Hello,<\/p>\n
I John 1:9\u00a0says that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>.” but would that apply to someone who’s a baptized Christian\u00a0but has been away from God for several months,\u00a0committed\u00a0fornication and has been very close to\u00a0atheism? Mostly the atheism part. The Bible says a Christian is the temple of the Holy Spirit, but what if this person’s been away for so long? What happens to the Holy Spirit? Does He go away and comes back?<\/p>\n A person who once was a Christian and now seems just as worldly as anybody else?<\/p>\n If the person wants to come back, how can he pray or worship God as a Christian and not as a sinner?<\/p>\n\t God doesn’t look at life and time the way we do. We are the ones who get impatient and give up on people. To someone who lives an eternity, your entire life isn’t that long.<\/p>\n “Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts”<\/em>” (Isaiah 55:6-9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n God is seeking to save people, just like you, who want to leave the bondage of sin. The difference between a saint and a sinner is that the sinner doesn’t care about leaving his sins behind. A saint won’t stay in sin. “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity<\/em>” (Proverbs 24:18).<\/p>\n God didn’t leave, you left God (Isaiah 59:1-2). God is waiting for you to come home — that is one of the messages of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) — so why are you dragging your feet? And if you don’t feel worthy to approach God, that is what your brethren are here to help you with. “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much<\/em>” (James 5:16).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hello, I John 1:9\u00a0says that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” but would that apply to someone who’s a baptized Christian\u00a0but has been away from God for several months,\u00a0committed\u00a0fornication and has been very close to\u00a0atheism? Mostly the atheism…<\/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":[617,61,1571,609],"class_list":["post-31426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-apostasy","tag-falling-from-grace","tag-forgiveness","tag-worldliness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32087,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-christian-sins-is-he-no-longer-part-of-the-family-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":31426,"position":0},"title":"If a Christian sins, is he no longer part of the family of God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a Christian struggles with sin in his life and broke a promise he couldn't keep, is he not part of the family of God anymore? Is it possible to sin to such an extent that there's no way back home -- basically you lose your salvation? Is there\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":53233,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-baptism-for-the-remission-of-future-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":31426,"position":1},"title":"Is baptism for the remission of future sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When one is baptized into Christ by water baptism, is it for the remission of past sins only? Or is baptism for all sins (past, present, and future sins)? Answer: \"Peter said to them, \"Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for 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":29760,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-there-is-no-one-who-does-not-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":31426,"position":2},"title":"What does it mean “there is no one who does not sin”?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Please explain to me what II Chronicles 6:36 means as per the issue of sin: \"for there is no one who does not sin...\" What is the meaning of holiness? What happens to a Christian who sins but has yet to acknowledge, let alone repent or confess it? Answer:\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":44813,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-born-again-and-non-believers-have-the-same-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":31426,"position":3},"title":"Do born-again and non-believers have the same Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have three questions I would like to ask. In Job 34:14-15, does it mean born again believers and non-believers have the same Holy Spirit? If one can lose his salvation, does it mean sin still has a chance to overpower the gift of eternal life Christ freely gives?\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":36279,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-would-you-say-to-a-young-teenager-who-committed-fornication-and-who-came-out-for-altar-call\/","url_meta":{"origin":31426,"position":4},"title":"What would you say to a young teenager who committed fornication and who came out for altar call?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What would you say to a young teenager who committed fornication and who came out for altar call? Answer: There is no \"altar call\" in the Bible. But if a young person wished to become a Christian and was willing to give up his sins, then that is just\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":21917,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-sinning-or-being-tempted-to-sin-mean-you-arent-really-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":31426,"position":5},"title":"Does sinning or being tempted to sin mean you aren’t really saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was reading a page on your web site that said if you\u00a0give in to sexual desires, even just once, Satan can more easily bring you in\u00a0and cause you to go further and further into sin until he has you trapped. This is only true for those who are\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\/31426","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=31426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Answer:<\/h2>\n