Unbelief, is it a sin?

AHH who-stole-my-name said:

I really don't see this as a hard question, so i think you meant something more by it. To answer it as you posted the question, The answer is to the best of our abilities. None are perfect and none have not fallen by the way side, but the more we learn from the Bible, the more we have to implement into our lives.

Click to expand...

I agree with you. Man has to implement more into their lives.

Foghorn said:

Is that the way you interpret my answer?

Click to expand...

Who knows what your heart is thinking.

Foghorn said:

That don't answer the question.

The question is, is unbelief a sin?

Click to expand...

I noticed you used the term unbelief. Is there a difference in unbelief and disbelief? I'm of the mind that there is and unbelief of not having any belief in anything and disbelief actually saying God doesn't exist.

Foghorn said:

Thanks.

I was starting to think I asked a very difficult, perhaps unanswerable question.

Click to expand...

The pole shows a perfect score, so far.

John 16
8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me;

Since their is no forgiveness of sin unless your in Christ, then it is pretty obvious unbelief is sin.

sdowney717 said:

John 16
8 And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 of sin, because they do not believe in Me;

Since their is no forgiveness of sin unless your in Christ, then it is pretty obvious unbelief is sin.

Click to expand...

So, is it a sin if a person has unbelief in Ezekiel 18:31?

EmSw said:

So, is it a sin if a person has unbelief in Ezekiel 18:31?

Click to expand...

Belief is trust in and resting upon God by allowing Him to be God, which means allowing Him to provide what only He can, and not grabbing (like the fruit) for it yourself.

There really is no such things as unbelief. There is only properly placed belief and improperly placed belief. Unbelievers are believers in self and idols. Their trust is in something other than the Living God for their identity, security, and significance.

thatbrian said:

Belief is trust in and resting upon God by allowing Him to be God, which means allowing Him to provide what only He can, and not grabbing (like the fruit) for it yourself.

There really is no such things as unbelief. There is only properly placed belief and improperly placed belief. Unbelievers are believers in self and idols. Their trust is in something other than the Living God for their identity, security, and significance.

Click to expand...

So, would placing your belief, trusting and resting upon God's word be considered proper or improper?

If one doesn't believe and obey God's word, would you say they are trusting in themselves?

EmSw said:

So, would placing your belief, trusting and resting upon God's word be considered proper or improper?

Click to expand...

What, I think you are talking about here is faith. It is esential as far as I understand Christianity to be that you trust in him as the entire philosophy is based on doing what he says and in his good time, you will be rewarded. I'm not much on the reward side, as I do what I can for others out of the me being who I am. Th belief system is sperate from doing good and that has to do with security, well being and the right to everlasting life. Those are the the offering of Christ and in order to be a Christian you must place everything in God's hands, including your life and it is, as you say proper to do so.

If one doesn't believe and obey God's word, would you say they are trusting in themselves?

Click to expand...

I would say they find it rather insecure to place their everything in the hands of anything they don't believe in. Without faith their is nothing but wishful thinking and depending on their abilities they can run the gambit from exceptionally competent in running their own affairs and completely shutting down out of fear of what might happen.

"....for whatsoever is not of faith is sin."
(Romans 14:23).

Yep. Anything that is not of the faith (i.e. unbelief) is sin.

As for the cause or reason why people sin or remain in unbelief (Including those who worship a false Christ or gospel)?
I believe it ultimately comes down to their desire in wanting to sin because they find it pleasurable. They also sin or do evil because they hate the true light of God, too.

How so?
Scripture says,


For Moses chose to suffer the affliction with the people of God rather than enjoying the pleasure of sin for a season.



...

Foghorn said:

Is unbelief a sin?
I believe it is.

God commands all men to repent and believe.

If God commands something and we do not do it, it is sin.

Agree?
Disagree?

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Now,this answer may be very hard to take,especially by intellectuals. But all sins are forgivable except for the sin of unbelief.

Foghorn said:

Is unbelief a sin?
I believe it is.

God commands all men to repent and believe.

If God commands something and we do not do it, it is sin.

Agree?
Disagree?

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

I know Christians that think anything not of God is a sin so they'd agree that unbelief is a sin.

