{"id":29267,"date":"2020-12-30T16:46:46","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T22:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=29267"},"modified":"2025-08-20T16:15:53","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T21:15:53","slug":"how-can-we-be-forgiven-of-our-fornication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-we-be-forgiven-of-our-fornication\/","title":{"rendered":"How can we be forgiven of our fornication?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Hello minister Hamilton,<\/p>\n<p>I reached out to you a few years back when I had questions and I wanted to get baptized into Christ and follow God. Well, these past two years I have been living with my girlfriend and we just found out we are expecting a child in May. We are both religious, and we want to do good in God&#8217;s eyes. We love each other very much, and we want to get married before the child is born. We have talked about marriage, but we decided we would do it when we had enough money to do a big wedding. Now, we don&#8217;t care too much about that, but we want to get married. I know it doesn&#8217;t change that we sinned already, but is there a right way to go at this or should we just pray for forgiveness and repent and then get married? My girlfriend thought we should get rebaptized, but I don&#8217;t think that will make much difference. We just want to get married and be happy with our family without feeling like we are doing bad things.<\/p>\n<p>If you have any words of advice, I could really use some.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<p>As Paul pointed out, &#8220;<em>Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 6:9-10). Claiming to be religious is not compatible with living a lifestyle in rebellion against the very God you are claiming to follow. I&#8217;m glad you and your girlfriend recognize this and want to make a change.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>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>&#8221; (II Corinthians 7:10-11).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There has to be a radical shift in both the way you think about your sin and the way you behave. It sounds like you&#8217;ve reached that point. Fancy weddings are nice, but you don&#8217;t delay obeying God because of your desires. Weddings don&#8217;t have to be expensive. Put on your thinking cap and realize that you can create a memorable event without spending a lot of money. For example, when my wife and I got married, we didn&#8217;t have a lot of money.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>My wife has a gift for sewing, so she made her own wedding dress.<\/li>\n<li>We did buy flowers for her and the bridesmaids, but looking back, we decided that the real flowers probably weren&#8217;t worth the extra expense.<\/li>\n<li>We reserved a picnic area at a state park for the wedding and reception (cost &#8230; $0)<\/li>\n<li>We informed those attending that the reception would be a potluck dinner. Everyone who came brought a dish to contribute.<\/li>\n<li>A friend of my wife baked the cake. My aunt, a cake decorator instructor, provided the decoration for the cake.<\/li>\n<li>We asked friends to sing at the wedding.<\/li>\n<li>My wife&#8217;s aunt had a large rose garden, and she provided the table centerpieces.<\/li>\n<li>A friend of another aunt had a cabin in a resort that they allowed us to use for a week for our honeymoon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I&#8217;ve married couples under the trees at the local city park. I&#8217;ve performed weddings for couples who had just gotten married at a courthouse, so they wouldn&#8217;t break God&#8217;s command, and then saved up for a more elaborate wedding later. My point is that you have numerous options, and the more creative you are, the more memorable your wedding will be.<\/p>\n<p>God&#8217;s will is first, so do what He said and get married without delay. If I may suggest, before you head down the aisle to get married, go to God and confess that you have gravely sinned and that you have not honored Him or His teachings by putting your own desires first. Ask Him to forgive you and to bless your union as you get back on track (I John 1:9).<\/p>\n<p>Baptism made you Christians and, sadly, Christians do get caught up in sin (I John 1:8,10). But what makes a child of God different from the world is that a Christian refuses to stay in sin. You don&#8217;t have to re-enter the covenant by being baptized again. You just need to pick up the pieces and start following your covenant with Christ once again.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Hello minister Hamilton, I reached out to you a few years back when I had questions and I wanted to get baptized into Christ and follow God. Well, these past two years I have been living with my girlfriend and we just found out we are expecting a child in May. We are both&hellip;<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1571,1572],"class_list":["post-29267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-forgiveness","tag-fornication"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44681,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-girlfriend-wont-get-married-in-my-church-and-i-wont-get-married-in-her-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":29267,"position":0},"title":"My girlfriend won&#8217;t get married in my church and I won&#8217;t get married in her church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 15, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a question and need further advice. My girlfriend and I have been together for 8 years and have been living together for 6 years. I have recently gotten saved. I was raised Catholic but have converted to Christianity. When I had found out about sexual immorality\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33651,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-god-refuse-to-bless-our-future-marriage-because-we-have-been-having-sex\/","url_meta":{"origin":29267,"position":1},"title":"Will God refuse to bless our future marriage because we have been having sex?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My girlfriend and I have been dating for almost two years. We have had sex multiple times now. We started doing it because we decided how much we love each other and that we want to marry each other, but I'm worried now because people are telling me that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20229,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-i-had-sex-with-my-girlfriend-does-this-mean-i-am-married-to-her\/","url_meta":{"origin":29267,"position":2},"title":"Since I had sex with my girlfriend, does this mean I am married to her?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello brother. Thank you for the good web site and for the questions and answers that you have posted. I have a question and a problem that I want you to help me to solve. I have been dating a girl for three years. She has been really close\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22336,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-my-girlfriend-and-i-get-married-after-committing-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":29267,"position":3},"title":"Can my girlfriend and I get married after committing fornication?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have some issues I want to share with you so you can pray with me and give me some advice. I was searching the web for some answers on some Christian web sites when I came across your answer to a question that I had, and I am\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45454,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/weve-been-together-for-seven-years-and-have-a-child-together-isnt-that-as-good-as-being-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":29267,"position":4},"title":"We&#8217;ve been together for seven years and have a child together. Isn&#8217;t that as good as being married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a question about sex before marriage. My girlfriend and I have been together for seven years, and we have a child together. She has gone off and on for years to church and I never. We have had our share of problems and are working together\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34160,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-in-love-with-a-man-who-has-a-girlfriend-whom-he-got-pregnant-should-i-marry-him\/","url_meta":{"origin":29267,"position":5},"title":"I&#8217;m in love with a man who has a girlfriend whom he got pregnant. Should I marry him?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I am 30 years of age, born again, having a boyfriend near my age also born again. We are related according to our culture as our mothers share the same clan name. We deeply love each other and all our conversations are always about God. We help each\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","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\/29267","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=29267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29267\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}