Am I going to Hell?

[Guest trimatrix135]

I might have put this in the wrong forum, if so, please forgive me.

For a few months, I have been looking at on-line pornography. Now, please note that I have NEVER looked at child pornography. All of the models were 21+. Also, it was softcore pornography. Anyways, I've been doing this for a few months, and I now feel really guilty about it. I've asked Jesus to help me get through this, but somehow I always go back to look at pornography. Will I go to Hell just because I look at pornography?

Note: I stopped looking at pornography a week ago, and just now began thinking about the After Life and where I might go. It's been eating away at me during that time, and would like a response.

[Electric Angel]

Bless you, trimatrix, for your honesty.

What keeps you out of hell is faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible says that if you profess that Jesus is lord with your lips, and believe in Him in your heart, you have passed from death to life. If you can say these things about yourself then yes, you are saved.

This does not mean that it is acceptable for you to view pornography. Clearly, it's not. It is good that you are asking the lord to help you correct your sinful behavior but perhaps the answer he is giving you is more obvious than you'd expect. Maybe you should get rid of your computer. It's a thought.

The Bible says that if you put your mind on Godly things and seek the Kingdom of God, you will grow in righteousness. I admit that I have a problem with sex myself. I'm not into pornography but I have dabbled in fornication and I am ashamed of my sins. Big time.

I find that when I read the Bible and surround myself with good wholesome material, sinful thoughts are far from me. Maybe the same will work for you.

Another thing: the fact that you are concerned about your behavior is encouraging to me. If you said "Yeah I'm a Christian but porn is no big deal. I watch it and I love it and I don't think it's compromising my faith," then I would start to worry.

Pray about your situation and confess your sins to your fellow believers and ask them to pray over it with you. I think you'll be suprised how forgiving they all will be.

[kjw47]

I might have put this in the wrong forum, if so, please forgive me.

For a few months, I have been looking at on-line pornography. Now, please note that I have NEVER looked at child pornography. All of the models were 21+. Also, it was softcore pornography. Anyways, I've been doing this for a few months, and I now feel really guilty about it. I've asked Jesus to help me get through this, but somehow I always go back to look at pornography. Will I go to Hell just because I look at pornography?

Note: I stopped looking at pornography a week ago, and just now began thinking about the After Life and where I might go. It's been eating away at me during that time, and would like a response.

Hi Friend, Gods word teaches that -- those who call on the name of the lord will be saved, also it says This means eternal life ( be saved ) there taking in knowledge of you the only true God and the one whom you sent forth Jesus Christ, also those who do the will of God remain ( be saved ) also those who endure till the end will be saved. So i would say-- That here amongst mortal man not one can read a persons true heart and know if that one can and will endure till the end. So thusly not one mortal man can tell another that he is saved unless he can read the true heart of such ones and this is an impossibility to mortal men. But there is a strong determining factor in the written words of God found at 1 John 3:9,10 This is a mirror for us to peer into to test whether or not we are Gods children. And it basically says that those who practice righteousness are the children of God, those who practice sin are the devils children. We all need to look into this mirror now and again. So i ask, Why are mortal men trying to play God by telling another he is saved when he cannot read the true heart?God alone knows the names written in the book of life, not one mortal man does.

Edited June 10, 2006 by kjw47

[Guest NewPilgrim]

Tri, for this thread I assume you are a christian, based on what you say.

We have saving faith in Jesus, which means that our sins are covered by his sacrificial blood. This does not mean that we have a license to sin, but it does mean that he has paid the price and we often sin despite our efforts not to.

God does not fix us, Lord knows I wish he did, but we have to battle with our own consciences as well as relying on hi, because he desires for us to display the right attitude of righteousness towards him through faith.

I believe that God can and does heal us from such ailments as pornography, but healing comes through faith. Therefore we must show great faithfulness to God to gain the rewards of grace which he offers such as healing. Our faith will never be enough to make us fully righteous in this life, but God does sanctify us and as time goes on we should as faithful followers be steadily improving in our faithfulness and relationship with God. Your problem is a common one and I'm sure you will find plenty of support to help you, but there is no greater tool in our battle than faith in our Lord. It's not a quick fix, but it is profitable to us, with patience and endurance.

[Brandli5]

Everyone will go to hell if they do not repent of thier sins.

All come short of the glory of God. We must repent of our sins and know JEsus CHrist is our lord and savoir.

Everyone sins, and thier are sins that are much harder to get over than others, BUt with God's help we can overcome them.

Ask God to cleanse you of your sins, and to keep your mind strong and able to stop from wanting those sins. It's very hard to overcome sins, but we can with prayer, and disipline.

We are not going to be sin free mind you, but we can with prayer overcome sins one by one.

We can ask Jesus Christ to erase those sins, and we can be cleansed.

[kjw47]

Tri, for this thread I assume you are a christian, based on what you say.

