What is "blasphemy" in God's eyes?

dialogue said:

I know, non of you are G-d, so I am just asking for your personal understanding Please share.

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The dictionary says it is "the act of insulting or showing contempt or lack of reverence for God or the act of claiming the attributes of God."

I'd go with that.

dialogue said:

Many have suggested that blasphemy is acts of "impertinent", then they go on to explain to me that it is "basically one who is presented with the Truth of Jesus and yet refuses to accept it..."

Do you all agree?

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Yes I do. I would consider that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

dialogue said:

If so:

Where do we draw the line? How do you know what is presented to you is "the Truth"?

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We look at Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture.

dialogue said:

When I reject Santa Claus, am I being impertinent?

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No, you are not being impertinent at all.

dialogue said:

Have you ever received spam e-mails from family and friends that says, "pass this to all address on your mailing list, or you will be cursed with so and so; and if you pass it on, you can win a prize and solve starvation in Africa?"

I have received plenty, I don't pass them on. Am I being impertinent?

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No, you are saving your friends from that evil spam I get spam that says, "if you don't pass this along to x amount of people, you don't love Jesus . I have no doubt of my love for Christ as i hit the delete button.

dialogue said:

I live in a time and society where we are overloaded with info: good info and bad info. How do I know which claim is true?

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That is a hard question. That is why, as Catholics we believe God has given us the Church as an authority.

dialogue said:

Please don't be offended, I am just being honest about my personal experiences: the heaven/hell bribe/blackmail thing instantaneously set my BS-detector off; I also witness too much disagreement among different denominations of Christianity, or even within the same denomination... and yet they all claim their own version is "the truth", and whoever disagree with them are destined for hell.

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God never wanted denominations.

dialogue said:

Can you honestly label anyone as being "impertinent" for rejecting these claims? To me, it is part of my personal responsibility to carefully analyse what I accept as I swim through the sea of propaganda. To not do so would probably turn me into a full blown materialistic anorexic homophobic racist capitalist, and I don't think I could blame the TV or the internet for my "bad decisions". So why do so many theists whack atheists for being skeptical?= -Cordelia

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It's not that we "whack atheists for being skeptical" - we tend to get upset when they said we are stupid for having faith.

blasphemy

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Now if I am reading your post right, The only thing I know in the Bible would be this, Jesus said every thing under heaven would be forgiven, except this one thing. Blasphemy OF (THE HOLY SPIRIT) There is ( NO ) forgiveness for this.

Yes MinDach, I am aware of that part in the Bible, but that tells me nothing about what blasphemy is.

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Sorry I did not know what you were saying.

different denominations of Christianity, or even within the same denomination... and yet they all claim their own version is "the truth", and whoever disagree with them are destined for hell.

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All denomination have disgreements, about what different things say in the Bible, But they all have ONE thing in common, and that is Jesus Christ. I do not believe any thing else matters. If one church wants to believe one way and the other another, who really cares. I don't.

dialogue said:

and yet they all claim their own version is "the truth", and whoever disagree with them are destined for hell.

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Not all of them, actually.

Anyway, your point is well taken. Mark Twain once said:

"No, it is not blasphemy. If God is as vast as that, he is above blasphemy; if He is as little as that, He is beneath it."

Hi there!



Sometimes it is better to go back to original language where it was written. Many times, in doing this, one will find that a "concept" is translated to be a single word. In the Old Testament Hebrew the word is only used five times and is not translated to be blasphemy in every case, but is also translated at times to mean "contempt". In the New Testament Greek, the term is used many more times, and the meaning leans more toward the divine nature of God.

More specifically, and maybe a better rendering of the translation is:



1) slander, detraction, speech injurious, to another's good name 2) impious and reproachful speech injurious to divine majesty

(http://www.blueletterbible.org/tmp_dir/words/1072792793-3988.html)



Also,
Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
Topic: Blaspheme, Blasphemy, Blasphemer, Blasphemous

[size=+1]<A-1,Noun,988,blasphemia> [/size]
either from blax, "sluggish, stupid," or, probably, from blapto, "to injure," and pheme, "speech," (Eng. "blasphemy") is so translated thirteen times in the RV, but "railing" in Matt. 15:19; Mark 7:22; Eph. 4:31; Col. 3:8; 1 Tim. 6:4; Jude 1:9. The word "blasphemy" is practically confined to speech defamatory of the Divine Majesty. See Note, below. See EVIL SPEAKING, RAILING.


