The unforgivable sin. What exactly does it mean to blasphemy the holy spirit?
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Blasphemy the Holy Spirit
- Thread starter The Sum of Awe
- Start date
To refuse to be forgiven, to refuse grace. God cannot forgive us if we ourselves reject that forgiveness. Since it's the Holy Spirit that enlivens us spiritually, to reject the Holy Spirit is to reject His transformative and redemptive power in our lives--therefore spitting on Him in the process.
Yes, but what does refusal imply? Simple disbelief?
No. It means "I know Who You are, and I know that You are offering eternal life in Heaven with You. I know you are offering salvation and cleansing of my sins, and I know that You have certain commandments that you want me to follow for my own good. I reject Your offer. I refuse to change my life and repudiate the sins I commit. I refuse to repent, and I refuse to enter into a personal relationship with You." Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit comes from the kind of person who says "I'll rip off God's head and crap down His neck".
Sleeppy
Fatalist. Christian. Pacifist.
Mark 3:28-30
In other words-- All evil is forgivable; but those not repenting of evil, are continually being judged accordingly. The Holy Spirit Jesus speaks of refers to the good deeds he was doing for the people. If you aren't able to recognize that your hand is burning when you place it into a fire, your hand will not have any opportunity to heal, but will burn to ash.
No more. No less.
In other words-- All evil is forgivable; but those not repenting of evil, are continually being judged accordingly. The Holy Spirit Jesus speaks of refers to the good deeds he was doing for the people. If you aren't able to recognize that your hand is burning when you place it into a fire, your hand will not have any opportunity to heal, but will burn to ash.
No more. No less.
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james2ko
Well-Known Member
If you don't know what it is, it is safe to say you have not committed it. For those Christians who have fallen away and are concerned about whether they committed it or not, they most likely have not.
This is a bit ridiculous.
Let's say that there are two people. A Christian and an Atheist. The first is a murderer, and has destroyed so many lives by hurting them and betraying them.
And yet, this person expect to be saved by God's mercy
The second is an atheist who spends all his money on charity, on building orphanages and schools for the poor. But since he doesn't acknowledge God's authority, he refuses His grace.
Who will go to Heaven?
Of course the Atheist. Not certainly the Christian.
You gain your salvation by your sinless life and by your merits.
Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is exactly the opposite: to believe that we are saved even if we don't deserve it.
You MUST earn your salvation
But is he refusing Grace? I don't think so. If his heart is so compelled towards such works, he is not refusing Grace at all. He's living it!
It's not a matter of what name you go by, but what fruits your bear. "By their fruits you shall know them". Being an atheist in name may result in being more spiritual than those who claim the name of Christ and don't act one iota in accord with that Spirit. I once identified as atheist following my leaving a fundamentalist modality, and I had a saying at that time that rang ironically true among those who were also now self-proclaimed atheists. I said, "I feel more a Christian now that I'm not one than I ever did when I was one".
You see, being Christian has little to do with what you believe. It has everything with what you do in response to the pull of Love on your heart. I personally see atheism in the modern world as a step towards a higher realization of God. Atheists serve God by rejecting the religion that claims to serve God, but doesn't.
No one gains or earns salvation. It simply a matter of realizing what is already yours. If you live in selfish, self-righteous pursuits, you reject your own salvation which is yours by not living it. That to me, is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. You seek your own righteousness, not God's, which is yours.
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Pegg
Jehovah our God is One
The Greek word is bla·sphe·mi′a. and in the original language it means an injurious, defamatory, or abusive speech directed against God or against people.
An example of those who blasphemed the holy spirit are the jewish religious leaders who witnessed Jesus great works by the power of Gods holy spirit...they accused those powers as having been the work of Satan the devil. This was an act of blasphemy for they were attributed something wicked to the working of God holy spirit.
Whenever someone maligns the working of Gods spirit through accusations or abusive speech, they are guilty of blasphemy.
