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How is Sin Blotted Out?

How is Sin Blotted Out?

Have you ever encountered a well-meaning pastor or some other Christian who teaches that “every one of our bad deeds recorded in heaven’s books will be erased by the blood of Jesus?” Some even go as far as to say that not even God will remember the sins we have committed while on this sin-filled planet.

For many people who experience guilt, shame, and regret over their poor choices in the past, this can sound like a dream come true. They’re overjoyed believing that no one in heaven will ever know or remember their sins—not even them!

But does it make any sense? Have you ever considered that, if true, what would it say about God? And if it doesn’t mean that our deeds are literally blotted out of heaven’s record books, then what could it actually mean?

Let’s take a closer look …

Making God the Problem
Growing up, the only way I ever heard “blotting out of sins” taught was that it meant erasing the records of our sins, our evil deeds, from “the books in heaven.” To support the claim, preachers would quote passages like Isaiah 43:25:

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

These preachers would then teach that when we confessed our sins, God would go to the “heavenly books” with the blood of Jesus and apply it to our record, thus removing the paper trail of our sins. This process was vital to our salvation, because, they claimed, these books would be opened in the final judgment, and if there were any sins that had not been erased, we would not only be excluded from heaven, but God would use His power to punish us for the unconfessed sins remaining in the books.

It’s no surprise that such a teaching incites a fear of—and not a love for—God in people’s lives. Instead of fixating on the Remedy, people become fixated on their sins and their fears of punishment: Is there something I haven’t confessed? What if I don’t remember my sins from years ago and they are still on the books?

This teaching also causes people to form belief systems that function to hide or protect them from God, rather than reconcile us to Him. Instead of saying God is the solution to our sin problem, this understanding says He is the problem we must address. It’s similar to the idea that being covered by the robe of Christ’s righteousness means that the perfect life of Jesus obscures our histories from the Father’s awareness and, thus, in the judgment, the Father doesn’t see our histories of sin; instead, He sees only the perfect life of His Son. This is necessary, it is claimed, because if the Father saw even one sin not hidden by Jesus, then God would strike out and destroy us.

Exodus 32:33 is another Bible text used to support this claim.

The LORD replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.” 

Once again, this is taken to mean that “we either get our sins blotted out of the books of heaven or we get ourselves blotted out of the books of heaven.” This fear-inducing, legal interpretation happens because of two reasons:

  1. Believing the false premise that God’s law functions no differently than human law, which functions by imposed rules that require arbitrary and inflicted punishment
     
  2. A failure to see the reality behind the metaphor. 

Grasping the Metaphor
God is the Creator, and His laws are the laws upon which our reality is built to operate. Like the laws of physics, health, and gravity, God’s moral laws—the laws of love, liberty, worship, and truth—are designed to govern our reality. If you step out of harmony with the law of gravity by jumping off a cliff, then you will pay a natural consequence. If you violate the law of love by being selfish, then you will pay a natural consequence.

Ask yourself: Why is it wrong to commit adultery? Is your answer, “Because it breaks God’s law and His government demands that He inflict punishment on me or my legal substitute”? Or is it wrong because choosing to betray your spouse not only harms your spouse, it sears your conscience, damages your reason, warps your character, and incites fear and insecurity—which lead to lying, covering up, distortions, and, if not repented of, ultimately the destruction of your soul?

The latter answer is actually what the Bible teaches:

“Sin when full grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). And, “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction” (Galatians 6:8).

In order to understand what the blotting out of sin really means, we must first reject the false imposed-law construct and, instead, worship our Creator God, whose laws are the protocols upon which reality is built to exist. In God’s universe, if He wanted to ensure that we suffer and die in our sins, He wouldn’t have to do anything—the natural outcome of unremedied sin is pain, suffering, and death. But God loved us so much that, instead of leaving us to die, He intervened to heal and save us.

Now we must move past the metaphor to reality by thinking abstractly.

What is abstract reasoning? It is the ability to see the reality behind a metaphor, simile, parable, illustration, object lesson, or type, rather than holding to the metaphor, as if the metaphor itself were real.

For instance, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). We can all agree that Jesus is not talking cannibalism; rather, he is using a word picture to describe a larger reality. Yet the religious leaders—the theology professors of His day—did not think abstractly. They took Jesus’ words literally and were offended asking, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (vs. 52). They used these words of Jesus, taking them “as they read,” to conclude something Jesus never meant—that He was promoting the literal eating of human flesh. By doing so, they were ultimately drawn to reject Jesus. 

Sadly, this same problem exists today when people, viewing the Bible through the imposed-law lens and taking illustrations and metaphors “as they read,” conclude that the “blotting out of sin” is the literal blotting out of historical deeds from the books in heaven, in order to hide our misconduct from God.

So, what is the truth—the reality—behind the metaphor? Where does sin happen? In record books or in the hearts and minds of people? From where does God want to erase our sin? From recorded history or from the minds, hearts, and characters of His people? 

King David had this concept right:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me (Psalm 51:1,2, 9, 10).

