Can a murderer be forgiven by God and still go to heaven?<\/p>\n\t
Jesus stated, “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation<\/i>” (Mark 3:28-29). Since only one sin is unforgivable and that sin is not murder; yes, it is possible for a murderer to be forgiven.<\/p>\n
In fact, there are several cases of this happening in the Scriptures. David tried to cover up his adultery with Bathsheba by having her husband killed, thereby allowing him to marry his widow. However, God knew. “Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon<\/i>” (II Samu<\/a>el 12:9<\/a>). David owned up to his sin and was forgiven, though he still had to face the consequences of his sin. “So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die<\/i>” (II Samuel 12:13-14).<\/p>\n Another case is the apostle Paul. Before he became a Christian he was known by the name of Saul. As a young man, he was involved in the murder of Stephen (Acts 7:57-8:1). He was a leading persecutor of early Christians. “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison<\/i>” (Acts 8:3). Paul described it in this manner, “This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities<\/i>” (Acts 26:10-11). And yet the wonder of it all is that Jesus sought out Saul and salvation was offered to this murderer of Christians. “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief<\/i>” (I Timothy 1:12-15). At the end of his life, Paul, the former murderer, said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing<\/i>” (II Timothy 4:7-8).<\/p>\n How can this be? The answer is straight forward: God doesn’t want anyone to perish. He is willing to forgive if they will turn away from their sins and follow His will. “Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. … Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and live!”<\/i>” (Ezekiel 18:27-28,\u00a030-32).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Can a murderer be forgiven by God and still go to heaven? Answer: Jesus stated, “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation” (Mark 3:28-29).…<\/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":[1571,406,50,47],"class_list":["post-1587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-forgiveness","tag-murder","tag-repentance","tag-salvation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":38649,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-former-murderer-be-forgiven-and-be-able-to-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":1587,"position":0},"title":"Can a former murderer be forgiven and be able to work?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Minister, I committed murder at the age of 19 and spent the next 21 years in prison. I was released several years ago. I have been trying to figure out if I can truly be forgiven for the murder that I committed, and if so, just how do\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":2729,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/isnt-there-at-least-one-sin-worse-than-other-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":1587,"position":1},"title":"Isn’t there at least one sin worse than other sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 9, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You said that sin is sin in the eyes of God, but Mark 3:22-30\u00a0says there is an unforgivable sin. Isn't that a sin worse than forgivable sins? Answer: \"Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but\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":655,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-adultery-be-forgiven-should-i-tell-my-spouse\/","url_meta":{"origin":1587,"position":2},"title":"Can adultery be forgiven? Should I tell my spouse?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 28, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My husband and I separated because he committed adultery. A few months later I too committed adultery one time because I was stupid and lonely. I am closer to the Lord now and I knew it was and know it is wrong for what I did too. Will He\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":7701,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-a-murderer-of-innocent-children-go-to-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":1587,"position":3},"title":"Could a murderer of innocent children go to heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 3, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you feel that the man who shot and killed those little girls the other day in Pennsylvania has any possibility of spending eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ? He did say that he wanted them to pray for Him at one point in his rampage. Please be specific\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":9723,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-consequences-still-follow-after-forgiveness\/","url_meta":{"origin":1587,"position":4},"title":"Don’t consequences still follow after forgiveness?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Note: I think this one came in response to a point I made about whether a spouse can claim to have forgiven his or her adulterous spouse, and then divorce him or her at a later time and claim to have the right to remarry. See: \"If a woman accepts\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":7649,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-anyone-be-forgiven\/","url_meta":{"origin":1587,"position":5},"title":"Can anyone be forgiven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Tell me if this is correct: No matter what sin you commit, even if someone had sold their soul to the devil, they could be forgiven for this or any other act no matter what? On the terms that they repent and ask forgiveness, could they still go to\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}