Will God Punish You?

[Lucie]

Will God punish you if you did something wrong to someone and did not confess it to them? I lied to my dad about something and was scared to tell him the truth because I know he would flip out. I know this is not a good answer but it's the truth. Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[Isis]

I don't believe God punishes us for anything we do. I believe in a loving God.

 

[hallcust]

If you are a christian, the Lord says that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Who is the one who has the power to forgive sins? It is Christ Jesus. If you offend someone and they are aware of it, I beleive it is good for the purpose of reconciliation to confess to them that you are sorry. However, it they are not aware, you do well to just take the matter to the Lord in prayer and sincerely repent in your heart of it, and resolve not to repeat the matter.
And as the scriptures say, the Lord will forgive your sins and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
He bids Christians to come to him with our heavy laden burdens and He will give us rest from them. He also calls on sinners to come with their sins that He may make them white as snow, though they be as scarlet. Christ Jesus died to free us from the burden and power of sin. When we surrender our lives to him, we will have the liberty to live at peace. If you don't know Christ, please give Him your heart now, for He is coming soon.
If you belong to Him, take the matter to Him in prayer, and lay this burden down at His feet, and He will make all things right. Just surrender all to Him!

God's love to you,

 

[hallcust]

Isis, I don't mean to sound divisive, but your view of God is incorrect as it relates to the christian. He does punish our sin because He is a loving Father. This is for the purpose of our sanctification. God desires that the christian more and more resemble Christ, and is constantly at work through the Holy Spirit to free us from the power of sin. The scriptures tell us that the Lord chastens those whom He loves. The chastening is to remove the sinful nature of self so that we take on more the character of Christ. Those who are not saved are under the condemnation of sin, and are presently in bondage to sin. God cannot allow sin to just run rampant without judging it or purging it, or He wouldn't be a just God. Many people make the mistake of seeing God they way they purpose to see Him to appease theirselves, and make their sin acceptable, rather than seeing Him as He really is, according to the truth of the scriptures. He has revealed Himself to those who have accepted His Son Jesus Christ, through the scriptues by the Holy Spirit. This is how we know Him. If we try to create an image of what we would like God to be, that is to create an idol.
To know and understand God, we must first be willing to repent of a sinful life that has caused us to go astray from Him, and humble ourselves to His will, submitting our lives to Him through faith in His Son. Then He will, by the scriptures, and through the Holy Spirit open our understanding of who He is. But we can not go about it our way. We must come through the door--Christ Jesus is that door!
I don't mean to sound harsh or judgmental in my response. But the truth is the only thing that will set us free from sin and our selves, and reconcile us back to God. We need to do this now before the Lord Jesus comes for His own. After this, there will be God's wrath to follow; whether we want to beleive this or not. God has to judge sin, and He is faithful and just to do so as well as He is loving enough to have sent us His Son Jesus Christ to save us from the wrath to come. He still gives us the choice to either accept this truth or reject it.

God's love to you,

 

[Poohbear]

There is no escape from the consequences of sin, whether you confess your sins or not.

But as Christians, we must confess our sins to the Lord and ask for forgiveness and repent. So make sure you do that so you can be on one accord with the Lord again. Read the book of Acts which talks a lot about repentance. There are so many other scriptures about repentance as well as consequences and forgiveness. If you would like to know specific scriptures, let me know.

Also, remember that after God forgives us, He remembers our sins no more (Hebrew 8:12). Hallejuah!

But that does not mean we will not suffer consequences, however big or small they may be when the consequence does happen. The consequence can happen anytime, immediately or later on. But don't worry... everything happens for a reason according to His purpose and His will. God allows us to go through consequences and struggles to discipline us and to make us stronger Christians.

Take care and be blessed.

 

[Lucie]

Thanks so much ladies. I am going to print this thread out and keep it with me. I am guilty of confessing the same sins over and over again. I know once I confess my sins and ask the Lord for forgiveness, I should make sure not to commit the same sins again. However, my problem is that the guilt only goes away temporarily and I end up reconfessing it all over again.

I will go to Acts and read about repentance so I do not keep up the habit. Thanks again ladies ((( HUGS )))

 

[hallcust]

I agree with Poohbear that the Bible does speak of reaping the consequences of sin. It's also good to keep in mind that in the life of the beleiver when one sins, the consequences of that sin that we experience is for the purpose of turning us away from the sin and back to God. In His work of sanctification, the Holy Spirit will make us aware of the sin that grieves the Father so that we will repent and be restored back to Him.
Remember the Father is each day, through the Holy Spirit matching our state up with our standing. We won't be completely as Christ until the day of our redemption, but we are to submit to repenting of our old ways and allowing the Father to make us more into the image of Christ. By desiring to turn from sin and loving righteousness.
Your question is proof that the Lord is working in your heart; and this further proves that the Holy Spirit is there to convict us of our sin, and what we need to do in order to be reconciled back to the Father. It's good to glean wisdom from one another, but always seek the Lord in prayer and ask for His direction in the Word and He will teach you the right way to go. There are many who give good wisdom from the Lord, but be sure that He is the One leading you in your decisions. That's just learning to lean on HIM. Find yourself a good exhaustive topical bible that has scriptures you can look up according to a particular subject. A concordance is another good source. Studylight.org has a good source of free online material. Pray and ask the Lord to show you the right way, and He will.