David knew from where his sin truly needed to be blotted out: from his heart, mind, and character—his inmost being! And this is exactly what God did for David; He created a new heart and right spirit within David and erased the sinfulness from David’s character. History did not get erased, as evidenced by the Bible and its ongoing record of David’s sin that we are all still reading about today.

So, if the heavenly records are not a long list of historical deeds that need to be erased, then what is recorded there and what is being erased? Revelation reveals the answer:

He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels (3:5).

What is recorded in the heavenly records is not a list of sins of each person, but rather the “name” of each person. And in Bible symbolism, a name doesn’t mean a monogram, the word people use to call you to dinner. In the Bible, a name means character. This is why Jacob, whose name meant “deceiver,” had his name changed to Israel-“one who, with God, overcomes”-after he overcame his selfishness.

Under the imposed-law view, the records of heaven are seen as lists of deeds. But the truth, under the design-law reality, is that the records in heaven are like medical records; they document the actual condition of each person’s character. And I believe that more than this—more than just a description of our character—the records are something like a computer server on which you back up your hard drive. Our actual characters are being recorded in the books of heaven. Thus, when we open the heart to God and allow Him in, something truly miraculous and wonderful happens. Notice what He will do and why the sins are erased:

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Hebrews 8:10–12).

What is happening? Sinfulness—not sins—is being blotted out of the hearts, minds, and characters of God’s people. And in its place, God writes in His perfection. And because the records in heaven are the perfect record of each of our characters, the sinfulness that used to be in our characters, and thus in the records of heaven, is removed both from our characters and, subsequently, the record of our character in heaven. In other words, the only way to have sin removed from your record in heaven is to trust God, to open your heart to His Remedy, and to have sinfulness removed from your character here on earth.

Those who refuse to allow God into their hearts to remove sinfulness and write in His righteousness will, instead of having their sins blotted out of their hearts, and therefore their records, have themselves blotted out of existence; thus, they will be removed from the heavenly records. This is precisely what the Scripture means in the Exodus 32 passage, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.” 

Or, as the psalmist says:

“May they be blotted out of the book of life and not be listed with the righteous” (Psalm 69:28).

Finally, for those who think the actual memory of our sins will be erased from our minds and those of others, consider Jesus’ response to those who criticized the woman who anointed His feet with expensive oil: “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47).

Imagine your child was dying of cancer and your regular doctor said there is nothing more that could be done. But then, a new doctor enters and gives your child a pill and, within minutes, all the cancer is gone and your child is restored to perfect health. Would you appreciate the new doctor? But what would happen if, the next day, you awoke and your child was completely healthy, but you had no memory of their sickness and, therefore, didn’t remember the healing? Would your appreciation and love for the doctor be diminished? Of course it would!

This is what Jesus is saying in Luke 7:47: If we don’t remember from what Jesus has delivered us, we will appreciate Him and love Him little. This is why Revelation tells us that the 144,000 sing a song only they will be able to sing—no others in all the universe will be able to sing this song (Revelation 14:3). Why? Is it because no one else has the musical skill? Is it because God forbids others to sing it? No! It is because it is a song of their experience, and only those who have the experience can sing of the experience. And the only way they can sing of their experience is if they remember their experience.

So, don’t fall for the legal lie—the idea that sins are merely bad deeds that require erasure from record books. It instills within us the belief that sin is mostly a behavioral problem, rather than a heart problem; it also says God is the One we must fear, because He will punish us for any unconfessed sin, instead of fearing sin itself and what it will do to us if we don’t take the Remedy.

Embrace the truth that God wants to erase all sin, all defects, and all deviations from His design from you and restore you to His ideal! And He will do it if you trust Him!

 

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Chris P., Lake Mary, FL, USA

 

Testimony 40

I was brought up in a different faith and have been petrified my whole life of God. I believed that I would burn in hell for eternity. When I was 12 I started pursuing the things of this world, but for the next 45 years the Spirit was always calling me, as I knew there was a God through nature. I could see the vast sea of stars in the universe and knew there was something bigger out there. Five years ago, through a Revelation seminar, I was blessed to learn about God’s character and government.

Then I found Come and Reason Ministries and have come under some extreme pressure when I speak about the ministry. One time a member sent me an internet article titled “Whats wrong with Tim Jennings?” I asked her what she thought of it and she said “I don’t know, I didn’t read it.”

I have always wanted to find out for myself the truth about God, so I stayed with the Design Law construct and have been liberated to understand the big picture. Once we consider Design Law, all other Bible stories and prophecies seem to fit perfectly. It is truly beautiful to see people grasping how God operates this Universe of Love and the liberation it has provided in their lives. It blows my mind to see how consistent Design law is with what our founders believed. I hear statements like “This makes so much sense.”

Tom W., Mt. Pleasant, MI, USA

 

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I had a lot of pressure, as a pastor’s kid, to conform and be “good.” I was good at being “good.” I thought my life was going along well until it all started falling apart and I could not figure out why! In my search for “why is this happening to me, God?” I came across your book, “Could it be this Simple,” and God started revealing to me the many distortions I held about His character, His principles, and how He has designed His universe to operate. I remember thinking, “Wow, I have had this all backwards.” I was happy and angry all at the same time. Happy to have the light of truth break through the darkness, revealing a wonderful, beautiful way of understanding God and His plan for His children, and angry, because I felt deceived and cheated by the church, my family, and myself!

