Last updated on March 18, 2025
Question:
I decided to bet five dollars a few months ago, thinking I wished I could win. The problem is that out of nowhere, I got thoughts like “Sell your soul to the devil.” I don’t remember if I asked to win the bet in exchange for that. Suddenly, I felt an immediate feeling of stress and thought, “No, no, no.” I tried to think of something else to avoid those thoughts. I don’t remember if I said yes at some point. Anyway all of this was in my thoughts after I won the bet. At that moment, I was happy. Then memories of that event began. Immediately, the stress began again for a while. I’m trying to remember, but I don’t recall asking God to save my soul. I don’t remember asking Christ for forgiveness for believing I hadn’t sold it. Now, I have almost no memory of that moment, and I didn’t have too much stress remembering it.
The problem started about two weeks ago. I was quietly playing a videogame when I think I saw a video about a football game. While I was listening to it, out of nowhere, I thought, “I would give my soul if that team won.” Again, that stress started. Obviously, all this was always in my mind, and now it was worse than the previous time; this time, my mind started to think a lot more than before with thoughts like “Did I really sell my soul?” I think I remember asking God for forgiveness for my sin in my mind. Then I went to sleep, and luckily or unfortunately for me, that team won, and again the memories of what had happened the day before came back. This time, it was much worse because I was really sorry, so I asked for forgiveness for my sin many times and to heal the feeling that did not let me sleep or eat.
I cried for days, asking for forgiveness, telling him that I had committed a bad act and to please heal my soul for my sins. I also begged him to take away those thoughts that hurt me because I did not want to succumb to sin. I started searching on the internet to find out if I could be forgiven for my actions and if there were people who had gone through something similar and it turns out that there were people who had practically the same thing happen to them and most of the comments they received said yes, it should be possible to forgive because it was not an unforgivable sin.
But the truth is I am very paranoid, and the memory does not leave my head. Now that I no longer feel that horrible feeling, I wonder if I was honest with myself and repented of those thoughts even though, at first, my heart told me yes.
I think it’s my paranoia. My head doesn’t control my thoughts, and when I cried and asked God for forgiveness for my sins, I did it from the heart, and now my mind plays many tricks on me.
I’m not one to go to church or do many religious things, but I’ve always believed in God and Jesus Christ, although I didn’t follow religion much.
When I confessed my sin to God, asking for forgiveness, I also confessed that I was afraid of not being forgiven because I wanted to be happy with my family and see my father in heaven. After reading many comments, I felt much calmer, but by that time, several days had passed since I confessed. I think my feelings of regret were genuine. Again, my brain gives too many turns to the matters and stresses me out.
But I also have another problem. My brain seems not to stop thinking about it and even keeps thinking about selling my soul for meaningless things. It stresses me out a lot. I asked God for forgiveness again, but now I’m trying to divert any bad feelings so I don’t relapse again. Those moments made my heart beat very hard, but I’m very afraid of not being forgiven and that my head will continue to have those thoughts. I think my repentance was genuine, but since the feeling went away so soon, I’m afraid to believe I didn’t repent.
Now, every time my mind sends those thoughts, I ask God to take away what Satan gives me and to forgive me for my thoughts and sins.
The truth is, now that I see what I’m going to send, it seems more like a vent than a request for help. What I want to ask is if God can forgive me and how I can get rid of my evil thoughts of selling my soul. To be honest, I don’t know if it can be sold because from what I read, it can’t be sold, and I don’t know if it can be sold just by thinking about it.
I asked God to help me laugh again and be happy with my family, and it seems that my request was fulfilled.
Can I be forgiven?
Answer:
Most of what you describe is temptation. You are tempted to sin, but you reject it. Being tempted is not a sin. See: “It seems impossible to perfectly control your thoughts.” If you had sinned, you should be able to tell me what you did wrong, not what you thought about doing.
What is sinful is thinking that you can please God in your own way by doing your own thing. If you believe in God, you should realize that God defines what we must do and not the men who serve Him. “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:46-49). You can’t continue to pretend to be religious and expect to reach heaven. See: “How to Become a Christian.”
Question:
Hello!
Thank you for responding. I think I understand what you mean about trying to please God without practicing in my own way. I think I did it unconsciously, but I realized it, thanks to your words about selling my soul. Maybe I am being tempted. But then, am I doing the right thing by not succumbing to it?
