Thursday, November 28, 2019

What Happens to Those Who Have Never Heard About Jesus?

See the articles: What happened to all those who died before the time of Christ?
and What happens to those who've never heard the Gospel?

All men are accountable to God, whether they have heard of him or not, see:
  1. God has revealed himself in nature:
    "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,
    have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,
    in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.    " (Rom 1:20).
  2. Moral laws are written in our hearts. They are in our conscience:
    "For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts,
    while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts
    accuse or even excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel,
    God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.    " (Rom 2:14–16). 
    See also what is said about a hardened conscience at time 6:12–7:12
    in Bible Q&A With Pastor Paul │ September 2023. It can be distorted by influence, see time 5:19–7:50 in Bible Q&A With Pastor Paul │March 2024.

    Also see the following videos:
  3. God has revealed himself in the heart of men:
    "God has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out
    what God has done from the beginning to the end.    " (Ecclesiastes 3:11b).
  4. If we truly seek God, he will make himself known:
    "But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him,
    if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.    "
    (Deu (5 Mos) 4:29), see The Parable of the Persistent Widow.
    God isn't limited by people to bring the gospel (although he mostly
    does it through people), he can use angels, visions, and dreams.
  5. People are judged at the Great White Throne according to their works:
    "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face
    the Earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
    And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books
    were opened: and another book was opened, which is the     Book of Life:
    and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.    " (Rev 20:11–12). 
People are accountable to God, what God has already revealed to them.
The problem is that people are sinful and have rebelled against him (Rom 1:21–23). Therefore, God gave them over to impurity (Rom 1:24–32). People don’t seek God (Rom 3:11). People worship a God of their own creation or no God at all.

We are called to spread the gospel to all peoples (Mat 28:19–20, Acts 1:8).
If we assume that the people who haven’t heard the gospel go directly to Heaven,
it would be better not to spread the gospel, because they may reject it if we do. Therefore, the people who don't hear the gospel are condemned unless they repent. It’s therefore important that believers share the good news about Jesus Christ.
See also time 0:15–4:43 in Bible Q&A • Episode 34.

I don’t believe that people who have never heard of Christ are judged on whether they put their faith in Christ or not. It wouldn't be just. One attribute of God is
that he is just. Instead, they are judged in the same way that the people who lived before Jesus lived on Earth, such as Abraham, were judged. He wasn't saved
by works but by trusting in God, and Jesus is God, see these videos:
The people living under the Old Covenant weren't saved by keeping the Mosaic Laws
(Rom 3:20). God never promised to save them if they kept these Laws.
No one is saved or will be saved by keeping these Laws, see Jesus and the Law. These people were saved by putting their faith in the living God
for the forgiveness of their sins. The sacrificial system of the Old Testament
merely gave the Israelites a graphic focal point to place their faith in God's goodness
and mercy. It provided a clear example of a blood sacrifice involving the exchange
of one life for another, all pointing to the final sacrifice of Jesus Christ yet to come. They looked forward to the final and ultimate sacrifice of Jesus.
We look back at his sacrifice. They confessed their sins and put their faith
and trust in the living God who forgives sins and delights in showing mercy. 
These people are judged based on how they reacted and are reacting to God's general revelation (nature and conscience, see above). The benefits of Christ’s death can be applied to such persons even if they haven't heard of him. 

"This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance
he had passed over former sins." (Rom 3:25b). See this verse explained
at time 29:18–31:43 in Romans 3 – Righteousness Through Faith.

First comes Salvation and after that comes Sanctification.

See also the following videos:
What about people, such as infants and the mentally retarded, who can't respond
to God's general revelation? Many theologians believe that they will go to God's Heaven because of God's character, even though there are decisions that God makes that we don't understand. See God is sovereign in God's Attributes. See also:
God delights in showing mercy and in steadfast love (Micah 7:18, John 1:29).
God makes no mistakes. In the day when man stands before the justice of God's eternal holiness, there will be no accusations of unfairness or injustice.
Everything will be done in the perfection of his character.

