Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: bnr-fos!bmers58!davem@watmath.waterloo.edu (Dave Mielke) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: sin Message-ID: Date: 8 Dec 89 08:16:04 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada Lines: 54 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article crowe@sci.ccny.cuny.edu (Daniel Crowe) writes: >I am interested in an exegesis of this passage. The passage in question is 1 John 5:16-17 which says "If any man see his brother sin a sin {which is} not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.". The issue was that if all sins are equivalent then how can there be an unforgivable sin. The Scriptures do not teach that all sins are equivalent. Matthew 23:23 says "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier {matters} of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.". They do teach, however, that the most insignificant sin is still bad enough to deserve eternal damnation. Romans 6:23 begins "For the wages of sin {is} death;". Since we know that we are commanded to pray for the forgiveness of one another, we must be very careful when it comes to the decision of whom not to pray for. Rather than guess, we must insist that we should pray for every single person unless we can find clear, Scriptural evidence to the contrary in some specific case. Note that it is still better to pray for everyone because there is absolutely no Scripture which declares that praying for someone whom we need not pray for is wrong. Even this Scripture does not make such a declaration. We may be wasting our time, but God would still find our conduct acceptable. I, personally, would never want to get into the business of judging someone else's heart to the extent that I would dare decide not to pray for him. Judging someone else's sins is most definitely an evil practice. The Scriptures only define exactly one sin to be unforgivable. This sin is referred to as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. It is described as the claim that Jesus derives His power from Satan. Mark 3:28-30 says "Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.". This is not a claim that a saved person would ever make. It is also not a sin which God would permit a person whom He intends to save to make. A person who makes this claim would never want Jesus to be his Lord and Saviour as he would never want to become submissive to someone whom he believes to be truly evil in the greatest possible sense. Dave Mielke, 613-726-0014 856 Grenon Avenue Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2B 6G3