Deny Christ and God will deny you in the afterlife.
He should enjoy the time he has left on earth. It will be more pleasant than what is in store for him.
This guy has just lost his eternal life. He'd better enjoy this one.
What happened to Judge not lest ye be judged or let he who is without sin cast the first stone? I think God expects us to be human.
This isn't the first time the Church of Christ has had to deal with deniers.
A whole cult was formed in the 3rd century on the basis of saying Jesus could never forgive sincerely repentent Christians who denied their faith under threat of torture or death. These were called the Donatists--and they split the Church wide open.
The duties of the priests in sacraments were understood as very important in that day--and due to severe Roman persecution, various priests and bishops had denied Christ--but later, like Peter, repented, and were allowed to be priests and bishops again. The Donatist party however, said that they could never be forgiven, and therefore any sacrament (holy communion, baptism, etc.) they performed was invalid and ineffective.
This went on for generations....and whole regions could be traced back to repentant-denier's sacraments. (ie. Bishop RD baptized this town, along with its priest, then they baptized so many more...etc. etc....) The Donatists insisted--since the sacraments of certain regions could be traced back to ineffective sacraments of the RDs---those regions of the Church were not really valid Christians. Obviously this was a serious issue for the Church.
Finally, in the 5th Century, St. Augustine defeated the bitter Donatists with this simple logic. Grace for every Christian comes from Christ Himself--not through the good character of the priest. So while priests of course should be godly men, even if a priest was not godly, or not repentent from denying Christ, and unsaved, their sacraments are valid, since the grace they provide is Christ' not the priests.
Seeing as how Jesus forgave Peter's 3 direct denials, I for one cannot say God commands anyone who deny's Christ is forever lost. If they sincerly repent, the grace of God can even cover the sin of denial.
I don't gather from the article that he " denied" christ. I read he said he was an Arab, and showed his friend's copy of the Koran. He did not blaspheme God or Jesus. He also LIVED to tell his tale to the world. There ain't nothing wrong with that, folks.
I am pretty sure, God will forgive him.
Given the situation, Lots of folks would have lied.
This is nutty.
It's very easy to damn this guy while you're sitting in the safety of your home.
I find it interesting how quick we are to tie such a heavy burden to this man when the chances are we have denied Christ in some way within our hearts making us no different than he.
Again, recall Peter's denial of Christ. The Lord is a crafty and forgiving Lord. While it may have been better to tell the truth and leave your wife without a husband and your children without a father, perhaps in this case it was the Lord's will for this man to give these murderers a response they deserved -- a lie.
Lying is not as simplistic as we pretend it to be. Did Jesus lie, for example, when he pretended that he was going on to the next city after his resurrection, when he was walking with the men along the road? He certainly was deceptive.
And was Jesus lying when he spoke in riddles with a main purpose being that some would not understand?
There is a place for crafty speech.
Well, if Peter was forgiven, I'm sure this guy will be forgiven too. But he made a very tough choice. I pray that we will be stronger than that when the time comes.
Christ is still alive, in heaven and interceding for us, so if this fellow has true saving faith, his sins are forgiven. All of them. I think the verse in question refers to a lifetime of denying Christ's ministry: the forgiveness of sins through his death and resurrection. It's clear that this fellow didn't lie because he wanted to lead a life of sin, or to bring Christ's name in disrepute.
Having said that, the better decision would have been to proclaim his Christian faith. But if he is truly saved, his sins will be forgiven and his place in eternity is secure. Peter, after all, denied the Lord three times. But he returned and received forgiveness.