See also Some stories close related to the gospels 
at the end of The Four Gospels.
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Wednesday, November 27, 2019

What Does the Bible Say about Hell?

Content:

  • Definitions in the picture
  • Why God created Hell and the LoF
  • Facts about Hell and LoF
  • Who goes to Hell
  • How to avoid going to Hell

Definitions in the picture

  • Hades
  • Sheol
  • Paradise
  • Torments (Hell)
  • Tartarus
  • New Paradise (Heaven)
  • The Kingdom, New Heaven, New Earth
  • Great White Throne
  • Lake of Fire (Gehenna)

  • Hades:
    This is the place where the spirits of the dead went before the death of Jesus on the cross. It contains two sections: Paradise and Torments (Hell).
    Some believe that     Hades is inside the Earth (Ezekiel 26:20,
    Amos 9:2a (    LXX)), mainly based on the fact that the people of     Korah 
    fell alive into     Hades (Num 16:30–33), see 6. Korah’s Rebellion
    in     Moses; Part 13: Rebellion and Paganism.
  • Sheol:
    It's the same place in Hebrew as Hades (which is in Greek) and is mentioned in the Old Testament (OT). It refers to the general location where the dead (both righteous and unrighteous) went in the OT.
    King David refers to     Sheol in Psalm 16:10. 
  • Paradise:
    It's a place of peace where the righteous people went, like Abraham, who lived before Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Afterwards, righteous people go directly to the New Paradise (Heaven), to the presence of God. No one could go to Heaven until Jesus had paid the price for our sins on the cross (Heb 9:6–8, Mat 27:50–51, Mark 15:37–38, Luk 23:44–46),
    see     The Atonement. When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, see
    The Crucifixion of Jesus,     all the people in Paradise went directly to Heaven, which means that Paradise is now empty, see The Resurrection of Jesus.
  • New Paradise (Heaven):
    This is the place where the righteous (born again Christians) go after Jesus died on the cross (John 14:6), see Body, Soul, and Spirit
    in The Danger with Gnosticism. It’s the place where God has his throne, see God's Throne in Heaven.     One of the two criminals crucified with Jesus was promised to be here with Jesus, see Jesus 2nd words on the cross in The Crucifixion of Jesus. Apostle Paul was temporarily taken up to this place, also called the third Heaven (2 Cor 12:1–4), see Space and Time in The Big-Bang Model Revealed. Jesus' spirit visited this place when his physical body was in the tomb (Heb 9:11–12), see The Atonement.
    Jesus was brought up to this place 40 days (Acts 1:3) after his resurrection (Acts 1:9–11).
  • Abraham’s bosom:
    This place is mentioned in the Gospel, see The Rich Man and Lazarus.
    It's the same place as     Paradise.
  • Torments (Hell):
    Hell is in the part of Hades, where people live in torment and suffer
    (2 Thess 1:8–9). It’s a place of remembrance and separation from loved ones who went to     Paradise, or after Jesus death on the cross directly to Heaven. It's the place of those who have rejected Jesus as Savior, see:
  • Tartarus:
    This is the lowest part of Hell where God has placed many of the fallen angels. When Satan rebelled, he influenced a third of the angels in 
    Heaven to follow him (Rev 12:4). Satan wanted the throne of God, to be
    like God. At that time, the fallen angels became demonic spirits. They are placed there in darkness and in chains (2 Pet 2:4 (    YLT), Jude 1:6),
    see time 26:50–30:17 in     Jude • A warning for the Body of Christ. The     remaining fallen angels became the demons on Earth. Angels are spirit beings without a physical body, although there are examples in the Bible where angels have manifested in human form, but they remain spirit beings (Heb 1:14). The fallen angels don't have the ability to manifest
    to a human body on Earth, they need a host body to live out their sin nature. It's believed that     Tartarus is the same place as the Abyss. 
  • Abyss:
    It's the lowest part of Hell. Demons didn't want Jesus to command
    them to go to the     Abyss (Luke 8:30–31), see Examples of exorcism 
    in     Miracles of Jesus. An antichrist (Nero) will rise up from the Abyss,
    see     Who is the End Time Antichrist?
    It's believed that the     Abyss is the same place as Tartarus.
  • The Kingdom, New Heaven, New Earth:
    There will be a new Earth and a new universe (Rev 21:1–22:6),
    see A New Heaven and a New Earth. The holy city, the so-called
    New Jerusalem, comes from the New Paradise to the new Earth.
    (Rev 3:12, 21:2). God himself will have his throne on this new Earth.
  • Great White Throne:
    This is the place where the final judgement is made at the end time,
    see The Millennial Kingdom and the Great White Throne Judgement. 
    A judgement for sinners who have rejected Jesus. Then     Hades, which contains Hell, is cast into the Lake of Fire (LoF) (Rev 20:11–15).
    At that time, there is no one in the Paradise ward of Hades
    (see Paradise above).
  • Lake of Fire (Gehenna):
    The Lake of Fire (LoF) is mentioned in The Book of Revelation. The final place of the lost. The final place isn’t Hell, it’s the LoF. It's the place
    of the future and brings eternal punishment, see time 26:57–28:31 in
    Bible Q & A With Pastor Paul │ August 2023. When Jesus returns, he will judge the people. The wicked will be cast into the eternal fire (LoF) prepared for the Devil and his angels (Mat 25:41). Gehenna is the same
    as the LoF. Gehenna was a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem that Jesus used as an image to describe the LoF. Jesus warns us to end up in Gehenna (Mat 5:22, 29–30, 10:28, 18:9, 23:15, 33, Mark 9:43–47, Luke 12:5, see also James 3:6). (Those verses are comparisons
    and don’t mean that you should harm yourself.) See it explained
    at time 11:11–17:20 (YouTube) in Mark 9:38-10:9 – Jesus on Marriage.
Torments (Hell) is a real and physical place. Everything that you go through in this life is nothing compared to what it's like in Hell. In this life there is always hope. Suffering on Earth is only temporary. There is no hope in Hell.
The suffering there is for eternal, first in Hell and later in the LoF.