An example of those who blasphemed the holy spirit are the jewish religious leaders who witnessed Jesus great works by the power of Gods holy spirit...they accused those powers as having been the work of Satan the devil. This was an act of blasphemy for they were attributed something wicked to the working of God holy spirit.
Whenever someone maligns the working of Gods spirit through accusations or abusive speech, they are guilty of blasphemy.
ametist
Active Member
I understand that. not to blasphemy against holy spirit requires continous self awareness, awareness of commandments, kindness of heart and humbleness. Very beautiful.
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Those who are religious are often the most guilty of this when they assume God must behave according to their doctrines. They did it then. They do it now.
In Matthew 12 it's about a man being possessed by a demon.
That demon caused him to be blind and mute.
Jesus heals him, but the pharisees said: This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.
If you openly say it's a bad idea to heal people you blaspheme the holy spirit, since it is the holy spirit that came up with the idea.
Other examples of ideas coming from the holy spirit may be raising the dead, forgiving sinners, or simply doing miracles.
I don't think it's possible to blaspheme the holy spirit on your own, but it is something you do in front of others, which is what the pharisees did. They connected a good idea of God to an idea of the devil (as if it was no good idea at all), while the devil is the one that caused the man to be blind and mute in the first place.
I mean, suppose you were that man who was healed by Jesus... you never heard anyone speak before and I would say: "No Jesus! Don't! Put the demon back in and turn him blind and mute again!"
What would you think?
That demon caused him to be blind and mute.
Jesus heals him, but the pharisees said: This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.
If you openly say it's a bad idea to heal people you blaspheme the holy spirit, since it is the holy spirit that came up with the idea.
Other examples of ideas coming from the holy spirit may be raising the dead, forgiving sinners, or simply doing miracles.
I don't think it's possible to blaspheme the holy spirit on your own, but it is something you do in front of others, which is what the pharisees did. They connected a good idea of God to an idea of the devil (as if it was no good idea at all), while the devil is the one that caused the man to be blind and mute in the first place.
I mean, suppose you were that man who was healed by Jesus... you never heard anyone speak before and I would say: "No Jesus! Don't! Put the demon back in and turn him blind and mute again!"
What would you think?
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
My guess is that there is no question you could have asked for which you will get a greater variety of answers. The thing is, the Bible mentions the sin, but really isn't very specific in explaining what it is. Therefore, every Christian group seems to believe differently about it. In my religion, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit refers to denying something that the Holy Spirit has proven to you to be true. It's not merely a loss of faith or anything like that. It would be like staring at the sun and simultaneously insisting that the sun does not exist.
At Christ's Transfiguration, the reality of who He was was proven to some of His Apostles. After witnessing what they did, they were no longer in a position of just having to walk in faith, like the others, and like all of us. Had they denied what was proven to them beyond a doubt to be true, they would have been guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This is because there is only one way that anyone can come to an absolute certainty about the truth of spiritual matters, and that is through the Holy Spirit testifying to them. That is why blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is such a serious sin. It is the only sin of which a person cannot repent. Also, there really aren't all that many people in the world who are in the position to even be able to commit this sin. In other words, most of us have never experienced something like the Transfiguration. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Redeemer, but it is through faith that we do so, and not by absolute proof.
At Christ's Transfiguration, the reality of who He was was proven to some of His Apostles. After witnessing what they did, they were no longer in a position of just having to walk in faith, like the others, and like all of us. Had they denied what was proven to them beyond a doubt to be true, they would have been guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. This is because there is only one way that anyone can come to an absolute certainty about the truth of spiritual matters, and that is through the Holy Spirit testifying to them. That is why blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is such a serious sin. It is the only sin of which a person cannot repent. Also, there really aren't all that many people in the world who are in the position to even be able to commit this sin. In other words, most of us have never experienced something like the Transfiguration. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and our Redeemer, but it is through faith that we do so, and not by absolute proof.