The unforgivable sin?

I believe it is rejecting forgiveness.

Cappadocious said:

I believe it is rejecting forgiveness.

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I agree with this. I also think that the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is perpetual unrepentance, or as you said, rejecting the forgiveness of God.

I grew up believing the unforgivable sin was saying "GD" if you know what I mean. I still can't stand to hear it.

GlockMeister said:

I grew up believing the unforgivable sin was saying "GD" if you know what I mean. I still can't stand to hear it.

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As in taking the Lord's name in vain? Or as in not speaking / writing it (like how many Jews and Jewish believers write G-d)?

If it's the former, I'm right there with you! I don't think I could swear or take the Lord's name in vain, lol, even if I tried. It's just ingrained in me from when I was a kid.

All4Christ said:

As in taking the Lord's name in vain? Or as in not speaking / writing it (like how many Jews and Jewish believers write G-d)?

If it's the former, I'm right there with you! I don't think I could swear or take the Lord's name in vain, lol, even if I tried. It's just ingrained in me from when I was a kid.

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No, I mean as in saying "God" and "the D word" together as a curse word. I though that was the unforgivable sin. I still consider it about the worst curse word that can be said.

GlockMeister said:

I still consider it about the worst curse word that can be said.

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I completely agree with you on that.

All4Christ said:

I completely agree with you on that.

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This weekend our priest told a story of a sermon a decade or so ago. The priest of story was known for his long boring sermons. But he was a fine pastor, so folks dealt with the sermons. He started in a very organized fashion. He said that he had 3 points. He stated the first was that 2 billion people will go to sleep hungry tonight. The was a rustling among the congregation. He said something about starting point 2, and folks thought that they would be spared a long sermon. He then said damn it. Finally he said that his 3rd point was that more of his congregation was upset by his saying the word damn than about the two billion.

The reason, I believe, Jesus said the sin was unforgivable was because of the unique context.

You have to understand Jewish culture and the prophecies of the Old Testament expectations for Messiah. One of the ways they were to know He was the Messiah was by the signs He performed. Because Jesus' miraculous ministry was so evident, the Pharisees were in a pickle. Either they had to believe the signs, and then believe He was the Messiah, or they had to attribute those signs to the working of the devil in order to reject Him.

They chose the latter, of course, and thereby were guilty of a sin that would not be forgiven. To whom much is given, much is expected.

Regular old Christians don't blaspheme the Holy Spirit. It was a very unique situation and context.

mark46 said:

This weekend our priest told a story of a sermon a decade or so ago. The priest of story was known for his long boring sermons. But he was a fine pastor, so folks dealt with the sermons. He started in a very organized fashion. He said that he had 3 points. He stated the first was that 2 billion people will go to sleep hungry tonight. The was a rustling among the congregation. He said something bout point 2, and folks thought that they would be spared a long sermon. He then said D it. Finally he said that his 3rd point was that more of his congregation was upset by his saying the word damn than about the two billion.

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Of course! I can't do anything about 2 billion hungry people, but I can control my language.

As my grandma always said: foul language is a sign of unintelligence.

Kobbern said:

i am inclined to believe it is if you blaspheme against the holy spirit in the sense of rejection

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Even if we might not be able to clearly say when someone blasphemes the Holy Spirit and when one has not . . . there are things which contribute to making a person able to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, I think.

The ones who possibly blasphemed the Holy Spirit were ones who rejected Jesus. And part of their rejecting Jesus included, as >

Cappadocious said:

I believe it is rejecting forgiveness.

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There were Pharisees who did not want certain people to be forgiven.

Also, as >

AGTG said:

expectations for Messiah

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Ones wanted the Messiah to deliver them from the Roman occupation. But Jesus would not go along with using His powers to give the hypocritical Jews a miraculous deliverance of convenience while they continued to be against God. John 2:23-25

Also, there were Pharisees who loved money and praise and attention from men. And Jesus was about humility. So, by loving money and human attention, this could help them become able to blaspheme the Holy Spirit who has us being gentle and humble and not trusting in and depending on money.

So, even if we might not know exactly what action would be blaspheming the Holy Spirit, we can avoid things which could help to make a person's heart able to do it.

And if we are doing only copy-cat, do-it-yourself religion, this is in a wrong spirit (Ephesians 2:2) . . . of Satan's kingdom which is blasphemous against the Holy Spirit. So, be submissive to God in His peace > Colossians 3:15.

This was a topic in a recent writing assignment for seminary. I believe the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit really boils down to unbelief. Some of the other things that have been mentioned in this thread, such as failure to repent, are symptoms of unbelief. Another text to compare to the Matthew passage is Hebrews 6:4-6.

Cappadocious said:

I believe it is rejecting forgiveness.

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I agree. God forgives all who wish to be forgiven. But you can't be forgiven if you aren't repentant.

shanethetheologian said:

This was a topic in a recent writing assignment for seminary. I believe the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit really boils down to unbelief. Some of the other things that have been mentioned in this thread, such as failure to repent, are symptoms of unbelief. Another text to compare to the Matthew passage is Hebrews 6:4-6.

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If that's all that was meant then one would think that this would have been made much clearer.

GlockMeister said:

Of course! I can't do anything about 2 billion hungry people, but I can control my language.

As my grandma always said: foul language is a sign of unintelligence.

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One can only hope that you are being sarcastic.

I also think it is ultimately rejecting forgiveness. I think God is forgiving by nature, but what happens if someone just can't accept that forgiveness? I don't think "eternal punishment" is the answer, but I do wonder. Of course, I wonder many things about God.

mark46 said:

If that's all that was meant then one would think that this would have been made much clearer.

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One would wish so yes, but is Jesus renown for making things clearer?

I've struggled a lot about that issue, and I read a lot about it as well. It would be a total contradiction if there was this one sin, insulting the Holy Spirit, that God just decided He wouldn't forgive that... while at the same time, He promises that all sins can be forgiven in Jesus Christ, His son. It is a sin to reject wholeheartedly the witnessing of the Spirit and to reject Grace. That is unforgivable only as long as the person remains in this position, however. But if you reject your only way to salvation, what hope is left for you? As we have seen, the Pharisees remained against Jesus, until the very last moment, even after he rose from the dead, even when the apostles were preaching and healing in Jesus' name... They really made themselves ennemies of God.

Otherwise, we would have the very unsettling possibility that someone does this sin, and then would realize it and repent and ask God for forgiveness and he'd just say "sorry mate, it's too late for you, you did this one thing you were not supposed to do, I'd like to save you and give you life and bring you with me in my eternal kingdom, but I just can't now..."

Senod2 said:

The unforgivable sin has been kinda controversial. But there is a sited passage that says "anyone who mocks me i will forgive but anyone who mocks the holy spirit will never be forgiven".

Some Christians have intepreted that to mean "If you reject Jesus"... But some means it literally. So if one has made fun of the holy spirit then by that default it means it cannot be forgiven. Although i am inclined to believe it is if you blaspheme against the holy spirit in the sense of rejection since the bible is very clear that everyone gets saved if they repent and believe that your soul is saved in the hand of Jesus Christ.

But just wondering?

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In context, Jesus was performing miracles in the presence of unbelieving Jews and they were accusing Him of doing it by the power of a pagan deity. These people were witnessing the hand of God at work performing miracles. Their hearts were so hard that they wouldn't even believe the miracles were being done by God. They were blaspheming the very power of God the Father. Jesus said that is unforgivable.