The rich man in The Rich Man and Lazarus is tormented in the flames of Hell 
(Luke 16:19–31). He has no water. It’s a physical place of torment. 
Many Jews from Israel will also end up there (Mat 8:11–12).

Why God created Hell and LoF


We need to see Hell from God’s perspective and not from man's perspective,
to understand why God created Hell and the LoF. God is completely separate from
all sin (1 John 1:5, Isaiah 6:1–7, 59:1–2), see God is holy in God's Attributes. 
Because of God's holiness, he must punish sin and must do so severely.

Adam and Eve had one rule to obey (Gen (1 Mos) 2:15–17). Disobeying this rule
was a sin and lead to death (Rom 6:23). Death is God's punishment for sin.
Death is always separation. Physical death means that soul and spirit are separated from the body, see Body, Soul, and Spirit in The Danger with Gnosticism.
Spiritual death means separation from God. The result in this case was first spiritual death and later also physical death (Gen (1 Mos) 3:16–19, 23–24), just because of
a single sin. God can’t have fellowship with sin or sinners, even if they have committed only one sin. This shows how horrible sin is from Gods perspective.

God is also righteous and just. God always does what is right and just.
He can’t do the opposite because he is holy. God can’t make a rule, set a penalty
and then not apply the penalty if the rule is broken (2 Pet 2:4–9, Isaiah 13:9–11,
2 Thess 1:4–10, Mat 25:41–43). If he does, he isn't just.

A holy God sends unholy people to Hell. A righteous God sends unrighteous people to Hell. A just God sends sinners to Hell. A loving God gives sinners a way to be forgiven and to avoid to be sent to Hell. All God's attributes work together in harmony, see God's Attributes. We want to do things our way, but it may not be God's way. It’s God’s standard that determines whether we go to Heaven or Hell.
A holy, righteous, and just God must punish sin. God in his love, mercy, grace,
and forgiveness allowed Jesus do it for us. We must accept it as payment for our sin if we want to avoid Hell and the LoF, see Salvation.

