**13 I write these things to you so that you may know that you have eternal life, you who believe in the name of the Son of God. 14 And we have this confidence in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, we know that what we have asked him for is ours. 16 If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly. 18 We know that no one begotten by God sins; but the one begotten by God he protects, and the evil one cannot touch him. 19 We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one. 20 We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Children, be on your guard against idols. **
I have no problem with any of God’s Word…

1 John 5: 13-21 is very insightful, and again, open to many interpretations. Here is what i think the meaning may be (purely my thoughts…):
There is sin leading to death: Because he speaks in context of a
brother, it is probably wrong to see him meaning a sin leading to
spiritual death; he probably means a sin leading to the *physical *death of the believer.
That is an interesting thought… where did you get it? Actually when John wrote this, there was a pretty active persecution going on for these Early Catholics - who would not worship the Emperor - so for many, death was not a remote event - it was all around the people who loved God.
This is a difficult concept, but we have an example of it in 1 Corinthians 11:27-30, where Paul says that among the Christians in Corinth, because of their disgraceful conduct at the Lord’s Supper, some had died (many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep). This death came not as a condemning judgment, but as a corrective judgment (But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world, 1 Corinthians 11:32).
The thought that John is warning these sinful Catholics does nto concern you,Mdifrancesco? Sin unto death - sin from which there is no natural recovery, No doubt about it - this is teh one-way-ticket to hell.
Apparently, a believer can sin to the point where God believes it is just best to bring them home, probably because they have in some way compromised their testimony so significantly that they should just come on home to God.
Honest, Mdifrancesco,this sounds like wish-full thinking! What do you base this on? Do you remember the Rich Man and Lazarus…? Well, the Rich Man, squandered his blessings, ignored his obligations and ridiculed this sore-infested begger. Well, when it came for the Judgment - the Rich Man was found wanting in the only scales that count - while Lazarus was welcomed into the arms of God. Now, with all of the natural wealth and material pleasures of earth - who could say that the Rich Man was going to end up in the fires of Hell?
To my way of thinking, this is where the OSAS gets totally lost. While we are told not to judge - everyone with OSAS is judging themselves as worthy of heaven and their neighbor is ‘iffy’ at best!

Self delusion is a real problem - and it is being totally arranged by Satan, himself.
However, it is certainly presumptuous to think this about every case of an untimely death of a believer. Our lives are in God’s hands, and if He sees fit to bring one of His children home, that is fine.
This really does sound fatalistic - did you mean it this way, Mdifrancesco? I was taught that we are to pray for those who sin. None of us can do it all - so, when some drop the ball, the Grace of God is simply not with them.
Some believe that **brother **is used here in a very loose sense, and what John means by the sin leading to death is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, which is the willful, settled rejection of Jesus Christ. But this would be a curious use of the term brother, especially according to how John has already used brother in his own letter.
I do not say that he should pray about that: Apparently, when a Christian is being corrected in regard to a sin leading to death, there is no point in praying for his recovery or restoration - the situation is in God’s hands alone.
So, how do you know that praying for this person IS really what God wants you do - in fact, your prayers would have been be a major influence in thier conversion… but you see it as a big waste of time. ,and he is in eternal torment.
**There is sin not leading to death… When had you thought it best to tell the Church of this major factual document? **
: John takes pains to recognize that not every sin leads to death in the manner he speaks of, though all unrighteousness is sin.
God bless