Can I be baptized if I had sex with my boyfriend?
Question:
Hello.
I'm thinking about getting baptized, but also I've had sex with my boyfriend many times before. I just want to know, can I still be baptized even if I've done so? And can I be able to continue after baptism?
Answer:
"I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).
"Peter said to them, 'Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'" (Acts 2:38).
God offers forgiveness for your sins through the sacrifice of His Son. That forgiveness, however, is predicated on you giving up your sins (repentance). You can't play it both ways. You can't be released from sins that you insist on hanging on to.
Therefore, the key problem at the moment is that you want the benefits of being a Christian without living the life of a Christian. You have to make up your mind as to which is more important to you, eternal life or worldly pleasures that will eventually perish.
Being a Christian doesn't mean you can never have sex. It means following God's directions because His commands always work the best. Get married (I Corinthians 7:1-5) because God says that sex only belongs in marriage. "Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body" (I Corinthians 6:18-20).
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me" (Galatians 2:20).