Facts about Hell and the LoF

  1. Satan doesn’t rule in Tartarus/Abyss or in the LoF. It’s not his kingdom.
    (Mat 8:28–29, 25:41, 2 Pet 2:4, Rev 20:1–2). The     LoF will be an eternal punishment even for Satan (Rev 20:10). But in a sense, Satan temporarily reigns in the parts of Hell outside of Tartarus/Abyss. There are demons that torment the souls that are there, which is their territory, but it's God who has all authority over Hell as well. It also seems that Satan can currently move between Hell, Earth, and even Heaven. He will loose access to Heaven at the beginning of the Great Tribulation, see Explanation to Satan's Attack
    on the Woman in the Book of Revelation    . After the thousand years
    Millennial Kingdom, Satan will be cast into the     LoF to be punished forever, 
    see     The Millennial Kingdom and the Great White Throne Judgement.
  2. People won't party or rule with their friends in Hell. It's a place of darkness, loneliness, and torment (Luke 16:23–24). It has no water, mercy, or grace.
  3. Hell is a place of no escape (Luke 16:26).
  4. The people in Hell are separated from everyone and everything that is good, because all goodness comes from God. Only evil exists in Hell.
    They are separated from hope, mercy, forgiveness, compassion, understanding, and love (2 Tess 1:6–9).
  5. Nothing on Earth compares to Hell. On Earth we can always have hope.
    There is no hope in Hell.
  6. Not only bad people go to Hell. One sin is enough to be condemned to Hell.
    If Jesus hadn’t died on the cross for us, all people would go to Hell.
  7. Hell is literal, real, and physical.
  8. Hell followed by the LoF are together permanent and eternal. See it explained at time 55:58–1:01:37 in Matthew 25 – “Be Ready” Said in Three Ways.
  9. Hell is a place of judgement (John 5:28–29).
    People are judged for their sins and punishment follows.
  10. People are abandoned and left alone as Jesus was abandoned on the cross (Mat 27:46). It’s is a place of solitude.
  11. Hell is full of darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth
    (Mat 8:11–12, Jude 1:13).
  12. Hell is full of unquenchable fire (Mat 13:41–42).
  13. It’s better to be crippled than go to the LoF (Mark 9:43–48). (It’s a comparison and doesn’t mean you should hurt yourself). Hell is the place where the worms don’t die, and the fire isn't quenched.
  14. Hell followed by the LoF are places of eternal destruction
    without ceasing to exist (Mat 10:28, 2 Thess 1:9).
  15. The punishment in Hell followed by the punishment in the LoF 
    is eternal without rest (Dan 12:2, Jude 1:7, Rev 14:9–11).
Jesus never minimized the severity of Hell and Gehenna (LoF ). There is
no escape from Hell or from the LoF. They are forever. The time of mercy is over. There is no second chance and no hope. The purpose of Hell is punishment for sin. This shows how serious sin is to God.

Who goes to Hell


Most people go to Hell (Mat 7:13–14), see The Narrow Gate. Many are called but few are chosen (Mat 22:13–14), see The Parable of the Wedding Feast. Many are called to take the right path, but few do. People want to go their own way, not God’s way. Without Jesus' death on the cross, we should all go to Hell, for we are all sinners (Rom 3:23). See also How can a loving God send people to Hell?
in Misconceptions and Objections.