My biggest fear is that although I have always tried to deny myself and erase those thoughts, I don’t really know if at any point I said yes when the thoughts of “I would sell my soul if such and such thing happens” came. It is what makes my heart beat faster. I honestly don’t want to do any of those things, but I am afraid of doing them by mistake.
But pretending to belong to a religion got me thinking. The truth is that I am 16 years old, and I don’t think I am old enough to be in religion right now. I wanted to do it since I had enough time to reorganize things in my life and such. I think you can understand me.
Most of my family is Catholic, but I would like to enter Christianity since it seems the best to me. What I most want is to be able to live a quiet life with my family until I get to the point where I consider that I am well enough to start with religion.
But I don’t understand. Am I wrong for believing in God but not following the Christian religion?
I just want a quiet life and to be able to be happy before entering fully into religion. I think I still have a lot of life ahead of me, and I want both my mother and my brothers to practice this religion in the future. I know that it is never too late to follow Christ, so I wanted to wait a little. Should I enter now?
Thanks again for reading.
Answer:
When you decide to become a Christian is determined by when you realize that you have sinned and need salvation from what you have done. That realization comes to people at different points in life. No one can make that decision for you because it must be based on your belief and commitment to serve God. “He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:16). If you wait for your family to decide, then you missed the point. “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37-38).
Being a Christian doesn’t protect you from temptations, but it does give you the tools needed to recognize that something is sinful and how to avoid sinning. It allows you to give your problems over to God and know that, in the end, all will work out.
In one way, you are correct. It is never too late to become a Christian, but it is also true that you are not guaranteed tomorrow. People have delayed following Christ and lost their chance because their lives ended before they expected. Being a Christian is not about serving God when I find it convenient. “Now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require from you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD’S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).
People have made up all sorts of ideas about “selling your soul,” but the reality is simple. When a person lets sin control their decisions, they have essentially given up the right to eternal life in exchange for a few moments of pleasure. See “Can you sell your soul?“
Question:
I just saw “Can you sell your soul?” when I started to have these thoughts, and I can say that reading it a couple of times made me understand that I could be forgiven. Still, I decided sending an email explaining the situation was better, even if it was just for relief. I asked God for forgiveness many times, and although I know that I have committed more sins, this is undoubtedly the one that I think is the worst. I saw that selling my soul was a modern invention that is not talked about in the Bible, and some people were practically the same as me.
Most of the comments said that you could be forgiven as long as the repentance was genuine, but I saw that repentance is trying to change your path, and although I try, my mind betrays me and the thoughts about selling the soul or when I want something to happen again start again saying “Sell your soul.” I try to stop the thoughts by saying “No” verbally. I have never said I would sell it; everything always happens in my head, but sometimes a “Yes” escapes me. Obviously, I ask God for forgiveness for this.
It happens to me that I am watching a video about an instrument, thinking, “I wish I knew how to play well,” and the line, “You would sell your soul to play well,” arrives. When I say yes, I think, “You would sell it to the Devil,” and I answer, “No, never.”
Now, I also have these repetitive and annoying thoughts when I see a person, no matter who it is. This thought comes: “I hope they die.” To try to solve those thoughts, I think, “Who? Absolutely no one.” That’s what I do every time those thoughts come. I always try to apologize as quickly as possible.
I can’t say anything other than that I feel sorry, but I can’t find a way to straighten out those thoughts because I can tell you that more than 15 times a day, I get those thoughts each one.
How I fix my mind I know that God will forgive me if I am sorry but how I straighten my head so that they do not come to my head every time I see or want to do something that interests me.
Also, every time I say yes to a thought about selling my soul, I ask God to take away everything I ask the Devil because I don’t want anything from his being.
Normally, I try to keep myself busy thinking about anything so I don’t have them, but even then, they come, and my heart starts to beat faster; I feel as if my mind is betraying me.
I appreciate you reading this because I am usually very stressed at the moment, and sometimes I even feel that I may suffer from anxiety, but I cannot judge that. I am not a psychologist to self-diagnose
You who think I can calm my thoughts and no longer think about those things, I am young, and I want to straighten my path, but apparently, I am having many stumbling blocks.
Again, thank you very much for reading. You are my only comfort at this time.
I’m sorry for everything. I’m really stressed. No matter how much I apologize for my actions, I don’t feel forgiven. I try to relax, but it isn’t easy right now. I’m disappointed in myself because of my thoughts.
