I have a question for you. Over the past couple of weeks I have these thoughts that keep coming into my mind about selling my soul. I would never do that because I love Jesus and I want to live through him. Yesterday, I had these thoughts and said “Nobody will never sell their soul”. I don’t know if I sold the souls of everybody in the world or not. I prayed many times since then and said I never meant to say what I said. I have been worried sick about this, and I just want to know if I sold everybody’s soul or if I am just overreacting.<\/p>\n
I have seen some people say you can’t sell your soul so I thought that since I can’t sell my own soul how could I sell somebody else’s. But I keep on having these thoughts that I did, and I am just really worried about it. Am I overreacting or not?<\/p>\n
Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
Upon what passage did you come to the conclusion that a person can sell his soul? My guess is that you don’t know of one. You just heard other people talking about something like this and just assumed it was true. From there you imagined that it would be possible for one person to sell another person’s soul and you concluded that it could be done simply by you thinking it or saying it. Take the emotions out of it and tell me if you believe this is logical thinking.<\/p>\n
There is a biblical idea of “selling yourself” to do evil. In speaking of King Ahab, we read, “So Ahab said to Elijah, ‘Have you found me, O my enemy?’ And he answered, ‘I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD’<\/em>” (I Kings 21:20). In order to gain Naboth’s vineyard, Ahab was willing to give away his honor and dignity as king solely to possess a piece of property. The king’s duty was to uphold the law, but he broke the law and thus sinned against Naboth, his fellow countrymen, and the Lord God. He paid for his sin with his honor and dignity. Ahab has been known throughout history as one of the most corrupt kings Israel ever had.<\/p>\n A person doesn’t sell himself to do evil by stating something. He does it when he gives up his righteousness in order to sin. That is why the Bible depicts sin as a form of slavery. “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?<\/em>” (Romans 6:16).<\/p>\n But notice that each person sells himself to sin. You can’t sell another person into sin. Everyone is responsible for his own sins. “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself<\/em>” (Ezekiel 18:20).<\/p>\n You are letting your emotions and your imaginations run wild. You are not considering what God actually said. Instead, you are putting your own thoughts above God. It is past time to humble yourself and listen to the truth.<\/p>\n\t Could you explain to me what Mark 8:36-37 says? “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36). This is the only passage that I could find, and when I looked up about if you can sell your soul. This is what I found that the people who say that you can use.<\/p>\n Thank you for answering my questions.<\/p>\n\t “And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?<\/em>” (Mark 8:34-37).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The topic at hand is a person’s devotion to God and the priority that must be placed on following God. If some one desires to follow Jesus, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus. Even a person\u2019s own life must take second place after Jesus and the teaching of the Gospel. If a person values his mortal life above Jesus, he might be able to preserve it for a while, but he will lose his eternal life.<\/p>\n And of what value is it to have great wealth, even to the point of owning the whole world, if eternal life is forfeited (lost) as a result? The statement is in figurative terms. After all, what person has ever owned the entire world? Thus, we realize that Jesus is using hyperbole — making a point by stating things in the extreme. Thus, Jesus’ point is that your soul is not a barterable item. The entire world is not equal to the value of your soul.<\/p>\n So many people chase after material things and the pleasures of this world and give no thought to what they are doing to their ability to gain eternal life. Thus, like Ahab, they sold themselves to do sin (I Kings 21:20). This passage does not say you “sell yourself” by stating something. It does not teach what you are claiming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I have a question for you. Over the past couple of weeks I have these thoughts that keep coming into my mind about selling my soul. I would never do that because I love Jesus and I want to live through him. Yesterday, I had these thoughts and said “Nobody will never sell their…<\/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":[506,1335,906],"class_list":["post-23696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-emotions","tag-selling-your-soul","tag-worry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34906,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-cant-get-the-idea-of-selling-my-soul-to-the-devil-out-of-my-head\/","url_meta":{"origin":23696,"position":0},"title":"I can’t get the idea of “selling my soul to the devil” out of my head","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am not a Christian, but I was just reading for curiosity about selling your soul to the devil. I came across your website in which someone mentioned thinking about 'selling their soul to get a video tutorial working' and they thought they sold their soul. I already have\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":28177,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-sell-your-soul\/","url_meta":{"origin":23696,"position":1},"title":"Can you sell your soul?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was on my computer about a while ago trying to load a video tutorial. However, it wasn't working well and I was getting irritated. I then thought to myself \"God get this working...even Satan get this working. I would sell my soul to get this working.\" Upon having\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":28954,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-does-a-thought-become-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":23696,"position":2},"title":"When does a thought become a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am sorry to bother you again with another letter, but I have a lot on my mind. If you remember I had written to you a few weeks ago\u00a0about a bad thought I had in a moment of frustration about selling my soul. Again I know that the\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":6868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-you-sell-yourself-to-the-devil-is-this-an-unforgivable-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":23696,"position":3},"title":"If you sell yourself to the devil, is this an unforgivable sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had a question after reading some of your site.\u00a0\u00a0You say it is possible to sell your soul to the devil.\u00a0 So is that an example of a sin that is unforgivable by God?\u00a0 And even if it is forgivable does the devil now own your soul anyway so\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":59214,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-think-i-have-ocd\/","url_meta":{"origin":23696,"position":4},"title":"I think I have OCD","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Mr. Hamilton, I want to thank you so much for all the help and time you've given up for us. Thank you for always using God's word with your answers. I believe I have OCD. I think I have scrupulosity. I feel I have to do things a\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":44609,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-be-saved-after-selling-my-soul\/","url_meta":{"origin":23696,"position":5},"title":"Can I be saved after selling my soul?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read the article about\u00a0selling your soul. It makes me feel better but I am concerned still. As a child, I was saved. But I signed a contract in blood denouncing Christ forever almost a year ago. I was a dedicated Satanist. 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Answer:<\/h2>\n