The following go directly to the LoF, or first to Hell and later to the LoF:
  1. Antichrist and the false prophet will be thrown alive into the LoF 
    without having to go to Hell first as prisoners (Rev 19:20).
    Satan will be bound for a thousand years in Tartarus/Abyss (Rev 20:1–2). Afterwards he will be released for a short time (Rev 20:3),
    and then cast into LoF     (Rev 20:10).
  2. Whoever worships Satan or his image or receives the mark
    on his forehead or hand (Rev 14:9–11).
  3. Those who aren't spiritually born again (John 3:3–7), see Salvation.
    We must invite Jesus into our heart (John 1:12).
  4. Sinners in general who don't repent (1 Cor 6:9–10, Gal 5:19–21, Rev 21:8).
  5. He who doesn't forgive others their trespasses (Mat 6:14–15),
    see     Forgive and You will Be Forgiven.
  6. All who sin and practice lawlessness and don't repent (Mat 7:21–23). Those who act as if there is no (moral) law from God to obey, see Jesus and the Law.
  7. Those who put themselves first are self-seeking and obey unrighteousness (Rom 2:8–9). They think it's all about them and what they want,
    and they don't care about God's Word.
  8. Those whose name aren't written in the Book of Life are thrown into the LoF 
    (Rev 20:15).
See the video Famous atheists last words before dying.
See also What Happens to Those Who Have Never Heard About Jesus?

How to avoid going to Hell


We can’t be good enough to enter God's Heaven. We can’t do good enough work
to get to Heaven, see Jesus and the Young Rich Man. God can’t have fellowship
with sin or sinners. God can’t allow imperfection in Heaven. When Adam and Eve broke the one rule they had to follow, they were thrown out of
the Garden of Eden, see The Biblical Creation and the Fall of Man.

We are all born with a sin nature, and we are all sinners (1 John 1:8, 10), see
The Book of John. We choose to sin. Every single person who has lived on Earth, except Jesus, is doomed to go to Hell. God’s holiness, righteous, and justice
must punish sin. The punishment for sin is first in Hell and then forever in the LoF.

God's love took the punishment for us: God the Father, in his love, sent Jesus
to be born as a man, to take the punishment for our sin. God can’t die. Therefore, Jesus took human form so that he could die physically (not spiritually).
Jesus became a sinless man (still God the Son), therefore we have the virgin birth.

God the Father accepts this perfect sacrifice as a substitute for us. Jesus is the only one who can pay for our sin (John 14:6), see Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. It’s by grace through faith, a gift from God, and not by our own work (Eph 2:8–9). We must believe and trust in Jesus, that he died physically for our sin 
(John 3:14–18). We must receive him into our lives (John 1:12). We become righteous because of what Jesus did on the cross (Rom 5:1–2, 8–10), if we acknowlege it. All our sins are blotted out. By doing so, we make it to God's Heaven.

Basically, the steps are follows:
  1. Realize that you are a sinner (Rom 3:23).
  2. Admit that your sin will send you to Hell.
  3. Repent of your sin. It means to turn around
    and go in another direction (Acts 17:30–31).
  4. Believe and trust that Jesus is your Savior (John 3:18).
  5. Ask Jesus to come into your life (John 1:12).
  6. Confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior (Rom 10:9–11).
Example of a salvation prayer to say directly to the Lord Jesus Christ:

 "Jesus, I know that I have sinned against you. I know that the truth is that I have sinned by my own choice, and I am responsible for it. I know that I have deserved punishment from You, and that the just punishment would be death. Jesus, I believe that You died in my place. Forgive me for my sin. I can't in my own strength cover or take away my sin, I am relying totally and only on You. You are the only one who can save me. I reject my sin, I turn away from it, I repent. Come into my life, take away my sin, and show me how to live my life in away that is right and pleasing to You."

God knows your heart. If you mean this, your name is written in the Book of Life. God forgives you your sin. He gives you the righteousness of Jesus. Eternal life in Heaven is now yours. You are saved from eternal punishment in Hell and in LoF.

Note that the LoF was originally prepared not for mankind but for the Devil
and his angels who rebelled against God (Mat 25:41). Man chooses to go there
by rejecting the offer of salvation through Jesus, the plan of salvation that God
has given us. For detailed information on how to be saved, see Salvation.