"But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." (1 John 2:27).

 

[NeeSee]

Like you said Isis God does not punish anyone for their mistakes. The bible clearly tell us that with evil things God can't be tried nor does he himself try anyone. When we experience bad things because of our actions we are simply suffering the consequences of our actions. To say that God causes evil contradicts the fact that he is a loving God.

 

[Zeal]

Thanks so much ladies. I am going to print this thread out and keep it with me. I am guilty of confessing the same sins over and over again. I know once I confess my sins and ask the Lord for forgiveness, I should make sure not to commit the same sins again. However, my problem is that the guilt only goes away temporarily and I end up reconfessing it all over again.

I will go to Acts and read about repentance so I do not keep up the habit. Thanks again ladies ((( HUGS )))

God is a God of a 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th ........ chance. God convicts. Guilt is of the devil.

Try your best to turn away from what ever that sin is. We all fall short, and we all need a lot of work. I know God loves me but I know the angels look at me and shake their heads. In my santified imagination, I can hear them saying girlfriend has issues. What is her problem? She is redeemed! Girl pull yoself together. YOU LITTLE DUMN BUNNY. I praise God that he can see the blood. We had a post here before.. It is it is difficult but try to look at yourself as God does.

 

[hallcust]

For the sake of others viewing this thread, I feel the need to respond to Adrian's misunderstanding of the scriptures as it relates to James 1:13 which says no one has the right to say that he has been tempted “of God.” This means temptations to sin do not originate with God, but from the world, Satan, and our inward sinful desires. In that sense, James concludes: God cannot be tempted with evil, and God does not tempt anyone to sin.
However, this does not say that God does not punish sin. It is saying that when we sin, we cannot blame God because the sinful nature is not inherent within him.

God does chastise beleivers when they sin, or He wouldn't be a holy God. God cannot dwell in the presence of sin and we cannot be in fellowship with Him when we sin. It does not mean that our salvation is lost, but the joy of our fellowship is until we repent of that sin and be restored. As I stated earlier there is a purpose in the chastisement.

Hebrews 12:7-13 tells us, "As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Whoever heard of a child who was never disciplined? If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children after all. Since we respect our earthly fathers who disciplined us, should we not all the more cheerfully submit to the discipline of our heavenly Father and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God's discipline is always right and good for us because it means we will share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening--it is painful! But afterward there will be a quiet harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. So take a new grip with your tired hands and stand firm on your shaky legs. Mark out a straight path for your feet. Then those who follow you, though they are weak and lame, will not stumble and fall but will become strong."

Discipline, then, is how God lovingly brings His children from rebellion to obedience. It is a method of teaching, as well as a method of exposure. Through discipline our eyes are opened more clearly to God's perspective on our lives. As King David stated in Psalm 32, discipline causes us to confess and repent of sin we have not yet dealt with. In this way discipline is cleansing. It is also a growth catalyst. The more we know about God, the more we know about His desires for our lives. Discipline presents us with the opportunity to learn and to conform ourselves to the image of Christ (Romans 12:1-2). Discipline is a good thing!

We need to remember that sin is a constant in our lives while we are yet on this earth (Romans 3:10, 23). And as such, we not only have to deal with God's discipline for our disobedience, but we also have to deal with the natural consequences resulting from sin. This is where many people get confused, and need to be careful. So often I hear people attribute consequences to God's discipline, when it is obvious that the consequences are simply a natural result of the sin they were involved with. Can God use these circumstances to teach us? Of course! But, did God put these consequences on us Himself? No, these were brought on by our own actions.

Sin is black and white. Trying to rid ourselves of sin is what all of us as believers strive for, but sin is still sin, regardless of the effort to prevent it. If God is disciplining you for sin in your life, then thank God for that discipline and prayerfully ask Him what you need to learn from it. If you are simply experiencing the natural results of your sin, ask God to help you get through these circumstances in a way that allows you to grow in your faith and that gives Him the glory.

Second, I wanted to point out that I don't beleive I said that God causes evil. I'm not sure how anyone interpreted my responses to mean that; but I do hope this clears up my view on the subject for PrettyHaitian. I think PoohBear's comments were also very good. However, I'm confident that the Lord will lead His children who are seeking for the truth. It is very important that we have a correct understanding of the scriptures when standing on any point. A faulty interpretation of the scriptures will make for a faulty doctrine, and this is dangerous for the beleiver!!

 

[NeeSee]

Pretty if you like you can pm and we can discuss this.