Is blasphemy really an unforgivable sin?

[TopazRaven]

I have heard it said that the sin of blasphemy is unforgivable and thus all who have committed this particuler sin are destined for hell. Is this really true? I mean, say an aethist changes his or her mind and decided to be born again and become a Christian. So they won't be forgiven for blasphemy if they committed it in the past before they where Christian? What exactly is blasphemy anyway? I've heard a few different definitions and I'm rather confused and perhaps a bit worried I may have done it myself at one point in my life. Yes, I know...me and my strange controversial threads.

[Nate]

The common attitude seems to be that "blasphemy" is not so much an action but a state of being.

[That Dude]

No.

There are many who've blasphemed God and will be in heaven. In fact pretty much all of us have blasphemed before and after we've been saved.

The unforgivable sin that you are referring to is by many seen to be a blaspheming of the work of God when you know full well it was him and you still say that Satan did it. (That's the very abridged version, if you want more info on that let me know.)

[TopazRaven]

No.

There are many who've blasphemed God and will be in heaven. In fact pretty much all of us have blasphemed before and after we've been saved.

The unforgivable sin that you are referring to is by many seen to be a blaspheming of the work of God when you know full well it was him and you still say that Satan did it. (That's the very abridged version, if you want more info on that let me know.)

I would most definitly like to know more if you don't mind. So you mean like saying for example Satan is the savior of man instead of Jesus? That's just weird man. 0.o Sorry if I seem stupid. I am.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Stop putting yourself down.
Blasphemy of the Spirit is rejecting God's gift of grace. Those who do will not enter God's Kingdom.

[Davidizer13]

I would most definitly like to know more if you don't mind. So you mean like saying for example Satan is the savior of man instead of Jesus? That's just weird man. 0.o Sorry if I seem stupid. I am.

I think what Jesus was talking about was people who rejected him no matter what he could say or do to convince them otherwise, like the Pharisees who said what Jesus was doing was of the devil, when clearly it wasn't. Like That Dude said, it's more about a state of mind than something you do. I heard someone say once that if you're worried you're committing that unpardonable sin, you haven't, because you're out of that mindset of completely rejecting God. If you're trying to avoid the things that displease Him, then clearly you care about what He thinks of you, so therefore you haven't rejected Him.

Don't think you're stupid, either - it's great that you're asking questions like this, because you're helping us think about these thicker issues and going out to find answers about them!

[Midori]

There is only one verse in the bible that might contribute to the belief that blasphemy is unforgivable:

And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Honestly I am not entirely sure what this means, and Jesus doesn't seem to have given any further explanation after he says this, but most commentaries I've read think that "blasphemy against the spirit" means a continual disbelief in God. Since it is by believing that you are saved, and not by doing good things (or avoiding bad things).

Actually, maybe the next paragraph does explain this more:
[quote="Matthew 12:33-37 (NIV 2010)"]“]So going by this passage, if you are saved by confessing your faith in Jesus, then you are condemned by denying it.

Wait that can't be quite it, because Jesus says himself that slandering the Son of Man (meaning Jesus) is not unforgivable. We even have an example from Peter, who adamantly denied Jesus in his hour of suffering, and yet was forgiven after Jesus rose from the dead.

So what I think is that it isn't that there's an arbitrary rule that blaspheming against the Spirit is unforgivable, it's because of the way forgiveness and faith work. God's grace and forgiveness is part of God's spirit, so how can you be forgiven if you do not believe in the spirit that is forgiving you?

Or taken another way, if you say that God is evil, when God is the very definition of good, then you are saying that good is evil, and then you're just being illogical.

I honestly don't know if I am thinking about this the right way, so don't take my words at face value. I don't think it's terribly important that we figure out the meaning behind this passage. And I think it's safe to live under the assumption that all sins can be forgiven if you trust God. Don't think you can magically become unsaved forever just by saying something dumb.

[Rusty Claymore]

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. 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 age, neither in the world to come.

The context here is the Pharisees saying Jesus casts out demons by Beelzebub, prince of devils. This is what Dr. Henry Morris, President Emeritus of the Institute for Creation Research says about it.

The unforgivable sin of speaking against the Holy Ghost has been interpreted in various ways, but the true meaning cannot contradict other Scripture. It is unequivocally clear that the one unforgivable sin is permanently rejecting Christ. (Jo 3:18,36) Thus, speaking against the Holy Ghost is equivalent to rejecting Christ with such finality that no future repentance is possible. "My Spirit shall not always strive with man," God said long ago (Gen 6:3). Jesus added: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (Jo 6:44). In the context of this particular passage (12:22-32), Jesus had performed a great miracle of creation, involving both healing and casting out a demon, but the Pharisees rejected this clear witness of the Holy Spirit that Jesus was excercising powers that only God Possessed. Instead, they attributed His powers to Satan, thus demonstrating an attitude permanently resistant to the Spirit and to the deity and saving gospel of Christ.

Oh, a neat little side note: Beelzebub is a hebrew jab at the philistine god Baalzebub, or better known as Baal. In the hebrew it translates into, "Lord of the flies" or "Lord of the Dungheap" and they weren't too far off with their description.

Edit: Ouch, you beat me to it, Midori!! XD

[TopazRaven]

Wow, thanks everyone, you brought to my attention things I hadn't even considered. I'm always sitting here worrying I'm making God mad at me so I guess I can assume for now I probably haven't committed blasphemy as it is being described here. What I had in mind when I was writing this was I remember a time a few years ago when I was doubting God and I was just kind of saying, "I don't know wither you are real or not and I don't want to doubt you, but I don't know what to think and believe anymore. If you are real I'm really sorry." In the end, God brought me back to Him, I firmly believe that. I know I still have a LONG way to go though to become stronger in my faith and less fearful and worried. Especially since my own personal beleifs on certain matters seem to be combating with each other and I've been trying to accept and take in the opinions of others as well. I hope with time I'll settle down and won't be bugging you guys and girls with all these subjects. Study of the bible, prayer and faith in the Lord will bring me all my answers someday soon I hope. Until then I like hearing the opinions of others.