See also Some stories close related to the gospels 
at the end of The Four Gospels.
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Thursday, November 14, 2019

The Unforgivable Sin

The Pharisees accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub (Satan),
the prince of demons (Mat 12:24).

Jesus answered them as follows:
  • "'Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man,
    and whatever blasphemies they utter,     but whoever blasphemes against
    the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal si    n    '     – 
    for they were saying: 'He has an unclean spirit'"     (Mark 3:28–30). 
  • "Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people,
    but the     blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (Mat 12:31–32).
  • "And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven"
    (Luk 12:10).
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is when one declares that
the supernatural works of Jesus Christ are actually performed
through the power and authority of Satan, see Miracles of Jesus.

Jesus spoke to a highly religious group of unbelieving Pharisees.
They accused Jesus of getting his power from Satan, the prince of demons
(Mat 12:24, Mark 3:22, Luk 11:15). Because Jesus was empowered by the 
Holy Spirit, this was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It was a deliberate act by the Pharisees, they knew what they were doing. They didn't care about
the consequences of their blasphemy. The Pharisees knew that Jesus cast out demons (Mat 12:25–29, Mark 3:23–27, Luk 11:17–22). The natural conclusion at that time in their worldview, seeing Jesus performing miracles, is that Jesus is from God (Mat 11:2–6, Luk 7:18–23). The casting out of demons proved who Jesus is.

 The Pharisees had a deep knowledge of the scriptures and could have acted
like the people of Berea who eagerly listened to Paul's message and searched
the scriptures to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth (Acts 17:10–12).
Instead, they responded with lies and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

 It's when a person has hardened his heart so much that he not only rejects the gospel, but in the face of overwhelming miraculous evidence, calls it satanic. He knows that it's really done by Jesus, but still says that it's done by satanic power. This is the height of the rejection of Christ. It's a self-will fallacy.
That person will never trust Christ or repent (Heb 6:4–6, 10:26–31),
and therefore will never be forgiven, because that person never repents.

These religious leaders were in danger of committing the unforgivable sin,
although they haven't yet done so because Jesus still warns them for doing so, 
see time 18:17–23:06 (YouTube) in Mark 3:20-35 – Is Jesus Crazy?

Paul himself blasphemed the name of Christ and persecuted God's people,
but was saved (1 Tim 1:13, Acts 22:19–20), see this explained at the times:
Paul hadn't committed the unforgivable sin because he had acted
in ignorance and unbelief, he believed he was doing the right thing.

God can forgive the worst sinner, see Manasseh of Judah. See also if a wicked man like Hitler could have been saved at time 7:40–9:30 in May 2024 Bible Q&A.
See also time 1:05:07–1:08:58 on the same link.

Even committing suicide isn't an unforgivable sin, see the following videos:
Committing an unforgivable sin scares many Christians into thinking they have
done it. The unforgivable sin isn't murder, abortion, or a sexual sin. It's
not a repetitive sin or rejecting the gospel. It's not persecuting the church. It may not even be saying blasphemous things against the Holy Spirit. Repenting of such a sin and beginning to trust in Christ is proof in itself
that you haven't committed the unforgivable sin (Rom 10:11–13).
If you had, you would not later repent and begin to trust in Christ.

Denying Jesus is very serious. Jesus said that whoever denies him before men will Jesus deny before God the Father who is in Heaven (Mat 10:33, Luk 12:9). Paul said the same thing (2 Tim 2:12b). But even this sin is forgiven if you come to Jesus in prayer and repent. All of Jesus' disciples abandoned Jesus in Gethsemane but were forgiven (Mat 26:31–33, 56, Mark 14:27–29, 50, Luk 22:31–33, John 16:32). This wasn't an apostasy, however, as they didn't completely fall away from their faith.
It was more of a temporary failure of courage. Peter denied Jesus three times
(see the Denial of Peter) and was forgiven, see The Apostle Peter, and see: 
See also Some stories in the gospels at the end of The Four Gospels.
Posted by at

Serious Warnings from God

The Bible contains serious warnings. Even the New Testament does:

Causes of Apostasy (Falling Away).

