Chastity Question

QUESTION:Can God forgive you if you've had premarital sex?

ANSWER:Yes. The Bible says, "To the penitent he provides a way back, he encourages those who are losing hope! . . . Turn again to the Most High and away from sin" (Sir. 17:19-21). If we repent he will forgive any sin, including premarital sex. In the Gospel of John, a crowd wanted to kill a woman who was caught in sexual sin. Jesus sent the people away to think about their own sins. When they left, he asked, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She answered, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said to her, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again" (John 8: 1-11). Over and over, the Scriptures say the exact same thing. Psalm 103:12 reads, "As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us." Lamentations 3:23 states, "Every morning his mercies are new."i God holds no grudges and doesn't look down on us because of the past. On the contrary, he says, "I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you. . . . I will not remember your sins" (Is. 44:22; 43:25).The history of the Church tells the same story. Many saints and heroes of the faith led immoral lives or committed grave sins before repenting and leading lives of exemplary holiness, including King David, Mary Magdalene, St. Paul, and St. Augustine. The sins these saints repented of include premarital sex, adultery, and even murder. Just as God forgave them, he can and will forgive us, if we're willing to do what they did: Repent and amend our ways. Come to him in prayer. He won't be thinking, "Oh, here comes that kid who did all of that stuff at that party." Instead, he is thinking the same thing he was thinking thousands of years ago: "I have called you by name, you are mine. . . . I have carved your name onto the palm of my hand" (Is. 43:1; 49:16 NAB). The greatest sin you have ever committed is like a grain of sand next to the mountain of his mercies.Jesus instituted the sacrament of reconciliation to bring the gift of his forgiveness to us. After he rose from the dead, he came to the apostles, greeted them; and then breathed on them. The only other place in the Bible where God breathes on anyone is at the moment of creation. So we know something big is happening here. Jesus then said, "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:21-23).For two thousand years, the Church has made this healing gift from Jesus available to us, so that we can hear the consoling words of absolution: "God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen." Come to the great sacrament of reconciliation, and receive the gift of God's forgiveness.

URL: http://www.catholic.com/chastity/q8.asp