SPSA Church Giving (opens in a new tab)

Questions & Answers

Evil Thoughts

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › Spiritual Life › Evil Thoughts

The question

How do you deal with evil thoughts? Are bad thoughts a sin? If bad thoughts are a sin, is it forgivable?

The answer

You need to distract these thoughts and not to entertain them. Bad thoughts are sins and need to be confessed: "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matthew 15:19). 
 
We deal with bad thoughts through the power of the word of God, i.e., the Holy Scripture, even as the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated when Satan tried to tempt Him: "But He answered and said, 'It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.''" (Matthew 4:4).
 
Everything is forgivable, except for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which is refusing to repent: "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men" (Matthew 12:31).

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

Questions answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab) of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Question 2324 on the Diocese’s Q&A site. Questions and answers © Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. All rights reserved.