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QUESTION

Hi- My question is concerning dreams. Are we responsible for anything that takes place during them? For example, lets say that in a dream, I have premarital sex. Is this considered a sin? It is something that the individual has no control over but on the other hand wouldn’t it reflect something already in that person's heart? I look forward to your answer.

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ANSWER

Thanks for the really great question.

This is by no means a question that I can answer with a short simple Yes or No. Your question branches out into a few things we need to consider aside from whether or not someone can sin in a dream. Therefore, I ask you to read the response completely so that you get the whole picture here.

Can A Dream Be Sin?

Let’s first establish whether or not a “dream” can be a sin. As you pointed out in your question, a person has no control over a dream, which is correct. Therefore, if a person cannot control their dreams, then a dream is not something based on freewill.. In other words, a person cannot freely pick and choose what dreams they’re going to have that night. This is the key in establishing whether or not someone can sin in a dream.

When a person sins it’s because of a choice they freely made. Meaning, humans have freewill to sin or not to sin. This “freewill” is the very same “freewill” that applies to Salvation: John 3:18 “He who believes in Him [Jesus] is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned…………” As you can see, when it comes to our own Salvation we can either choose to believe and accept God’s Salvation Plan (Jesus) or we can choose not to believe in Jesus as our Savior. The point is, we are held accountable to the choices we make. Therefore, how could someone be held accountable for something that wasn’t done by his or her choice?

Consider these couple examples:
1) Let’s say a young teenage boy goes to a graduation party and while at the party someone spikes the fruit-punch for kicks. Now, this boy had no clue that the fruit-punch had been spiked so he drank it; next thing you know he’s drunk. Would anyone say that this boy was sinning because he got drunk? Of course not... Why? Well, simply because the boy had no control over it. I mean, he wasn’t choosing to drink alcohol; he just thought it was regular fruit-punch. If anyone were in sin for this incident it would have be the person who spiked the fruit punch.
2) Now let’s take it one step further, let’s say a woman is raped, would anyone even dare accuse the women of sexual sin? Absolutely Not!!--And this is for obvious reasons we don’t even need to go into.

Now I realize that last example might seem a little extreme but it still applies to my point. I’m trying to show that there’s a difference in sin that we choose to do versus when something sinful happens that we didn’t/can’t choose. Needless to say,  I think the difference can clearly be seen.

Now, based on the differences revealed here, we can now ask ourselves:  Is a bad/sinful dream considered as committing a sin? The answer is…. No. There was no choice made whatsoever on our part when it came to what dream(s) we had; it was simply out of our control. Therefore, we cannot be held accountable for something we didn’t choose to do. Furthermore, nowhere in all of scripture do we see someone being in sin because of a dream. Nor do we even see God making a way in the O.T. for people to atone for sinful dreams. For that matter, the only time dreams have significance in the Bible is either when God came to someone in a dream to speak and/or reveal something to that person. OR, someone was falsely claiming to have received dreams/visions from God. My point is, if God thought people were to be held accountable for dreams then He would have addressed the issue, but He never did. Instead, what we do see in scripture is people being held accountable for things they do, think, say, etc., while awake. Therefore, as I said, we are not held accountable for our dreams. 

Dreams Revealing A Persons Heart

At this point, I would like to address your statement concerning dreams possibly revealing something within a person’s heart. Well, you’re right, dreams can be a result of something within the person’s heart BUT it can also be a result of eating a pepperoni pizza before bed. This actually leads into two types of influenced dreams I want to address. We’ll call them: 1) Dreams influenced by pepperoni AND 2) Dreams influenced by real desire.

Dreams influenced by pepperoni

Now, by Pepperoni, I simply mean dreams that have been influenced by something you ate, something you watched on T.V., read in a book, etc. etc. In other words, dreams that have nothing to do with your personal thoughts or feelings about something. Consider these couple examples: a) Let’s say one day a parent was watching their children playing videogames, then later that night that parent had a dream that they were in a videogame. Obviously, that doesn’t mean the parent desired to become a videogame in real life, nor do I think for a moment that anyone would even think of accusing that parent of such a silly thing. b) Let’s say I watch a Superman movie before bed and then I end up having a dream that I could fly like Superman. Would the dream have meant that I desired occult-like demonic powers in hopes it could make me fly? Not hardly. In fact the automatic connection would have been that I watched Superman before I went to bed.

The point is, not all dreams reveal a desire within a person’s heart. Dreams can be a result of silly influences such as the example I gave you. For that matter, many dreams are without rhyme or reason. Meaning, there’s nothing really behind them at all; they were neither good nor bad; just a dream caused by daily activities. Ecclesiastes 5:3 "For a dream comes through much activity,"

Dreams influenced by real desire

As I said before, there are dreams that can be influenced by real desires. For example: Maybe someone desires to become President of the U.S. someday, so as a result they have a dream that involved them actually being the President. A dream like this would not be uncommon either; however, make note that within this example the person knew in real-life that being President someday was their desire. In other words, they didn’t have a dream about being President and then woke up and thought to themselves, “Oh... This must mean I have a desire to be President”. They would have known the desire was there before they had the dream.  My point is, when it comes to having dreams about real life desires, those desires would have been known already before the dream.

