“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.\u00a0 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him<\/i>” (I John 2:3-5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have read the articles on blasphemy and they have given me a better understanding of what it is. But I am still not sure if a person can think blasphemous thoughts not speak them and still be condemned. I feel that God is so distant from me and that this is because His…<\/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":[546,90,179],"class_list":["post-9932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-feelings","tag-god","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":42736,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/life-has-been-hard-the-last-few-years-how-do-i-keep-from-slipping-further-into-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":9932,"position":0},"title":"Life has been hard the last few years. How do I keep from slipping further into sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I'm 23 years old. The last few years of my life have been the hardest ones to date. I have lost my mother to cancer and my grandfather died too, both Christian. But my question is: How can I get back on track as a Christian myself? Due\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":45281,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-willfully-sinning-blaspheming-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":9932,"position":1},"title":"Is willfully sinning blaspheming the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm ashamed of my sin. I know you and others say that God forgives, but I committed the sin willingly. Is that not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit that Jesus discussed? Answer: We need to get a good definition of what blasphemy is: Smith Bible Dictionary: \"in its technical\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":34381,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-know-that-im-serving-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":9932,"position":2},"title":"How can I know that I’m serving God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: OK, simple question: I want to know what I can do to just serve God and know it's Him I'm serving. Answer: \"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into\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":8832,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-be-assured-god-will-forgive-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":9932,"position":3},"title":"How can I be assured God will forgive me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am so tormented with the fear of the sin against the Holy Spirit. When I read the Scripture, it says \"blaspheme\" which is to \"speak.\" How can one change that to \"reject?\" How can I be assured that God will forgive me of any and every sin? I\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":43285,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-know-if-my-feelings-were-genuine-when-i-received-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":9932,"position":4},"title":"I don’t know if my feelings were genuine when I received Christ","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You may not know me, but I have seen what you wrote and you seem wise. I ask that you give me a genuine answer. Here goes pouring out my heart's doubts: I am not sure that I have received Christ. I don't know if my feeling was genuine\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":42114,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-can-i-do-to-find-joy-in-christ\/","url_meta":{"origin":9932,"position":5},"title":"What can I do to find joy in Christ?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I'm a young, desperate man (I am 15 years old). In my country most people are Catholic. I hold Protestant views and even though my father visits the Catholic service, I go to the Protestant service on Sunday. Since I have been saved last fall, there is 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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9932","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=9932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9932\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}