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What happens to the Christians who do not walk the walk until they die? What if they are seduced into doing evil and then they die while they are doing the evil with no time to repent?
While we are called to repent, if someone dies before they can repent,, they are forgiven. At the moment of our exercising saving faith, we are washed of all our sins: past, present, and future. The washing of our sins is not conditional upon our future repentance. We will repent, as children of God, but should death prevent us from repenting, our sins have already been forgiven. God does not exclude us from heaven because we died before we could repent.
Acts 8:22 Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you.
We know such a belief was voiced in the late second century. Before that, we really don't know. Not much survived from that time period for us to conclude anything.
My main problem if she had other children was Jesus gave her to the apostle John at the cross? She was elderly and had no one to take care of her.
I would suggest that Jesus entrusted her to John because His siblings were not yet believers, but we can't say for sure. Mary had been among the disciples and around them, as well as Jesus. Jesus loved John and knew he would care for Mary as he would his own mother, and that would keep Mary with the Apostles and disciples instead of separating from them with a son or daughter who was not a believer. It was not just a matter of her physical well-being but her spiritual as well. I do believe in time, his siblings came to believe, but how long after His death and resurrection, I cannot say.
I disagree. I honestly find it hard to believe. Rather, he was the only child.
Pretty much immediately.
THIS!
While we can debate the meaning of the Greek word translated "brothers", it allows for the possibility that Mary did have other children. I would not agree that "nothing in scripture indicates Mary had other children." I think the possibility is there. There is a unique Greek word for cousins that was not used. The word used could mean cousins but could also mean biological brothers. At best, we can say it's possible, according to Scripture, that she had other children. That would not be a forced interpretation.
