Greetings!<\/p>\n
I would like to ask for some advice about my unrighteousness. I hope you could reply.<\/p>\n
To get straight to it, I had sex with my brother. It was not really the kind of serious kind of sex because we were just playing around. At that time we were already in the church for two years.\u00a0I don’t really know why I did it. but now I regret all of it.\u00a0I’m afraid that God may not forgive me and my brother.<\/p>\n
I seek your advice about my situation.<\/p>\n\t
All sins can be forgiven, but forgiveness is based on a person turning away from his sin and changing his mind about the acceptability of sin. This is called “repentance.” “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance<\/em>” (II Peter 3:9).<\/p>\n You regret the sin you’ve committed and that is a strong motivation toward actually changing. But the sorrow is not the same as committing to changing. “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter<\/em>” (II Corinthians 7:10-11). I have no idea if your brother even regrets what he did, let alone repent of his sin.<\/p>\n One of the things you have to face is that all sin is serious and cannot be excused. You understand that what you did was wrong, but you attempted to soften the matter by saying it wasn’t serious sex since you were just playing around. However, it was still fornication. It would still keep you out of heaven if you don’t change and ask God for forgiveness (I Corinthians 6:9-10; I John 1:9). While we tend to see fornication with a family member as a worse sin, from God’s view it is still the same sin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Greetings! I would like to ask for some advice about my unrighteousness. I hope you could reply. To get straight to it, I had sex with my brother. It was not really the kind of serious kind of sex because we were just playing around. At that time we were already in the church…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1571,1572,534],"class_list":["post-12307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-forgiveness","tag-fornication","tag-incest"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50000,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-should-be-done-about-a-woman-who-repeatedly-has-children-by-different-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":12307,"position":0},"title":"What should be done about a woman who repeatedly has children by different men?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Here is the situation: 4 years ago a member of our church got pregnant by her boyfriend and had a baby. She came forward and repented of her sins. 3 years ago the same member got pregnant by a different boyfriend and had a baby. She again came forward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28504,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-christian-obligated-to-forgive-the-sinner-who-will-not-repent\/","url_meta":{"origin":12307,"position":1},"title":"Is the Christian Obligated to Forgive the Sinner Who Will Not Repent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Curtis A. Cates The above question has often been asked of this scribe. Every accountable being at times sins against others; some sin publicly, even against the church. Clearly, those who repent and ask for forgiveness are to be fully forgiven. But, not everyone repents and asks for forgiveness.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45623,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-have-to-make-a-public-confession-for-sins-that-i-mentioned-to-friends-before-i-repented\/","url_meta":{"origin":12307,"position":2},"title":"Do I have to make a public confession for sins that I mentioned to friends before I repented?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please help me. I have been living in fear of sin for so many years now, and the weight of it is becoming more than I can bear. \u00a0I have nobody I can talk to about this, and you are really the only people I can ask about this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70001,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/forgiveness-without-repentance\/","url_meta":{"origin":12307,"position":3},"title":"Forgiveness Without Repentance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Mike Johnson via Seeking Things Above The Bible emphasizes the importance of forgiving those who sin against us. In fact, failing to do so is very frightening because, in Matthew 6:14-15, Jesus taught, \"For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":60416,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/three-quotes-on-forgiving-a-brother\/","url_meta":{"origin":12307,"position":4},"title":"Three Quotes on Forgiving a Brother","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"From Questions Answered, Lipscomb and Sewell, Kurfees, pg. 260 Question: If a brother in the church offends us, is it right for us to forgive him whether he comes and asks us to or not, or must we hold it against him until he comes and asks our pardon? Would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87679,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-unconditional-forgiveness-only-required-for-unbelievers\/","url_meta":{"origin":12307,"position":5},"title":"Is unconditional forgiveness only required for unbelievers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 10, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Brother Jeff, I would appreciate your input on this question. We understand from Luke 17:3 and Ephesians 4:32 that forgiveness is conditioned upon repentance. But is this only applicable in situations where the offender is a Christian (brother in Christ) like yourself? 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