Honestly, I don’t know how to ask for forgiveness correctly. I don’t know if I have to go to confession or just start talking about it alone in my room. What can I do?
I repeat again, I don’t know if just by thinking about it and saying that it can be sold.
As I ask forgiveness for my sins that I do not remember because Catholics have venial sins, something like that I think they were called that they are minor sins that do not have to be confessed, but if I do not remember a sin that I can do, can I ask forgiveness for all my sins in general in some way? I can say that I feel sorry for having thought about it. It hurts me to believe that maybe I lost my relationship with God just because I mistakenly said yes, but I try to trust John 1:9 and ask for forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ.
I have never followed other religions or praised other entities. I think the only thing I can do is try to clear my bad thoughts and ask forgiveness for my sins. I believed that because I am young, this kind of thing would never happen to me. I hope they really read it and give me their advice.
I could understand that the soul cannot be sold and that I am being tempted to sin, but maybe saying a “Yes” has made me sin; although most of the time I refuse what those thoughts tell me, sometimes by mistake, I say if I have tried to say that I would not sell it to the devil to fix it. I don’t want to praise the devil by any means; until these thoughts began, I didn’t even consider it.
In some verse, I think I saw Jesus Christ saying something that seemed to refer to selling the soul, but from what I also understood, the soul is a person’s own life, and if someone loses their soul, they lose their own life since souls are usually mentioned as people and also animals.
Then, I understood that I could also be forgiven. I would appreciate your response and advice. I don’t know how to discuss it with my family because I don’t want to distress them.
Thanks for reading.
Answer:
You do appear to be overly anxious and obsessing over matters. I can point you in the right direction, but you have to accept reality and the truth of what God says.
Forgiveness is not a feeling. It is a statement about your debt. It means that God has released you from the consequences of your sins. You may feel joy at knowing that God forgave your sins, but the forgiveness itself isn’t felt — it is only known. “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (I John 2:3-6). Notice that all through this passage, feelings are never mentioned. Your state with God is known.
Like many people suffering from obsessions and anxiety, you are putting far too much emphasis on feelings. Feelings tell you nothing other than your current mood. Feelings change. Feelings are often wrong. “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered” (Proverbs 28:26).
The other problem is that you mistakenly believe that you can control every stray thought in your head. Your mind is constantly analyzing situations and trying to determine what is appropriate or not. You don’t want to do what is wrong. That is all that matters. Thoughts of wrong responses will always appear — it is called temptation. What you do with those temptations is what matters. Everything you’ve said is that you aren’t doing anything wrong. God judges us by our actions (Romans 2:6), but you are trying to be absolutely perfect in every stray thought. You are going beyond what God asks of you; in this way, because you are attempting the impossible, you are ruining yourself (Ecclesiastes 7:16).
I believe you are referring to something Jesus stated in a parable:
“The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”‘ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21).
Notice that this has nothing to do with “selling” a soul. Jesus was simply saying that the man was about to die.
Take a deep breath and enjoy life. Live according to God’s laws. God knows you aren’t perfect. That is why He sent His Son to die on your behalf. He wants you to do the best that you can and improve yourself. But God never said that only perfect people can get to heaven.
Question:
Another thing, when something happens that my thoughts tell me, and even though I say no and it happens, and I begin to fear that the devil wants to deceive me, am I committing an unforgivable sin? Or maybe it’s just a simple coincidence. Honestly, I am afraid that I am sinning in such a way just because my mind is not still. I always keep everything in my mind and never let it come out of there. I have tried to control my thoughts, but I do not deny God or Jesus Christ but these thoughts out of anxiety. I feel as if the only thing they want to harm me, even if I do not want to sin.
It’s like when Hollywood celebrities say they sold their souls, but if one of them is famous for God’s blessing, the people who say it are committing blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
So am I committing blasphemy, too? I don’t want to sin that way. You could tell me if I really did it because of the errors in my thoughts.
I would appreciate your response as soon as possible.
Answer:
See “Are You Unforgivable?” Notice that you make up so many rules for yourself. It is God who defines what is sinful, but you decide for yourself what might be a sin and then condemn yourself for it. You are worried you might have committed blasphemy without even knowing what blasphemy means.
When Jesus was tempted by Satan, he drove Satan off by quoting Scripture. If you want to please God and know what God wants, then you need to learn your Bible. Cite book, chapter, and verse what is wrong instead of guessing it based on half-formed ideas from sketchy sources.