Repentance has nothing to do with worldly authorities, its between you and God. A child rapist or a murderer who repents doesn't have to go to jail to be saved, he's forgiven by Jesus when he accepts Him. No strings attached. That being said, if others might be harmed as a Christian you need to speak up. Prosecutors will almost certainly offer immunity in exchange for exposing crimes like this.
Let's take the extreme example of someone who kidnaps and sexually abuses, then murders children. If that man repents to God, but continues to murder children, is he really repentant? Or does he want his cake and eat it too? At the end of the day, neither of us are in a position to say what threshold God uses in qualifying repentance. I'm not even saying he won't go to Heaven. That's between him and God. But I'm not sure that's true repentance.
If a corrupt politician knowingly cheats in an election, lies every day to his constituents and accepts bribes to make nefarious decisions, decides to repent, but continues to retain power (and accept bribes, do evil stuff, etc), what has changed? I feel like some effort has to be made in order for it to be true repentance.
Back to the OP's original message, it's never too late. God will accept you regardless of the past, but you have to do your part going forward.
Psalm 97:10:
Let those who love the Lord hate evil,
for he guards the lives of his faithful ones
and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Repentance, in a very simplistic explanation - "being sorry enough to quit." Again, very simplistic version. If a person continues the sin for which they repented, they didn't actually repent.
Well theoretically sin can be forgiven again and again. Go and sin no more is a suggestion not a law because no man can not sin again, since the theoretical human condition is sin
Now if you measure sin by conscience, then perhaps it is possible for man not to sin after repentance. A rapist who continues to rape would fail by that standard.
What would probably happen is this...
if a child rapist continued raping children but truly repented each time, it would be found at judgment. His soul would endure because he is forgiven, but the fire that tests gold would cause him so much pain and suffering he might as well have gone to hell.
Then again, God is a quantum omniscient existence. He sees far beyond us. If he sees child rapist behavior is actually the result of socially or environmentally caused mental illness, and essentially those actions are primal subhuman ways of lashing out against the inequity of a broken existence, He might just have absolute mercy for him and the cross he beared everytime
Who are we to know God? I think sometimes it is just easier for our limited world view to think of an angry Judeo Christian GOD who would not hesitate at forever eradicating what we perceive only as evil. It is harder as mere humans to truly believe in God as the great redeemer because the thought even the worst of us can escape judgment is mind boggling
This way of thinking doesn't take the Holy Spirit into account - I don't think you quite understand.
When you accept Jesus as leader of your life and repent from your sins, truly, you receive the Holy Spirit. When you truly become a Christian, the Holy Spirit is a part of this. From that moment on, by hopefully growing in a new relationship with the Lord, He also refines you and grows you - your Christian walk consists of becoming more like Christ, who lived a life pleasing to God and had the ultimate relationship with His Father. The Holy Spirit works within you and you lose the desire of things you did while living for yourself. Are we still going to mess up, be tempted, and stumble? Yes. We still sin and won't be perfect until we reach the Father and see Him face to face. Until then, we are ever growing and being refined by the Lord - shedding our old self and putting on the new.
If there is no change from how you were before Christ (i.e., still committing the horrible acts you were committing), it is unlikely that there was ever a change to begin with. True repentance says "I don't want to live like this anymore and I am actively going to give up these things with the help of the Lord"
Repentance has nothing to do with worldly authorities, its between you and God. A child rapist or a murderer who repents doesn't have to go to jail to be saved, he's forgiven by Jesus when he accepts Him. No strings attached. That being said, if others might be harmed as a Christian you need to speak up. Prosecutors will almost certainly offer immunity in exchange for exposing crimes like this.
Let's take the extreme example of someone who kidnaps and sexually abuses, then murders children. If that man repents to God, but continues to murder children, is he really repentant? Or does he want his cake and eat it too? At the end of the day, neither of us are in a position to say what threshold God uses in qualifying repentance. I'm not even saying he won't go to Heaven. That's between him and God. But I'm not sure that's true repentance.
If a corrupt politician knowingly cheats in an election, lies every day to his constituents and accepts bribes to make nefarious decisions, decides to repent, but continues to retain power (and accept bribes, do evil stuff, etc), what has changed? I feel like some effort has to be made in order for it to be true repentance.
Back to the OP's original message, it's never too late. God will accept you regardless of the past, but you have to do your part going forward.
Psalm 97:10:
Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Repentance, in a very simplistic explanation - "being sorry enough to quit." Again, very simplistic version. If a person continues the sin for which they repented, they didn't actually repent.
Well theoretically sin can be forgiven again and again. Go and sin no more is a suggestion not a law because no man can not sin again, since the theoretical human condition is sin
Now if you measure sin by conscience, then perhaps it is possible for man not to sin after repentance. A rapist who continues to rape would fail by that standard.
What would probably happen is this...
if a child rapist continued raping children but truly repented each time, it would be found at judgment. His soul would endure because he is forgiven, but the fire that tests gold would cause him so much pain and suffering he might as well have gone to hell.
Then again, God is a quantum omniscient existence. He sees far beyond us. If he sees child rapist behavior is actually the result of socially or environmentally caused mental illness, and essentially those actions are primal subhuman ways of lashing out against the inequity of a broken existence, He might just have absolute mercy for him and the cross he beared everytime
Who are we to know God? I think sometimes it is just easier for our limited world view to think of an angry Judeo Christian GOD who would not hesitate at forever eradicating what we perceive only as evil. It is harder as mere humans to truly believe in God as the great redeemer because the thought even the worst of us can escape judgment is mind boggling
This way of thinking doesn't take the Holy Spirit into account - I don't think you quite understand. When you accept Jesus as leader of your life and repent from your sins, truly, you receive the Holy Spirit. When you truly become a Christian, the Holy Spirit is a part of this. From that moment on, by hopefully growing in a new relationship with the Lord, He also refines you and grows you - your Christian walk consists of becoming more like Christ, who lived a life pleasing to God and had the ultimate relationship with His Father. The Holy Spirit works within you and you lose the desire of things you did while living for yourself. Are we still going to mess up, be tempted, and stumble? Yes. We still sin and won't be perfect until we reach the Father and see Him face to face. Until then, we are ever growing and being refined by the Lord - shedding our old self and putting on the new.
If there is no change from how you were before Christ (i.e., still committing the horrible acts you were committing), it is unlikely that there was ever a change to begin with. True repentance says "I don't want to live like this anymore and I am actively going to give up these things with the help of the Lord"
Well of couse they'd have to stop sinning, otherwise they obviously haven't accepted Jesus yet. Thats the effort you have to put in.