---

Unrepentant Sin and Hell
A few weeks ago, I received an e-mail warning that my views on homosexuality could result in an unrepentant homosexual going to hell. (Professor Robert Gagnon, among others, has warned that unrepentant homosexuals are headed for hell.) Methodists don’t believe in “once save, always saved.” Instead, we believe that one may live a life so apart from God and from God’s purposes as to fall from grace and subject the soul to eternal condemnation. We believe that willfully, knowingly and consistently being disobedient to God’s will may place our salvation at risk. So, I take the e-mailer’s comments very seriously.

The question becomes, then, that if a person, through prayer and diligent study of Scripture comes to a sincere conclusion that the conduct they are engaging in isn’t sinful, are they still condemned if they are sincerely wrong? At first glance, I might be inclined to answer that sure, God will not be mocked and that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom. On the other hand, John Wesley spoke of “involuntary sinning” that arises out of our ignorance or that catches us by surprise. While I wouldn’t claim that John Wesley would apply the practice of homosexuality to the concept of “involuntary sinning” since he clearly condemend the practice, I would suggest that Wesley’s concept has relevance today.

Consider all of those Americans, particularly southerners, including a Methodist bishop, who owned slaves. Slavery was and is clearly wrong – an abomination. However, is it necessarily true then that all slaveowners who died believing that slavery was morally acceptable (and thus never repented of their actions) are now condemned to hell? ...