My heart thrills when I listen to your bible study lessons. Literally I have gone from death to life. It is a journey I look forward to every day, as God reveals areas this distortion affects. Praise GOD! I will ever be grateful to God for this ministry and your cooperation with the Spirit!

Karen S., Portal, AZ, USA

 

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It was very touching to hear the testimony of your class share how viewing God’s true character has changed their lives. My feelings are the same – there is so much freedom in knowing that God LOVES me – regardless of my… just, REGARDLESS! I’m still blown away by the true gospel, the fact that God is not ready to strike us when we fail. He is not arbitrary. He simply loves us and warns of the natural consequences because He can’t stand to see us suffer. I AM IN LOVE WITH THIS GOD!!!

Ceil V.,  UT, USA

 

Testimony 35

I am so pleased with the response your message is receiving at my church from the middle-aged to the young adults. I have given out 100 copies of the first two seminars and there are more request every week. One of my [class members] came to me after viewing the series, grateful and impressed with how easy the message was retained. He had been a Seventh-day Adventist in fear all his life, and felt like the scales were removed from his eyes after viewing the seminars. I am so impressed by the change I see in members who have received this message, we are in one accord. However, I am sadden by the negative response of the older people. I am verbally attacked anytime I talk about imposed laws, but I believe my mission is to enlightened everyone I can. I watch your Bible Study Class on YouTube every Friday night and I feel like I am apart of the class. All of you are in one accord and I am so blessed to have found you. I pray that all of you continue to spread this message and I am committed to doing my part.

Clara S., Westfield, MA, USA

 

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I Love This Ministry!!!!!!! I see first hand how this message is desperately needed, how erroneous beliefs about God and His Character negatively affect humanity at every level. I thank God for your ministry, as I was searching on my own and was discovering some of your same beliefs and was blown away when I found your ministry. I know you hear it all the time, but it is truly life changing. May God continue to reveal His Will to you and Bless you!

Eric S., Sanford, FL, USA

 

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L. G., Oakland, MI, USA

 

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N. B., Canada

 

Testimony 49

I came into the church at 21, but that is as far as it went. I was so confused about what love is. I couldn’t find it in the bible, because I am not a person that can read between the lines. I have no logic. I have read many, many books; trying to figure out the crux of the matter. They were helpful, but something was still missing. I have become very frustrated to the point of crying out to God, “Where can I go?”  I needed some basics.

I found two books, written by Timothy Jennings, MD, to be very helpful. God showed me that I had lived my whole life in fear. I didn’t even see it. Now, I do. God is so good.  I discovered the “The Remedy”  Dr. Jennings new book, “The God-Shaped Heart!” Oh, I was so excited, I purchased them right away.

I can get rid of most of my books, because “The Remedy” brings the Love of God out so clearly, even I can’t miss it. Now, I want to sit and read my Bible. Wow, what a revelation! It is just simply Awesome! I am so grateful to Jehovah Almighty for hearing my prayer for more understanding! I am so encouraged!

Jackie S.

 

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I got the book “Could It Be This Simple?” a few months ago and the reading was wonderful and I was fascinated. I lent the book to a friend at work. She is having a difficult time and the book is helping her to find Jesus and I found this very exciting. She has asked me questions and I can see her life changing.

H. S., Australia

 

Testimony 34

I was introduced to Come and Reason Ministries by accident, via a passing comment made in a bible study class we were visiting. I checked this website out and my life was changed. The understanding of the truth of God’s character, and how we apply it, is so right. The tricky part is consistently applying which “lens” to look through. As I began to understand, I started sharing the basics of this understanding with a discussion group I was leading and, suddenly, a lot of things started to make sense that never used to. At the same time, I enjoyed an amazing opportunity. I was able to conduct a full bible study at WORK! What an amazing experience! It is such a joy to share the truth about God and to share how it all fits in the war between God and Satan. So many people benefit when we have a correct understanding about how God works and who He really is! Thank you for this transformational understanding. Keep up the good work! God Bless you!

Tony P., CA, USA

 

Testimony 47

I can’t even begin to thank you and your ministry enough for introducing me to the Truth about a loving and merciful God! I have my daughter and her in-laws to thank for sharing with me “The God-Shaped Brain” as well as your website. I listen to the Bible study class lessons on my daily walk. May God continue to bless your thirst-quenching ministry!

Liz H., Port Angeles, WA, USA

 

 

Testimony 32

The message [of Come And Reason Ministries is] for all Christians (and those who may become Christians) and not just Adventists or any other group. It is difficult to imagine why any [anyone] with intellectual and spiritual honesty could find fault with the way you explained the healing substitution concepts and the truth about God’s character, though I know some will reject and criticize. On behalf of those in our group near Tacoma, WA, thank you and your staff for all of the hard work and for sharing the Gospel in this manner. God’s message of healing love will be carried to the whole world and then Jesus will come – He promised it.

Terry U., Tacoma, WA, USA