What is blasphemous?

[guitarintro]

Eventually, I'd like to bring a few non-Christian friends to my church, but I've always thought I need to strengthen the relationship with non-Christian friends first. It's tough for them to just come to a sermon and expect them to listen. As a result, I rather get to know them first and perhaps talk about religion. Which leads me to this question.

I had a bad thought. Is hanging out with a non-Christian (at the mall or dinner, etc) blasphemous?

 

[JCFantasy23]

No, I don't consider it to be blasphemous. Perhaps you can slowly ween them toward God by your influence as well.

 

[kaykay9.0]

No, the scripture does admonish not to be "unequally yoked" with unbelievers. Most interpret this to mean not to be in a close relationship/partnership such as entering a marriage with them. (Different story, of course,if you are already married to an unbeliever.) You have to weigh, too, whether you are strong enough to influence them or are they influencing you. My kinda life rule on this, has been associate with unbelievers, try to influence them etc if possible, but my CLOSE buds who I usually would hang with are Christians. Does that make sense? (I don't think blasphemous would describe this even if it were wrong though.)

From your other post, I think it is your OCD fear about blasphemy that is causing you to now project "possibly blasphemous" on a lot of stuff right now. Been there, done that type of thing.

 

[Lisa0315]

Blasphemy is almost impossible to do. None of the things you are doing are blasphemous.

Blasphemy is accusing the Holy Spirit of being Satan and even then, it has to be done from a mind that is whole and healthy and with a knowledgable purpose in one's heart. Blasphemy is one of those words that is overused and has taken on a bunch of meanings that it is not. In other words, if you feel guilty over doing something that you did not intend to do, it is not blasphemy. A truly blasphemous person would feel no guilt. Guilt in a sense is a sign that you are not being blasphemous.

Lisa

 

[guitarintro]

....In other words, if you feel guilty over doing something that you did not intend to do, it is not blasphemy. A truly blasphemous person would feel no guilt. Guilt in a sense is a sign that you are not being blasphemous.

Lisa

A few questoins:

1) If a person is bombarded with bad thoughts and s/he ignores it, would that be right or wrong? On the link you provided, it talked about how bad thoughts are not wrong.

2) Now when it comes to guilt. Are we supposed to feel guilty for whatever wrong we do? The problem is, doesn't guilt sometimes lead to fear and with fear, aren't you back at the OCD cycle again?

Ah I am confused with this. I don't know what to think. I want to be free and focus on God.

 

[Lisa0315]

A few questoins:

1) If a person is bombarded with bad thoughts and s/he ignores it, would that be right or wrong? On the link you provided, it talked about how bad thoughts are not wrong.

2) Now when it comes to guilt. Are we supposed to feel guilty for whatever wrong we do? The problem is, doesn't guilt sometimes lead to fear and with fear, aren't you back at the OCD cycle again?

Ah I am confused with this. I don't know what to think. I want to be free and focus on God.

Well, remember, I am no expert on this. I just started looking into it myself.

From what I read, we are neither supposed to ignore or obsess over the bad thoughts. Apparantly, everyone has them, but most people don't make a big deal about them either way. To tell yourself to ignore them is just one more signal to your brain that they are important.

Guilt...haven't figured that one out yet. I think what we have to do is be able to distinguish real sin from imaginary sin. I am yet to find out a good guideline for that.

Just remember you are not alone in this. In fact, I think it is far more common than doctors realize. Just on this website alone, I keep encountering people who have the scrupulosity symptoms, and most of them are so deeply depressed that they are not even where you and I are where they can start dealing with it. So, we are actually a step up in that we are pretty much in control emotionally.

Lisa