Hey brother, would you consider ped0phile a reprobate?
Romans 1:28-32 King James Version (KJV)
28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Yes, excellent question and choice of Bible verse!!! Funny, but after I wrote my response above ^^ to Haich (at 2:45 am no less I really hope he appreciates my lost beauty sleep sacrificed to sincerely answer his question!).....I went to bed and this exact verse from Romans was running through my mind. I pondered it for a while....
Here’s where I ended up:
I still believe no sin is unforgivable. Notice the list in this verse ^ is pretty comprehensive. But yes, there ARE some sins which warp a human being more than others. Going back to my previous analogy where we could picture God’s Heaven like a pure white living room and God and Jesus are in pure white garments, the situation is that we can’t bring
any filth into his presence. So then, if my sin of being a liar would equal a small pile of poop on the white rug of heaven, then the sins of murder, r*pe, or p***philia equal gigantic piles of poop. People have a tendency to think “well I’m a good person, if I have committed any sins, they have been small” but again, if we
all brought in small piles of poop and left them on the white rug, in short order that rug wouldn’t be too white anymore. (Ha ha, my analogies may be ridiculous/oversimplified, but let’s just go with it for now!) What I’m trying to say here is that yes there are indeed different levels of seriousness/heinousness associated with different sins; that being said, no kind of filth - big or small - can come into the presence of a pure and holy God. Therefore, God had to set out a plan for all sins to be forgiven....And since we are constantly sinning, we are certainly not capable of executing any permanent plan of forgiveness for ourselves. That is why Jesus, as the only perfect
human who never sinned could in fact lay his life down and pay the penalty once and for all, for each and every person, for each and every sin. The Bible makes that pretty clear - that he laid his life down for every. Single. Sin. Again, no “exceptions list” is given.
So, back to the verses you listed above. I believe what God is saying here is that there are some who are so thoroughly entrenched in their evil and wicked ways that they lose all sight of grasping God’s love and forgiveness. That is why God “gives them over to their depraved natures”... they are so committed to their sinful nature that they don’t want to change and God knows and sees that they will not change so he gives them over to whatever it is they want to pursue. That is the truth behind sins, (especially occult and sexual sins). The more filth we immerse ourselves in, the more difficult it is for us to look up and see any other way. Our hearts can become so full of darkness that we literally can no longer see the Light of the World. (It should be noted here, though, the person would have to be thoroughly committed to rejecting God, since He is long suffering with us and pursues us over and over.).
Hitler and the rock star Marilyn Manson are two individuals who come to mind that exemplify what it would look like to be so completely committed to evil that God will give you over to your desires and stop his pursuit of you.
Speaking specifically of p***philia, a “hot button” transgression due to its extremely revolting nature: I personally believe that a large percentage of people who commit p***phile acts do so because they themselves were children sexually abused by an adult. Again, sexual sin is one that is pervasive and extremely damaging. I think these people then go on to do what was done to them. In their conscience, they know it’s wrong and they feel horrible and guilty about it, yet find themselves unable to stop doing it. Do I see a person like that crying out to God and saying that they know what they’re doing is wrong, but they are under compulsion and cannot stop? Yes, I could see that scenario and I also could see them repenting, being forgiven, and through the power of Christ being able to stop committing those acts (it would be extremely difficult, but nothing is impossible for us with God’s help). On the other end of this particular sin’s spectrum would be people who
choose to engage in that behavior. I would say that those people fall under the category of “so evil and reprobate” that they probably would never admit what they’re doing is wrong and therefore could never be forgiven because they want to immerse themselves in that lifestyle and they’re unwilling to repent.
I hope this makes sense. Honestly, I am trying to answer you thoroughly but also I am at work right now.
Lastly, I want to say that those who are reading this thread who are not Christians and are still weighing the claims of Christ: please do not seize on the argument about who gets forgiven and who doesn’t as your excuse to not consider whether YOU should be forgiven! I have noticed that many non-Christians like to talk about how God can forgive some of the more heinous sins that exist in the world.... they will argue this topic for hours, but don’t really want to talk about how
they themselves need to be forgiven. Yes, those are valid questions, but not more important than how God can forgive
your sins! It is not for us to focus on other people’s sins as an excuse to not deal with our own. We will each stand in judgment before a pure and holy God on Judgment Day. If you do not have a spiritual voucher slip stamped “
PAID IN FULL” and signed by Jesus Christ to show that your sins have been completely forgiven, it will do you no good to present an argument about how somebody like Jeffrey Dahmer could be forgiven.
