Hi,<\/p>\n
I am 21 years old and I have a daughter who is about a year old. She is my world, but I was not married when I had her, and I am not married now. I am a believer, but I am also a believer that everything happens for a reason. I just want to know if I will be punished and how can I be forgiven?<\/p>\n\t
Your sin was having sex without being married (I am assuming that the sex was consensual and not that you were raped). That is called fornication. “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 homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:9-10). Your daughter came as a result of that sin, but having your daughter was not a sin.<\/p>\n Punishment is not required for the forgiveness of sin. Punishment exists to make a person aware that they are in sin and need forgiveness.<\/p>\n Forgiveness of sin depends on where you are in your walk with God. All sins can be forgiven. The Corinthians, whom we quoted Paul’s statement about, had committed similar sins to your own, but they changed. “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God<\/em>” (I Corinthians 6:11). Even if you think you are saved, I would like you to read\u00a0What Must I Do to be Saved?<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0What Saves a Person?<\/a> Much of what is taught in denominations is not accurate and there are far too many people who think they are saved without doing all that God said must be done. If you are a Christian, the forgiveness of sin merely requires you to admit your faults to God. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness<\/em>” (I John 1:9).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hi, I am 21 years old and I have a daughter who is about a year old. She is my world, but I was not married when I had her, and I am not married now. I am a believer, but I am also a believer that everything happens for a reason. I just…<\/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_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1571,1572],"class_list":["post-33648","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":48779,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-i-get-baptized-even-though-im-still-living-with-my-boyfriend\/","url_meta":{"origin":33648,"position":0},"title":"Can I get baptized even though I’m still living with my boyfriend?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been with my partner for 19 years, but we are not married.\u00a0 I started going to church three years ago, but my partner isn't a believer.\u00a0 Some in the church say that in the eyes of God we are married and, therefore, I should be baptized. However,\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":42191,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-my-girlfriend-and-i-cant-have-sex-until-we-are-married-is-masturbating-a-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":33648,"position":1},"title":"Since my girlfriend and I can’t have sex until we are married, is masturbating a sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I would like to say I have spent the past month searching around and will be glad if you can give me the right answer. I am 26 years old man, have a spouse and we have a daughter. May I say we had a daughter before we\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":39778,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-marry-after-having-sex\/","url_meta":{"origin":33648,"position":2},"title":"Is it a sin to marry after having sex?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 26, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have one question for you because I'm really confused about what to decide. Please help me. My question is that my girlfriend and I plan to marry next year. We are both Christian, but we have already been having sex. I never had sex with another woman and\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":44718,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-rededicated-my-life-after-committing-fornication-will-god-reject-me-if-we-have-sex-again-just-before-our-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":33648,"position":3},"title":"I rededicated my life after committing fornication. Will God reject me if we have sex again just before our marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Sir, I was a backslider for about two years. While in that state I was ready to marry, but I didn't have any girl to marry. Then I was introduced to a girl by my sister. She is my sister's friend and they work in the same company. We\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":22088,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-boyfriend-proposed-to-me-are-we-sinning-if-we-have-sex\/","url_meta":{"origin":33648,"position":4},"title":"My boyfriend proposed to me. Are we sinning if we have sex?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My boyfriend proposed to me. I'm not pregnant and I do love him. Does this make me a sinner, if we have sex? Answer: \"Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge\" (Hebrews 13:4). Sex outside of marriage is a sin.\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":45277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/help-me-decide-what-to-do-about-the-man-i-love-but-with-whom-i-committed-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":33648,"position":5},"title":"Help me decide what to do about the man I love, but with whom I committed fornication","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 7, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I\u00a0 am a girl of 25 years. I am born again. I am in love with a man whom I love and we trust each other. He is not a born-again Christian and we are not married. In our relationship, we decided not to have sex before marriage. 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