I have a question about the unforgivable sin.  I didn’t entirely understand what it meant last night, so I looked it up on the computer.  I was reading it, and while I was reading it, my mind was thinking about things that could cause that to happen.  One thing I thought was that if a person just thought, “I want to have committed this sin”, that might be enough to have done it.  I was thinking how I would not want to think that, and my mind thought that thought anyways!  I am saved and am fearful of God, and I am very scared about having thought that.  I was afraid that thinking about it was like doing the sin, and if it’s unforgivable, I don’t know what to do.  I love God, and I want to have the Holy Spirit in me; I definitely do not want to reject Him!  I know I need Him.  This is the most scared I have ever been in my life, and I want to make sure that I didn’t do anything by thinking that thought.  I just need to be entirely reassured; I don’t want to lose my salvation.

Sincerely,
Terrified

Dear Terrified,

The unforgivable sin is the sin against the Holy Spirit, and the fact that you are visiting this website is a pretty sure sign that you haven’t committed it.  Jesus says that any sin will be forgiven except for someone blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Mk 3:28-30).  Jesus said this to the crowd that accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan (Mk 3:23).  That crowd could have been forgiven of any sin, but instead they rejected the miracles that testified that Jesus was from God.  Contrast that crowd’s attitude with Nicodemus’ attitude.  Nicodemus understood that the only way that someone could perform a miracle was if God was with him (Jhn 3:2).  When that crowd rejected the evidence that the Holy Spirit provided (in this case, the miracles), they rejected any chance to receive the forgiveness found in Jesus’ teachings.  When we reject the truth of God (the Bible), we reject the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit’s primary job is to bring the truth of the gospel to mankind (see the post “What the Holy Spirit Does” for more details).  Someone blasphemes the Holy Spirit by rejecting the truth that the Holy Spirit sent us in the Bible.  Any sin can be forgiven if we will turn to God’s Word and obey it (Rom 10:17, Heb 5:9), but there is absolutely no hope for someone if he or she will not accept the Holy Spirit’s Bible.

Therefore, since it seems that you are actively seeking the truth and trying to study and learn what God’s Word is – you can find comfort that you haven’t committed the unforgivable sin.

     If God has a plan for everyone, when will He show me His for me?

Sincerely,
Good To Go

Dear Good To Go,

God once told Israel that He had great plans for them, plans for a future and a hope (Jer 29:11), but He also said that they wouldn’t see those plans until they sought Him with all their hearts (Jer 29:13).
God molds our lives when we prepare ourselves to be used by Him.  Paul once told the young preacher Timothy that he needed to be a vessel prepared to be used by God (2 Tim 2:21).  When we live faithfully by God’s Word (Rom 10:17) and prepare our lives to be useful to Him, God guarantees that He has great things in store for us.

     I have always wondered that if all these things are going to happen in the Bible and in the end Satan will be defeated, can’t Satan read?  These Scriptures have been translated into every language known to man.  Can’t he read?  If he knows he will lose, then why even try unless it is written that it will happen, in which case, he has no free will.  In the Gospel of Judas, Judas writes that he was asked by the Lord to betray Him in order for God’s will to be carried out.  Somebody had to do it, right?  Or else how could all other things come to pass?  Either way, I try to live my life by one of Christ’s sayings, and that’s to “love one another as I have loved you”.  It works for me… and is reading the Bible enough?  What do the Scriptures say to you?

Sincerely,
Mystified

Dear Mystified,

You could just as easily ask the question, “Since all non-Christians will go to hell in the end, why don’t they convert? Can’t they read?”.  Anytime someone has a dishonest or hardened heart, they do things that are against logic.  This is why people murder, steal, hate, etc.  Hard hearts make for bad decisions.  The Bible describes that state as having a “seared conscience” that is incapable of seeing the truth that is right in front of them (1 Tim 4:2).  From what we can read, nobody has a harder heart than Satan.
Now let’s address the other details you mentioned.  The Gospel of Judas isn’t a Bible book; it is a fraud.  God didn’t write that book, and it has been left out of the Bible for a reason.  The Gospel of Judas is what is called an apocryphal book, and it was never accepted as authentic by the early Christians.  Read “Books Of The Apocrypha” for further details.
Now for your last question – reading the Bible isn’t enough; you have to live by it, too.  The apostle Paul said the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16).  When we read the words and then live by the words, then we will be saved (Jas 1:22).  You might want to read “Five Steps To Salvation” for further details on getting started in that life.

     I have belonged to a church for the past two years that did not have a woman as a preacher.   I left a church nine years ago because they ordained several women to be preachers.  One month ago, my husband finally joined this church I am speaking of, and I was elated.  Approximately one week after he joined, the pastor of the church ordained a woman to be a preacher in the church.  I stopped going to that church the first time I saw her in the pulpit and wrote the church a letter to explain why I was stopping my membership.  I told him that I did not believe that a woman was supposed to be a preacher based on Scripture, and I no longer trusted him to correctly interpret the Bible.  He came to my house, and he, my husband, and I had a long discussion.  His feelings were hurt because I said that I no longer trusted him.  We were not harsh with each other, and I apologized to him because it was not my intention to hurt his feelings, but I felt like I felt.  He even stated that I needed to be at the church with my husband even though I may have reservations regarding this matter.  My husband was raised in the Church of the Living God, so he is very used to women preachers.  He also does not read the Bible, so he does not know what the Bible says.  I am not putting him down, but this is the truth.  It does not matter who I talk to; everyone seems to want to make every woman that was ever mentioned in the Bible a preacher.  I do not believe that to be so.  Please help me with this once and for all.  Thank you.