"For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened,
who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,
and have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers
of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again
to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God
to their own harm and holding him up to contempt." (Heb 6:4–6).

Apostasy (falling away) isn't the same as temporarily falling. Apostasy is the result
of a fall that isn't corrected. Peter fell, see The Apostle Peter, but didn't become
an apostate. He experienced correction. A fall can happen through surprise
or weakness. It's something unwanted, something that makes one sad
and from which one tries to rise (Mat 26:75). Apostasy, on the other hand,
consists of more or less consciously distancing oneself from God in a way
that can end in a complete rejection of the Lord and his revealed Word.
Judas is a tragic example, see Why Judas betrayed Jesus. 

There are several types of apostasy that can take different forms.
Religiously, it can mean abandoning the service and worship of God
and turning to idolatry in one form or another. Intellectually, it can mean
despising and rejecting the Word of God. Morally, it can mean turning away
from God’s standards for an ethical life, individually and socially. 

Believers can be led to apostasy through the activities of false prophets,
something that is often mentioned in the New Testament,
see Warning at the end of The Book of Romans.

Believers can also be led to apostasy for other reasons, such as a lack of insight
into God's Word or sluggishness towards the Word (Heb 5:11), trials and worries (Luke 8:13), superficial pleasures and carnal desires (Luke 8:14),
love of money, see The Love of Money, and unfaithfulness (Heb 3:12). 

Most often, apostasy begins with a fall that isn't corrected, and as a rule,
an inner fall occurs first, which then manifests itself in an outer fall.
Believers are preserved from apostasy by being on guard (2 Pet 3:17),
by growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18), by testing the spirits (1 John 4:1), by openness to the Word and responsiveness
to the voice of the Holy Spirit, see  Psalm 131: I have quieted my soul,
by nurturing the life of faith, see How to Build Your Faith, by walking in the Spirit (Gal 5:16), by fellowship with other believers and mutual encouragement
(Heb 10:24–25), and when one has fallen into sin by immediately making peace
with God (1 John 1:9), and also with people, see Forgive and You will Be Forgiven.
The New Testament's serious warnings against apostasy are based on the fact
that God has given people his decisive revelation in Christ (Heb 1:1–3).
Rejecting Christ therefore means apostasy from God (Heb 3:1, 12). 

The fact that there are sins that are inherently unforgivable is because they can
lead the sinner to a situation where he doesn't want fellowship with God restored. There is no longer any receptivity to God's grace. Scripture expressly states
that the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7),
and as surely as Christ's atoning work applies to all sin, so surely is this the only possibility of salvation for sinners, see Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. 

For more information, see The Book of Hebrews.

What about sinning deliberately after being saved?

"For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth,
there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside
the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant
by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of Grace?" (Heb 10:26–29).

There are two elements in these verses: 

  1. To consciously reject the truth, which here is the same as God's total message of revelation and not just individual commandments in the law.
  2. Holding on to the state of sin without wanting to be called to repentance. 

Already in the Old Testament a distinction is made between sin "by mistake"
and sin "with deliberate courage", that is, in defiance, consciously and deliberately (Num (4 Mos) 15:22–31). Scripture distinguishes between sin that is committed because the will is weak and is overcome by the tempter,
and deliberate sin that one wants and chooses to commit.

The Book of Hebrews is a coherent exhortation to Jewish Christians who,
because of suffering and opposition from surrounding Judaism, were on the verge
of giving up their faith in Christ. It's in this light that we must also read this exhortation. Unforgivable sin is linked to "despising the blood of the covenant" (see Jesus and the Law), and "grieving the Spirit of Grace" (Heb 10:29).

See also Obedience by Faith, Righteousness by Faith,
and The Confidence of Abraham in The Book of Romans.

What about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

"Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people,
but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks
a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against
the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
(Mat 12:31–32).

See these verses explained in detail in The Unforgivable Sin.

See also Some stories in the gospels at the end of The Four Gospels.

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