I however do not. If someone does not believe in God, or Jesus Christ, it stands that they don't believe in sin either.
When you think about it sin is an umbrella term that condemns as it covers all of human nature. Which is defined as, sin nature.
We're told, and it is therefore an aspect of what is expected to be believed in the telling of it this way, that God failed to forgive the error the first people made in disobeying his commands not to do something in the garden of Eden. However, he first planted the tree that bore the fruit that if consumed would imbue them with the conscious understanding of that capacity for obedience or disobedience, good or evil.
And then he told them not to consume that tree's fruit. All this being an all knowing God that predestined their lives before creation of a planet wherein he first cast down his arch adversary and all his attending angels; Satan. So that that enemy could roam the earth as like unto a hungry lion seeking souls to devour.

And he did. He gained entry into paradise, persuaded new humans to eat fruit of a tree God planted. And rather than demonstrate the omni-benevolence we're told God possesses and forgive Adam and Eve because their innocence and naivety was manipulated by a wise devil, he condemned them to bear his created identity of sinner. And all that attended that curse.

And then he sent himself generations later to change that rule he created himself and in the form of Yeshua bin Joseph.
Predestined to be born of a virgin, ie an unmarried Jewish girl child, grow up, pursue the role of itinerate rabbi, be accused by the vipers, the Pharisee and Sadducee, of the Hebrew temple as a blasphemer, arrested by Roman guards at behest of those temple authorities, tortured by Roman soldiers, and executed under Roman law on a capital punishment device invented by the Persians and perfected by the Romans, at the insistence of the Jewish authorities and even the lay people themselves.

All so that over 2000 years later that story could be told as one of love for the human race. That is still born damned by their sin nature, destined to the Hell God first created to house Satan and his angels, but was then opened to receive unbelieving , unredeemed human souls in what is the second death, until or unless those born sinners are the one called by their creator to find him in Jesus, accept the story of his sacrifice to change their damned status if they just believe. While all the rest that are not called by God, who predetermined that calling or not before the womb, are born damned and destined to Hell and live damned and destined to Hell and die damned and sure enough go to Hell.

Given all that that pertains to believers, I don't think unbelief is a sin. Because you have to believe in sin to accept what it says about you. Thanks for your time.

exitstageright said:

Now,this answer may be very hard to take,especially by intellectuals. But all sins are forgivable except for the sin of unbelief.

Click to expand...

No. All sin is unbelief. For whatseover is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).

The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is speaking bad words against the Holy Ghost. This can never be forgiven here in this life or the one to come (i.e. the Millennium).


....

AHH who-stole-my-name said:

I noticed you used the term unbelief. Is there a difference in unbelief and disbelief? I'm of the mind that there is and unbelief of not having any belief in anything and disbelief actually saying God doesn't exist.

Click to expand...

Acts 17 is significant and important here, and rides in concert with Psalm 19, Romans 1, and even the books of Job and Jonah.

The OP question requires more definition, however, as you suggest.

As has already been said, we are born in a state of sin, and belief in God is an essential component of our transition from the original state of sin to a state of grace.

We don't have to get into the spiritual mechanics of how one gains a belief in God because that wasn't the OP question and isn't a necessary step to answering it.

We can say that a person is born both in a state of sin and in a state of unbelief, which is to say having no beliefs about God--a state of ignorance.

What is God's reaction to this state of ignorance? My scripture reading indicates that God takes ignorance into consideration in His judgment. We are held accountable for as much as we know, not for what we do not know (or have no way to know).

But at some point, people do begin to gain beliefs about "Why am I here? How did I get here? What should I be doing?"

Psalm 19 tells us that creation itself gives us enough information about God that we have no excuse to claim absolute ignorance. I think Job is the literal textbook example of a person who came to know God through observation of creation. I think this is why God speaks to Job uniquely only of His created things: Star constellations and great creatures rather than what God did for the Abrahamic lineage.

Then in Acts 17, Paul acknowledges a different group that did the same thing: Greeks who through their observation of the reliability of the heavens came to the conclusion that a God existed who singly created and controlled the universe, a God different and above the gods men had invented and self-named. Paul affirms that god is God.

Thus Romans 1 can assert that with both scriptural and extra-scriptural evidence a man can know through observation of nature of God's existence and character. That being true, we are all accountable at least to have acknowledged God's existence and His essential character, and that God winks (temporarily closes His eyes) at that level of ignorance--again, holding men accountable for what they know, not what they do not know.

But now, God has revealed Himself materially to the world and there is a new level of knowledge and thus accountability for those to whom this revelation is made.

MoonofIsaiah said:

Because you have to believe in sin to accept what it says about you.

Click to expand...

Is something real if I don't believe it is? Does its reality depend upon my belief?