Sincerely,
Frustrated

Dear Frustrated,

You are right to stand against women being in the pulpit.  1 Cor 14:34-35 makes it clear that women are not supposed to be in leadership positions during the church assembly.  Women have a zillion different roles within the church, but leading the public assembly isn’t one of them.  Men have the responsibility of preaching, teaching, and leading the worship services (1 Tim 2:12).  In today’s politically correct atmosphere, this can be hard for some to swallow, but as Paul said, “We have no other custom” on this topic (1 Cor 11:16).  There is simply no biblical precedence for women preachers.

     I’m going to be up front with you; I am not a Christian.  I have no desire to be.  My fiancé, on the other hand, is.  I am trying to understand how he believes, so we will have a more harmonious union.  I asked him this question, and he did not know the answer.

My question is: if the Lord is so wonderful, why would He want to see His children suffer?  Why would He take away a life that has not yet even begun?  Why would He hurt the innocent when the evil continue to live?  I don’t understand this.

If you could please explain this in simple terms – the preachers in my area get very upset when someone doubts the Lord’s amazing-ness.  Thus, I am turning to you, whoever you are, to give me a straight answer.  Thank you so much.

Sincerely,
Unbelievable

Dear Unbelievable,

Many people don’t believe in God because religious people are unwilling or incapable of giving logical answers to questions like this.  We are so sorry that you’ve never gotten the answers that the Bible offers because the Bible does give an answer to this question.
This world is full of all sorts of disease, pain, violence, and strife – but God didn’t cause those things; sin did.  All bad things are a result of sin.  When God made the world, He placed mankind in the Garden of Eden and gave us a joyously blissful existence in that paradise.  Who caused the pain?  We did.  It is sin that has brought all of the death, disease, decay, pain, suffering, troubles, and heartaches into our world.  We all, in varying degrees, are reaping the benefits of a world with sin in it.  Sickness is a consequence of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden.  One of the curses of their sin was that we all must face our own mortality – life is finite.  Sickness, disease, and pain are a part of the human existence.  Sadly, this is true even for our children. When God gave us freewill, He gave us the right to cause problems for ourselves and others, and if He simply removed all the consequences for our actions, He would be removing our freedoms as well.  The flip-side to this is that all children go to heaven, so after a child dies, God immediately comforts them on the other side.
God gives mankind the freedom to make decisions, but He also has the wisdom to know how those choices will affect the future (Job 12:13).  God planned before the foundation of the world to save us by sending His own Son to die (Eph. 1:3-4).  Even though He isn’t responsible for our choices, God sent the perfect cure. This world isn’t fair – if it were, it would be heaven.  Instead, we live in a fallen world where man has been exiled from paradise.  This world is not our home; Christians await a better world (Heb 11:16).

    I’ve seen good examples in many Christian marriages in my congregation, and I think to myself, “Maybe I can find a wife like that and have a marriage as excellent as theirs.”  But later, I’ve learned how I am when I interact with women.  I’ve lessened my communication with women of the world by only sharing the Gospel with them and only with a sister with me.  But with the sisters in the church, I’ve learned of their characters, which I cannot endure.  I’ve seen this in sisters from my congregation and other congregations just by being in their presence and holding a conversation with them.  I’ve been told that it will take time for their characters to become noble, but it’s as if they’re unwilling to let God build them into the women He wants them to be.  I have no mold for a woman, and I’ve learned that it is impossible to uphold a relationship with a woman who is in the church but refuses to be godly.  Now I’m at the point where I’ve decided to remain single and not find a mate due to the fact that there are unwilling, unrepentant sisters with immature souls unwilling at heart to become a helpmeet.  As a man who has decided to remain single, how can I, a Christian man, live a single life in a world filled with so much temptation?

Sincerely,
Man Of Maturity

Dear Man Of Maturity,

Up front, we’d like to say that your opinion of Christian women is far too low.  You either are hanging out around the wrong people, or you are seriously underestimating the greatness of godly women.  Having said that, Jesus answered your question about how a man can live a single life.  When Jesus’ disciples told Him that the best thing to do is to remain unmarried, Jesus answered by saying, “Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given.” (Matt 19:10-12)
Most men are built for marriage and aren’t designed to live their entire lives single.  If you aren’t able to comfortably live a single life faithfully to God, then God’s protection against fornication is for you to seek marriage (1 Cor 7:1-2).  However, in order for that to happen, you are going to need to start raising your opinion of women and, most likely, be a little more honest with your own shortcomings.