[size=+1]<B-1,Verb,987,blasphemeo> [/size]
"to blaspheme, rail at or revile," is used (a) in a general way, of any contumelious speech, reviling, calumniating, railing at, etc., as of those who railed at Christ, e.g., Matt. 27:39; Mark 15:29; Luke 22:65 (RV, "reviling"); Luke 23:39; (b) of those who speak contemptuously of God or of sacred things, e.g., Matt. 9:3; Mark 3:28; Rom. 2:24; 1 Tim. 1:20; 6:1; Rev. 13:6; 16:9,11,21; "hath spoken blasphemy," Matt. 26:65; "rail at," 2 Pet. 2:10; Jude 1:8,10; "railing," 2 Pet. 2:12; "slanderously reported," Rom. 3:8; "be evil spoken of," Rom. 14:16; 1 Cor. 10:30; 2 Pet. 2:2; "speak evil of," Titus 3:2; 1 Pet. 4:4; "being defamed," 1 Cor. 4:13. The verb (in the present participial form) is translated "blasphemers" in Acts 19:37; in Mark 2:7, "blasphemeth," RV, for AV, "speaketh blasphemies."

There is no noun in the original representing the English "blasphemer." This is expressed either by the verb, or by the adjective blasphemos. See DEFAME, RAIL, REPORT, REVILE.

[size=+1]<C-1,Adjective,989,blasphemos> [/size]
"abusive, speaking evil," is translated "blasphemous," in Acts 6:11,13; "a blasphemer," 1 Tim. 1:13; "railers," 2 Tim. 3:2, RV; "railing," 2 Pet. 2:11. See RAIL. Note: As to Christ's teaching concerning "blasphemy" against the Holy Spirit, e.g., Matt. 12:32, that anyone, with the evidence of the Lord's power before His eyes, should declare it to be Satanic, exhibited a condition of heart beyond Divine illumination and therefore hopeless. Divine forgiveness would be inconsistent with the moral nature of God. As to the Son of Man, in his state of humiliation, there might be misunderstanding, but not so with the Holy Spirit's power demonstrated.



~serapha~

but it occurs to me that Jesus never said anything about homosexuality. Is that to say all the Christian squabbles about homosexuality are unimportant and can be ignored

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The Bible has a lot to say about homosexuality, but that not what the true churchs disgree about. The have disgreement about, should we have a tree or not, or Christmas ,should we worship on Sat or Sun. Or Blood tranfusion. Should we just eat Veg, should we pray to saints or to Mary.,and a whole lot of other stuff. But when you get in to the area of should people sleep together before marraige or homosexuality, ALL the true Chruch pretty much agree that its a NO NO. And if you find a church are saying it OK, well you will not catch me going thru there door.

Plus I should say, so people will not taken me wrong and think I am just down on homosexuality people, I have a son who is Homosexual, I love him very much, and get a long with his partner just great. They come to my house all the time. But as much as I love him, I can not save him, he knows about God, its his choice, I pray for him every day. So yes I do know about Homosexual, I am not talk from the outside, but from the inside. If any Church says Homosexuality is ok you better run from it and not walk.

dialogue said:

Many have suggested that blasphemy is acts of "impertinent", then they go on to explain to me that it is "basically one who is presented with the Truth of Jesus and yet refuses to accept it..."



-Cordelia

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Cordelia,
A general definition of "blasphemy" is this: " It consists in uttering against God- inwardly or outwardly- words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward Him in one's speech; in misusing God's name......The prohibition of blasphemy extends to language against Christ's Church, the saints, and sacred things. It is also blasphemous to make use of God's name to cover up criminal practices, to reduce peoples to servitude, to torture persons or put them to death. The misuse of God's name to commit a crime can provoke others to repudiate religion." (CCC 2148)

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is another matter. This is the only unforgivable sin.

What your friends have called impertinance is really IMPENITENCE. Impenitence is deliberately refusing to accept God's mercy by repenting. In other words, "anyone who deliberately refuses to accept His mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit." (CCC 1864)

Hope this helps.
Cindy

Asking questions about God is not blashphemy, or even blaspheming Jesus out of ignorance, but when the Spirit of truth comes to a man with realization and revelation of truth about God and His Son's work for man, and then the free gift is rejected and the blood of God's Son is trampled - the result is blasphemy against the Spirit of Truth, God's Holy Spirit.

Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.

dialogue said:

Then tell me, Seebs, what is blasphemy? What exactly is unforgivable in your G-d's eyes?

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These are actually two separate questions, with the overlap being "blasphemy of the Holy Spirit".

I have no idea what it is. There's a great deal of literature on the question, and we don't know. But I think plain-old blasphemy isn't the same as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.