Foghorn said:

Is unbelief a sin?
I believe it is.

God commands all men to repent and believe.

If God commands something and we do not do it, it is sin.

Agree?
Disagree?

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

I Completely Agree!

Believing God is believing his word. When he commands us to do something and we do not do it. That is sin. You really did not believe God enough to fulfill his word.
God looks at this as a evil heart. Think about Caleb and Joshua. They believed what God has said about them possessing the land. Regardless of the circumstances and the giants they saw. God said the land is ours, it does not matter what it looks like. The others saw the fruit of the land as well and how fruitful the land was just like God said. But they did not believe God enough to deliver them into the land and drew back. Thus ...having unbelief.
The children of Israel could not enter in the promise land because of Unbelief (Heb 3:19)

I left Christianity for a few years, and was an atheist. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit led me back to faith. I guess I could have viewed what happened, as a coincidence or something, and ignored it. Dismissed it as not being divine intervention. But, would that have been sinful if I had done that? Having said this, I asked Jesus for forgiveness that I 'left' the faith. Interestingly, He loved me even when I was 'gone.' Would we all do the same if someone betrayed us? Left us? If you are married, and your spouse just left for a few years, would you keep chasing and seeking them, the way Jesus sought after me?

Following Christ in ALL things, isn't easy. Be careful how you judge others, as we are not to condemn anyone. Only God can ultimately judge someone's heart. Many people came to me when I was an atheist, asking me to 'return' to faith, but I honestly felt indifferent at the time. Now, I look back at that former self, and can't imagine abandoning my faith. Ignorance is bliss as they say, and I'm not sure if one is truly lost and ignorant...if that is 'sinful.' What do you think?

I'm with thatbrian and RDKirk in suggesting greater clarification in the object of faith even if the OP clues suggest some context. For example as the public ministry of Jesus unfolds, the objects of unbelief which Jesus rebukes (e.g., Matt. 17:17, Luke 24:25) varies according to what has happened and been revealed to date. Or as others may have suggested on this thread, those who have not heard the gospel or heard of Jesus may be rebuked for their unbelief in accordance with the revelation of God which God has "made known" to them (Rom. 1:19) in the creation.

How is it that unbelief of these sorts (unbelief in God or in Jesus or unbelief in some divine command--go, conquer the land--promise, word of the Lord, etc.) IS a sin? Unbelief does not fit neatly in a category such as "thou shalt not steal" or "love the brethren" or the like, yet it applies in all ethical arenas and concerning worship, comprising almost a fundamental sin like idolatry or pride. There is a moral tone to such belief and unbelief, and a fundamental religious posture.

Unbelief of the sort we are talking about is never commended in Scripture even if God is patient and, as He will with some, merciful. Unbelief of this sort is otherwise universally condemned in Scripture as something blameworthy, and belief by contrast commended.

Deidre32 said:

I left Christianity for a few years, and was an atheist. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit led me back to faith. I guess I could have viewed what happened, as a coincidence or something, and ignored it. Dismissed it as not being divine intervention. But, would that have been sinful if I had done that? Having said this, I asked Jesus for forgiveness that I 'left' the faith. Interestingly, He loved me even when I was 'gone.' Would we all do the same if someone betrayed us? Left us? If you are married, and your spouse just left for a few years, would you keep chasing and seeking them, the way Jesus sought after me?

Following Christ in ALL things, isn't easy. Be careful how you judge others, as we are not to condemn anyone. Only God can ultimately judge someone's heart. Many people came to me when I was an atheist, asking me to 'return' to faith, but I honestly felt indifferent at the time. Now, I look back at that former self, and can't imagine abandoning my faith. Ignorance is bliss as they say, and I'm not sure if one is truly lost and ignorant...if that is 'sinful.' What do you think?

Click to expand...

A wonderful testimony of God's grace concerning which the conversation could diverge in many ways. In hopes of keeping more closely to the thread, one might highlight that in your "atheist period," you "honestly felt indifferent" to pleas to believe in God (or the like)--perhaps as incidentally I also "felt indifferent" to God in my own atheist period. Unbelief of this sort not only suggests a violation of divine argument (I mean such as evident in the creation) and command, but also a deadening of sensibility, an indifference to things that matter most to our Creator (and to some, Savior), a blindness (or ignorance, albeit at root willful) even to our own design and purpose. Unbelief has its effects.

And thus Jesus' salvation is from sin and unbelief, His mercy on those unworthy of it.