My son had a question I am not sure how to answer.\u00a0 The question is:\u00a0Why is it that some people respond to the hearing of the gospel by accepting the gospel, and others respond by rejecting it?”<\/p>\n
It is the same Holy Spirit that will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment; so why does that conviction bring repentance in one, but not in another? We know that men like darkness, rather than light; however, some will accept the gospel and come to the light, and others will not.\u00a0 Why is that? We know that pride has a lot to do with it; but how is it that one will push away their tendency towards pride and repent, and another will not?\u00a0 Even in a case where two people hear the gospel preached at the same time by the same preacher, one will accept, and one will reject.\u00a0 Even in a case where two people are from the same family with the same upbringing, one will accept and one will reject. Why is that?<\/p>\n
Any light you can shed on this question would be appreciated.<\/p>\n
p.s.\u00a0 As I was searching for your website, I came upon a most ridiculous letter to you by what must be a very confused lost person.\u00a0 I wonder why he was on your website to begin with.\u00a0 Anyway, the reason I am bringing this up is that last night at church our preacher went over Nehemiah 4:1-9 where the work of the Lord’s people was being verbally attacked and ridiculed, and their adversaries attempted to discourage them.\u00a0 The answer to this?\u00a0 Work all the harder (to build the wall in their case), and pray.\u00a0 We must stand fast and work hard, keeping our trust in and looking for our strength in God, when the scoffers come and they will if we are indeed doing the Lord’s work.\u00a0 In our church, we sometimes have visitors who will come once or twice and then mock us for our conservative service, saying we can’t build a church in today’s times in that manner.\u00a0 We need to do this, and we need to do that (in other words, we need to entertain!\u00a0 HA!)\u00a0 No, we are going to continue doing things God’s way, and not cater to the carnal flesh. Let them mock us!\u00a0 Our purpose is to glorify God, not bring pleasure to men. Having high church attendance numbers don’t mean anything to God. What matters is that we worship Him in spirit and in truth.<\/p>\n
I can see the letter didn’t shake you, Praise God, but it is a terrible thing to be wrongfully accused of something.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your ministry here on the web.<\/p>\n\t
The answer to your son’s question lies in the receiver’s heart. You are right. It is one message being presented, but a variety of responses come as a result. That is the message of the parable of the sower (Luke 8:5-15). One type of seed is spread, but the difference response comes because of the different grounds on which it falls. Take a look at the lessons “Perceptions of God’s Word<\/a>” and “God’s Wisdom<\/a>” for passages to help you explain this to your son. In essence, God designed His message to bring to light what is buried deep in a person’s spirit.<\/p>\n Don’t worry about the challenges I receive. I expect them to come. But like you, I’m always amused and curious why people find it an affront to discover that others don’t agree with them.<\/p>\n\t Excellent! Thank you so much. This shall be very helpful.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: My son had a question I am not sure how to answer.\u00a0 The question is:\u00a0Why is it that some people respond to the hearing of the gospel by accepting the gospel, and others respond by rejecting it?” It is the same Holy Spirit that will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment; so why does…<\/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":[536,451],"class_list":["post-24463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-preaching","tag-teaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3624,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-would-those-who-never-heard-the-gospel-be-lost\/","url_meta":{"origin":24463,"position":0},"title":"Why would those who never heard the gospel be lost?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Isn't it true that the Bible says the following: Go into all of the world and preach the gospel. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved and he that (after hearing the Gospel) does not believe will be damned. Now, what conclusions can we logically deduce from\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":93183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-dont-preachers-follow-pauls-example-and-not-accept-pay-for-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":24463,"position":1},"title":"Why don’t preachers follow Paul’s example and not accept pay for preaching?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 13, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In I Corinthians 11:1, we are commanded to follow the example of the Bible, so why don't preachers today follow Paul's example and not take money for preaching so as not to hinder the Gospel of Christ? Reason I ask this question is because from 1950s-1970s preachers were ranked\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":18216,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-trials-of-jesus-historically-accurate\/","url_meta":{"origin":24463,"position":2},"title":"Are the trials of Jesus historically accurate?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 25, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Are the trials of Jesus historically accurate? I ran across a web site that claims that some of the details of the trial were not historically accurate, but rather made up. The web site also claims that Pilate was not portrayed accurately and that the trial before the Sanhedrin\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":55858,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/different-views-of-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":24463,"position":3},"title":"Different Views of Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Shane Williams via The Lilbourn light, Vol. 9, No. 11, March 2009. Isn't it interesting that two people can see the same thing and come away with two different conclusions? The same thing can be said concerning what we hear or what we read. When the twelve spies were\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":24402,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-we-cite-matthew-regarding-divorce-since-jesus-lived-under-the-old-law\/","url_meta":{"origin":24463,"position":4},"title":"Why do we cite Matthew regarding divorce since Jesus lived under the Old Law?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: As I understand Matthew 19:9 and Matthew 5:32 concerning divorce, Jesus is answering the Pharisees (Jews)\u00a0as they were tempting him on this question. His answer was the same as the law that they were under (except for fornication).\u00a0Such as in the case that Joseph thought Mary was in. 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