Also, not to de-rail my own thread, but another big question for you guys. How does one properly worship God exactly? I've been reading praying and going to church don't exactly equal worship. All I've been doing so far is reading the bible and talking to God like every 5 minutes. 0.o Should I be doing anything else as well? Getting back to church is something I am going to do. I know I've been saying that for weeks, the honest truth is silly as it sounds I'm scared. I plan on going this Sunday. Unless the stupid snow keeps me inside again. Darn snow, can't wait for spring! I also want to start doing more to help other people, because, while I'm really shy and anti-social it makes me happy to help others. I don't really know where to go to do that, but that's where I think church can help. They always have programs for helping other people usually from what I hear. I mean, I give to charity when I can. I don't have a job and therefore I have no money (I'm basicaly a parasite to my poor mother), but I don't feel like just giving to charity is enough, sometimes it's better to be more physcially involved. I do volunteer at a cat shelter, but that doesn't really concern people.

Wow...ranting and way off topic here. Going to shut up now and go to bed... Seriously though thanks everyone! You're all so nice.

[fermy6]

We can't read that passage of the unforgivable sin in isolation with the rest of scripture.....We know that God will always forgive a person who sincerely repents and believes in Jesus as their saviour....So for this sin to be unforgivable it has to some how render a person incapable of repentance...And those Pharisees accused Jesus for working with the Devil and a person who believes that cannot be forgiven....But Im sure a person can be forgiven if they stop believing that blasphemy and change their mind about Jesus believing in him to be the son of God as well as their saviour

I would also like to add that if you worried about commiting the unpardonable sin then its a good sign because it shows that the Holy Spirit is still working in you

[bkilbour]

I agree with Fermy - otherwise, Paul would never have repented from persecuting the Church, and wouldn't have wrote so many of the New Testament books.

[Atria35]

Also, not to de-rail my own thread, but another big question for you guys. How does one properly worship God exactly? I've been reading praying and going to church don't exactly equal worship. All I've been doing so far is reading the bible and talking to God like every 5 minutes. 0.o Should I be doing anything else as well? Getting back to church is something I am going to do. I know I've been saying that for weeks, the honest truth is silly as it sounds I'm scared. I plan on going this Sunday. Unless the stupid snow keeps me inside again. Darn snow, can't wait for spring! I also want to start doing more to help other people, because, while I'm really shy and anti-social it makes me happy to help others. I don't really know where to go to do that, but that's where I think church can help. They always have programs for helping other people usually from what I hear. I mean, I give to charity when I can. I don't have a job and therefore I have no money (I'm basicaly a parasite to my poor mother), but I don't feel like just giving to charity is enough, sometimes it's better to be more physcially involved. I do volunteer at a cat shelter, but that doesn't really concern people.

Honestly, waht you're doing is enough. there is no "proper" way to worship God, as long as through your actions you honor Him, even if that just means donating what you can and helping care for His other creations.

[Hiryu]

Even blasphemy is forgiveable. Midori had a good point about blasphemy. It's only unforgivable because you deny the power of God's grace. I like to think of it this way: Let's say when you sin, you turn off the light, thereby putting God in the dark, which he doesn't like. You have the option to turn it back on and apologize or simply walk out. Blasphemy is the latter, because you walk out and shut the door behind you, thereby shutting him out from your life. You still have the option to open the door, but God can't forgive you if you shut him out from your life.

There is no set way to worship God, whatever you feel like doing is fine, more than likely. You could always put on some christian music and sing along to it or just listen to it.

[TopazRaven]

Thanks everyone for clearing this all up for me! You're all awesome.

[Okami]

One of my New Testament professors describes the unforgiveable sin as "ascribing the work of Father/Son/Holy Spirit to the Devil for the purpose of creating unbelief."

Blasphemy in that sense is nothing to worry about, because God's Spirit is within us.

[That Dude]

Okami got it pretty good. Here's a link for you to read and think about, he says what I want to say, but better than I know how to say it.

http://www.kencollins.com/bible-d1.htm

And as far as the worship deal, well I wish I could tell you there was a formula, but there isn't one, worship is a mindset and heart attitude. You can sing tons of praise songs and still hate God. Worship is having your heart and mind thank, praise, and glorify God. Whether you do that through music, prayer, singing, or whatnot isn't a big deal...It's the heart and mind that matters. Some of the best worship times for me is when I take walks at night, I just connect to God real well then.

And one more thing, you have no need to worry about making God mad at you. He sent Jesus to die for you, and Jesus' blood covers your sins. So literally when you do evil or aren't doing good, God sees all your sins, but they have been proverbially "whited out" or "backspaced" by Jesus' blood. He sees Jesus' perfection instead of your depravity. And when we do fall and sin, knowing this helps so much to run back to him and draw closer to him.

[fermy6]

http://net-burst.net/guilty/sin.htm

Heres another link to a page explaining the unpardonable sin

[TGJesusfreak]

The common attitude seems to be that "blasphemy" is not so much an action but a state of being.

Exactly. Nate you are 100% correct. It is a way of living. Blasphemy is more like an athiest denying the existence of God all his life until the day he dies. it is a lifestyle more than an action.... if that makes any sense Topaz. lol

also, what Midori, Atria, That Dude, Fermy, and Hiryu said. XD