus as there saviour?


I'm trying to get the hang of all this, I'm only 16 and i believe i have a lot to learn .

I hope you guys understand.

[Firefighter]

You are absolutely correct. The problem is, you do not know when the end is going to be. As a firefighter and rescue worker, I have seen people MUCH younger than you never make it home from the store, school, party, etc. As a pastor, I have talked to people about God just hours before they met an untimely end. You may not have a chance near the end. I am not trying to scare you, just allow you to make an informed choice.

[Gypsy]

Oh erm, so that means a person could be so sinful in his life? even if the person is sometimes mean to another , excuse this.. masturbate, making mistakes that are sinful and at the end still be forgiven as long as that person asks for forgiveness and accepts Jesus as there saviour?


I'm trying to get the hang of all this, I'm only 16 and i believe i have a lot to learn .

I hope you guys understand.

Don't think of it as trying to get away with studying as little as you can to pass a test. Think of it as being forgiven by someone you love dearly, who you have wronged. That you have sinned is not what matters. We all have sinned. Jesus died for your sin. The ones you've described and the ones you haven't. For you, for me, for everyone. He loves us anyway. That's grace - that we are offered forgiveness, where we are undeserving of such.

Someone's gonna, so it might as well be me, mention the their on the cross next to Jesus as he died for us:

[39]One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” [40]But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? [41]And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” [42]And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” [43]And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

this was a man who likely lived close to a perfectly sinful life and in the last moments of his miserable existence reached out to Jesus in faith. "Jesus remember me?" and in His very worst moment; betrayed, beaten, ridiculed, forsaken by His Father and covered in blood and sweat and dirt and spit and sour wine, dying, Jesus hears him. He accepts him. He loves him - “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” How awesome is that! What kind of love that must be! Because he wasn't just talking to the thief on the cross, he was talking to me. He was talking to you. From 2000 years ago, he still reaches out to each of us. He says "you can have this too". It doesn't matter who you were before, we are born again in Jesus. He makes you anew.

[Bhavik]

Don't think of it as trying to get away with studying as little as you can to pass a test. Think of it as being forgiven by someone you love dearly, who you have wronged. That you have sinned is not what matters. We all have sinned. Jesus died for your sin. The ones you've described and the ones you haven't. For you, for me, for everyone. He loves us anyway. That's grace - that we are offered forgiveness, where we are undeserving of such.

Someone's gonna, so it might as well be me, mention the their on the cross next to Jesus as he died for us:

this was a man who likely lived close to a perfectly sinful life and in the last moments of his miserable existence reached out to Jesus in faith. "Jesus remember me?" and in His very worst moment; betrayed, beaten, ridiculed, forsaken by His Father and covered in blood and sweat and dirt and spit and sour wine, dying, Jesus hears him. He accepts him. He loves him - “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” How awesome is that! What kind of love that must be! Because he wasn't just talking to the thief on the cross, he was talking to me. He was talking to you. From 2000 years ago, he still reaches out to each of us. He says "you can have this too". It doesn't matter who you were before, we are born again in Jesus. He makes you anew.

That's truly amazing

Even though I'm 16 I'm bound to sin throughout the years as i mature more, Im sure i've sinned and will sin but never notice it :S.

I will ask for forgiveness every day for the sins that i have done, however If i continue mistakenly sinning lets say until i'm like 21 or feel like i have more control of my life will i still be forgiven and accepted?

At this age, its typical studying hanging out with friends having fun, and I just don't want to feel that I have lost my chance.

From what I've read as long as I'm alive I'll be forgiven as long as I accept Jesus.

Also when praying do I directly say Lord or God? or do i mention Jesus also a priest told me God's name is Jehovah, so when praying would i mention Jesus, Lord, God, or Jehovah?

I hope you guys can help Thanks for the support!

[tango]

Lets say some people believed in judgement day or such on Dec 21 2012, and when it came close to that time, lts say 4-5months before that date and people started praying and believing in God even though they may have sinned A LOT! would God still be in a position to forgive or would it be to late for the people?

Thanks for your time .

There's no reason for God not to forgive anyone who truly repents. The thief on the cross beside Jesus gives us an example of exactly that - while we don't know if he repented with his literal last breath he certainly wasn't far from death and had no hope of surviving his ordeal.

What's important to remember is that even if we are fit and healthy now we can never know whether we will see tomorrow. It's easy to focus on The End in the sense of judgment day, the end of the world and all that and equally easy to forget to consider The End in a personal sense. I'm typing this at 9:45pm in good health and there's still no guarantee I'll be alive come midnight tonight.

[tango]

Also when praying do I directly say Lord or God? or do i mention Jesus also a priest told me God's name is Jehovah, so when praying would i mention Jesus, Lord, God, or Jehovah?

Honestly, it really doesn't matter. Some people pray "Lord", some pray "Dear Lord" some say "Lord God", some say "Lord Jesus", others say "Father" etc. Personally I usually say "Father", once in a while I'll say "Lord God" and on very rare occasions I'll say "Sovereign Lord".

[Dani H]

God gave you a conscience, right? You know right from wrong, don't you? If you work with your conscience that God gave you and do what you can to live right to begin with, then you will have very little to be forgiven for.