We have saving faith in Jesus, which means that our sins are covered by his sacrificial blood. This does not mean that we have a license to sin, but it does mean that he has paid the price and we often sin despite our efforts not to.

God does not fix us, Lord knows I wish he did, but we have to battle with our own consciences as well as relying on hi, because he desires for us to display the right attitude of righteousness towards him through faith.

I believe that God can and does heal us from such ailments as pornography, but healing comes through faith. Therefore we must show great faithfulness to God to gain the rewards of grace which he offers such as healing. Our faith will never be enough to make us fully righteous in this life, but God does sanctify us and as time goes on we should as faithful followers be steadily improving in our faithfulness and relationship with God. Your problem is a common one and I'm sure you will find plenty of support to help you, but there is no greater tool in our battle than faith in our Lord. It's not a quick fix, but it is profitable to us, with patience and endurance.

Hi Friend, yes we all sin, but at 1 john 3:9,10 it mentions practiced sin, the key word being practiced, this kind of sin will not be forgiven without first, human repentence, and as Gods inspired writer clearly states, that those who are true children of God cannot practice sin, and that those who practice sin are the children of the devil. and i say unto you, the only humans that will recieve salvation and grace, are the true children of God. These practice righteousness.

[igh]

Pornography is meant to capture your lusts,

James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

James 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Jam 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

You must seek God with all your heart and God will deliver from this sin, you are called to RIGHTEOUSNESS!!!! TO HOLINESS!!!!!!

Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.

Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.

Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.

Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things [is] death.

Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[Guest NewPilgrim]

Reading these verses:

1John 3:9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.

we should endeavour to understand the context of the passage. It deals in language of absolutes, but the context in which it speaks is not an absolute passage. We know that it is not impossible for a child of God to sin, because we are told elsewhere in scripture that if anyman says he has not sin then he is a liar and the truth is not in him. What then is the purpose of the absolutes? Well, it was a common method employed by Rabbis, by prophets and indeed by the writers of the New Testament in order to convey an issue as pressing and extremely important. In this case the importance of erring away from sin and towards God. As examples to the unbelieving it is essential that we be seen to practise that which we believe, otherwise it is little other than a vain religion. Take Johns epistle completely literally and we will find that Pauls description of himself condemns him as a son of the devil:

Romans 7:15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

In this passage, Pauls gives us an important insight into the battle against sin; that we can not achieve it by the power of the flesh, because it is the power of the flesh that we struggle against. The bias of the flesh is to sin. That does not mean that it is incapable of righteousness, but it does mean that by attempting to be righteous by our own abilities is the equivalent of fighting fire with fire. Paul however enlightens us that it is through the power and authority of Jesus Christ that we are saved and able to combat the sinful desires we experience. We live in Christ through faith and so, as I said in my previous post it is by faith and faithfulness that we are able to effectively combat sin. Paul also sheds some light on the duality of the saved individual, as a new creation in Christ, born again of the spirit, we are righteous, one might even be so bold as to conclude that it is our spiritual nature which makes us a son of God, our spirit is the part of us which is complertely in tune with God and incapable of sin. The body, the flesh however is still the domain of the devil, biased to sin and often motivated by it. As Paul says, it is not I who does evil, but the SIN which DWELLS within me. One might call it the "old" nature, by which we lived before being saved. This remains in us until we are returned to Christ in our glorified bodies at which time both our spirit AND our flesh will be righteous and Holy.

Capt Pete said:

God can't stop you from sinning. You have to do that on your own.

That statement as it stands is effectively the opposite of the truth of God. The honus is indeed upon us to strive for righteousness, but we cant achieve it "on our own" it is by seeking righteousness in Christ through faith which will quash the sinful bias of the flesh. Israel endeavoured to combat sin by their religious fanatisism to the Mosaic covenant and levitical law, but Hebrews 4 tells us that it was not profitable to them because it was not mixed with faith, furthermore chapter 8 tells us that by the new covenant we have in Christ the old covenant has been deemed inefficient and unprofitable to man. This is because we endeavoured to follow it on our own and failed, terribly.

[Guest Daave]

Trimatrix,

The quesion that you ask is one that asked frequently by those traped in "black and white" or known sinful acts. Thankfully the Holy Spirit does not give up on us, but rather pleads with us when we are involved in known sin. I believe that I would be quite accurate in saying that no one reading these posts has not succumed to a known sin at one time or another in there walk with Jesus.

As you have experienced, there is a terrible, almost sickning gnawing deep inside when the acts of sin have been commited, and confession to the Father is the direction the Holy Spirit pleads with us to go.

Singleness of heart to Jesus Christ is God's solution, and your protection, because only he can change a heart.

As far as going to hell is conserned, apart from Christ, that is where we were all headed anyway.

1John chapter one verses 4-10

4. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

5. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

6. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

7. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Daave

[DianaA]

Yes!