Now, Since your question is more about sinful dreams let’s keep more focused on that.. Let’s say a married man had a dream that involved having sexual relations with another woman. The first question is…  Did he have this desire before the dream or not? If the desire was there before the dream, then the issue is not the dream.. The issue is about his sinful desires in real-life. See—That’s where the difference is because now it’s moved from a dream (which is not in your control to choose) to real life (where it is in your control to choose). This is the heart of the whole issue. In other words, the issue is Not whether a person can sin by having a certain kind of dream, but rather, was the dream caused by sinful desires/actions that were there/happened before the dream. If this man had thoughts of adultery while awake, then those thoughts are the real sin and he would need to repent. However, if the man had no thoughts of adultery whatsoever, but still had this dream, then he is not in sin, nor does it mean that he actually desires such a thing. This actually leads me into another VERY important part of this whole issue.

WARNING!

Even though a dream in itself is not sinful, it can however lead one into sin if they’re not careful. As I pointed out, a person can have a dream about something sinful and yet never once thought about it in real life. HOWEVER—If a person plays too much into the dream, they can actually turn that dream into 1) Real Issues and 2) Real Emotions and Desires. Let’s look at each one so that I can try to explain what I mean.

Real Issues

To make this easier, let’s go back to the man with the adulterous dream. Now we’ll say that this guy had no previous desire to cause this dream, but now as a result of the dream let’s say the guy questions the very same thing you asked, i.e. Does this reveal a desire in him that he didn’t know about?  In other words, he starts to contemplate whether adultery is a hidden desire for him. Now, this could lead into all sorts of problems because he might start questioning his commitment to his wife, or start questioning his walk with the Lord, etc.. This could lead to depression, doubt, uncertainty, etc. All this because he played into a simple dream. You see, prior to the dream this was never an issue with him, but now it’s becoming an issue even though he doesn’t have adulterous feelings. In other words, the issues he’s created aren't even about adultery, but instead he got so worked up over having this dream that now he’s created all these concerns and worries about nothing. The point is, we need to be careful not to turn a simple dream that meant nothing into real issues.

 

Real Emotions and Desires

Dreams can seem so real at times that when the person first wakes-up they feel as though it actually happened and can feel actual feelings and emotions. For example: A person might have a dream of getting into an argument with a friend or spouse and when they first wakeup they’re actually mad at that person because their emotions are all stirred up. This is not uncommon by any means, in fact, anyone could have a dream that felt real and brings out real emotions and feelings. Think about it this way-- Movies, books, etc. are sometimes designed to move people emotionally. For example: A romantic movie might bring up desires for romance in a person. A sad movie might make someone cry. Etc. etc.  You see- the movie isn’t real and yet it brings about real emotions in people. Emotions are kind of funny in that way; we can be moved emotionally even when it’s not real. That’s kind of how it works when we have dreams that feel real, except, it can be worse because the dreams might deal with real people and situations that could happen in real life. This actually leads me right into the main point here.

A dream can sometimes be a form of temptation, if you will. Once again let’s go back to the guy who had the adulterous dream. Let’s also add that it was one of those dreams that caused real emotions when he woke up. Now, if he were to dwell on this lustful dream in that he started to fantasize about how it felt in his dream, what it was like and the emotions he felt etc. etc. he could actually turn that dream into a real life sinful desire. In other words, he would be falling into sinful thoughts and desires because he dwelled on the emotions and lustfulness of it. This is where a dream could become temptation and/or lead someone into sin because now we’re no longer dealing with something that’s out of the person’s control.

To make my point better let’s go back to the young boy who accidentally got drunk. As we established already, the boy was not at fault because he didn’t know the fruit-punch had been spiked. Now let’s say a week later he goes out and gets drunk because he decided that he liked they way being drunk felt. At this point the young boy is making his own decisions. In other words, he’s using his freewill to make a clear choice, therefore, he will now be held personally accountable for his actions. The same would apply to the man who is now fantasizing about adultery because he too is freely making a choice. (Matthew 5:28).

The main point to this part is we need to be careful and mindful of how dreams can stir up real emotions and sinful desires. Therefore, we do not want to play into these kinds of dreams, and allow them to lead us down any wrong paths.  However, let me also add one very important part to this section. The fact of the matter is, if the dream became temptation to a person, then that person has a weakness in that area to begin with. You cannot be tempted with something that doesn’t tempt you.  (James 1:14 "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.") Therefore, if you do find yourself being actually tempted to sin from a dream then you need to bring this before God. Ask Him to help you with it and give you the strength to resist.
Romans 13:14 "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts."
Galatians 5:16 "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh"

In closing,

Whether you’re having a dream that upsets you, or a dream that’s tempting you or worrying you or whatever, the Bible says we are to bring “……..every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,”(2 Corinthians 10:5). In other words, when you wakeup from one of these dreams lift it before the Lord and ask Him to help you with whatever feelings/emotions it may have left with you, but don’t dwell on it. As believers we are to keep our thoughts on the things of God. 
Colossians 3:2 "Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth"
Romans 12:2 "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
Philippians. 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things."

Well, thanks again for the great question. I do hope this has helped you in your studies on this issue. If you have any questions, thoughts, or comments, please feel free to contact us again. We are always happy to hear from people and assist in any way we can..

May God bless you and yours.

In CHRIST,  TRM

 **All scripture passages are taken from the NKJV unless otherwise stated

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