What Jesus does for us, is He gave us access to God as our Father so that we can ask for God's help to live right to begin with and don't end up wasting our time doing all these things that just end up destroying us.

What is better: Doing drugs and asking for forgiveness but still having to deal with those drugs destroying our bodies and minds (because forgiveness doesn't keep us from having to deal with consequences), or not doing drugs to begin with?

What is better: Stealing and getting caught and having to spend time in jail and learn not to steal by hard consequences, or not stealing to begin with and never going to jail for it?

Forgiveness is important. Doing the right things in life is much more important, though.

You're very young, and so you have a great chance of living a life full of right choices and no regrets. It's great that you're thinking about these things and asking about them!

I have no problems forgiving my kids for the wrong things they do. I'd much rather they do the right thing to begin with, though, and that they learn to make good choices in life.

Jesus showed us how to live right. Follow His example. That way you won't have to worry about 2012 or any of these things because you'll have a clean conscience either way.

[Bhavik]

Honestly, it really doesn't matter. Some people pray "Lord", some pray "Dear Lord" some say "Lord God", some say "Lord Jesus", others say "Father" etc. Personally I usually say "Father", once in a while I'll say "Lord God" and on very rare occasions I'll say "Sovereign Lord".

Okay, I doubt you missed this by I'll say it again ;p

'Even though I'm 16 I'm bound to sin throughout the years as i mature more, Im sure i've sinned and will sin but never notice it :S.

I will ask for forgiveness every day for the sins that i have done, however If i continue mistakenly sinning lets say until i'm like 21 or feel like i have more control of my life will i still be forgiven and accepted?

At this age, its typical studying hanging out with friends having fun, and I just don't want to feel that I have lost my chance.

From what I've read as long as I'm alive I'll be forgiven as long as I accept Jesus.'


I'm not sure if you didnt know what to reply, if thats the case I hope someone else does.

Thx.

[Bhavik]

Okay Im not saying im a stealer or anything but lets go in my shoes

I'm a normal kid studying at college etc. [Soo boring aah!! ]
Having fun with friends but sometimes i randomly will cuss a word and its just random sometimes i keep thinking to my self why can't i just stop cussing.
For example If Im with my friends I'll randomly not always use a cuss word :x but when talking to people i don't know as much I'll never say a bad word or be rude to them in anyway O.o..

Overall I'm a nice person and polite to everyone i talk to.

I have no idea what to do O_O.

[Gypsy]

That's truly amazing

Even though I'm 16 I'm bound to sin throughout the years as i mature more, Im sure i've sinned and will sin but never notice it :S.

I will ask for forgiveness every day for the sins that i have done, however If i continue mistakenly sinning lets say until i'm like 21 or feel like i have more control of my life will i still be forgiven and accepted?

At this age, its typical studying hanging out with friends having fun, and I just don't want to feel that I have lost my chance.

From what I've read as long as I'm alive I'll be forgiven as long as I accept Jesus.

Also when praying do I directly say Lord or God? or do i mention Jesus also a priest told me God's name is Jehovah, so when praying would i mention Jesus, Lord, God, or Jehovah?

I hope you guys can help Thanks for the support!

Call Him Bubba if you want. Its your heart he hears not your words. Prayer doesn't have to be eloquent or ornate. It doesn't have to be done on your knees or in church. It can be as simple as thinking "God help me with this" or "Wow. Thank you for that beautiful sunset". When you become comfortable with praying, you find yourself doing it without even thinking about it. The bible tells us to prey without ceasing:

[16]Rejoice always, [17]pray without ceasing, [18]give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

it does not mean that we must remain on our knees with hands folded. It means that we learn to incorporate the consideration of God's will for us in all that we do. We recognize that he is constantly with us, urging us to live our lives according to his plan. Thats reall all there is to being a Christian really - that is having a relationship with Jesus. That's true even when we think we've put him on hold. There is no God switch. You can't just say OK I'm going to choose to follow you five years from now and think that he's gonna tune out until your ready. He's right there with you all the time. When you think you're pleasing him and when you know that you're not. I personally regret not being saved in High School. To have that guidance at that age, that passion in my youth, the love and support system I see the youth in our church having - I would gladly trade a High School worth of weekends, sitting in the woods, drinking warm beer from a Solo cup while smacking skeeters on my neck.

I have to run to church, buy one last thing; don't listen to anyone who tells you that to love God you have to do this or that. You have to call him this name or that name. That to be saved you have to go to this church or that church. The bible says nothing about this. You can be saved sitting in the parking lot at Wal-mart. It's about faith not behavior.

So glad you're here. Ill check back after church.

[Bhavik]

One last topic that might be a little awkward but I'm sadly going to have to bring it up.

It seems natural for teenagers to masturbate and it just happens, some teenagers just can't resist it.

If a teenager continued to masturbate until he was like lets say married? Would that person be forgiven even if that person asked for forgiveness nearly all the time and was overall a simple minded nice person but that was just that one thing ''masturbation'' that held him back. I' just though I'd bring this as research tells me that not masturbating at young ages can increase the risk of Prostate Cancer.

I really feel confused at my age and its hard to know what to do

I hope you guys can assist me, Thank you.