isn't it strange...?

Question

isn't it strange that the only sin that is considered "unforgivable" in the bible is blasphemy? so pretty much any sin is free range, so long as you ultimately come to your senses and repent and accept jesus as your savior. however, someone who questions the existence of god and comes to the conclusion that one such being does not exist is forever damned to hell. why do you suppose god has such a problem with people questioning his existence. if he is indeed omnipresent, he should have nothing to worry about, right?

Answer 1

Really, but God is the Ultimate Judge in all things
Just because you commit a sin {That You Know is Wrong before you do it} Does that mean that you are forgiven because you ask of it?

Answer 2

You have the wrong interpretation of that. Its actually only blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, Not Father God or Jesus. Its also not a matter of believing or not believing but rather saying or accusing that a miracle done through the Holy Spirit is actually being done through the devil or a demon. You should really do more research before making outrageous claims you know nothing about.

Answer 3

At some point in time, "all" men will know there is a God. So, no man will be without excuse when he goes before Him on judgement day. No one will be able to say, "God I did not know the truth". If you were never aware of His existence, then God will not condemn you for your ignorance. It is those who know the truth and refuse to accept the truth, who will find themselves condemned. The bible says that He will call the past into account. The Lord will show everyman at what points in life he or she knew the existence of God.

Answer 4

You are confused. The only unforgivable sin is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. This is talking about when the Holy Spirit comes to you with the gospel of Jesus Christ for you to repent and confess Jesus as Lord......He expects you to receive this truth and not reject or blasheme Him. If you will receive and believe His message, all other sins in your life are forgiven. If not, then you keep all those sins and the penalty for them. Get it? Receive the Holy Spirit you get a blanket forgiveness for all your sins. Reject the Holy Spirit you get blanket unforgiveness for all your sins.

Answer 5

You know what... what you believe is actually correct. People who teach that blasphemy is the only unforgivable sin are wrong. They're getting it from the verse that says, "whoever commits the blasphemy of the holy spirit will not be forgiven in this life or the life to come." But what it means is, if God Himself has given you a true conviction or understanding of a truth and you purposefully lie against or sabotage the knowledge of that truth God will not forgive you in this life or in heaven. But even that doesn't say He'll NEVER forgive it. It says "this life or the one to come" but it doesn't say He'll NEVER forgive it. He means as long as you are doing EXPRESSLY the opposite of what you KNOW God has shown you what to do, you can't be forgiven. But as soon as you stop, in this life or the one to come you CAN be forgiven. And let me just say this: If you HONESTLY believe that God doesn't exist and you die and you go to meet Him, and find out that He's real, how hard do you think it will be for you to say, "Oh! I'm sorry... I really, really didn't think you are real. But you are!" Your heart is telling you the truth: God does NOT condemn for all eternity people who don't believe in Him! We're His children... and He does love us! Even His atheist children. He's really our Father, and what Father murders and destroys for all eternity children whose one single main flaw is that they didn't believe in Him! Like Jesus said, "If your earthly father is good, and will give you good things, how much MORE so will your Father in heaven give you!" The contradictory picture of God as a monster and a tyrant is a sickness upon the church world. And it is as FALSE and WRONG as you think it is! God says of Himself that He is love. Love cannot destroy, or else it has become hate. And your question is right: God doesn't have a problem with people questioning his existence. It's just like the idea of a father whose children are brought up apart from him, like in an adoption... why would God not want His children who never knew Him to ask all about Him! You're supposition is correct: HE DOES want us to ask about Him, and find about Him, and Know Him, and EVEN if we get it wrong and decide we don't believe in Him and we live and die without Him, He's not a monster. He's our Father who wishes He got the pleasure of knowing us in the life. But how He will judge us then is not based on our unbelief: He has immense mercy! How He will judge us is based on how we treated others, how decently will lived our lives. And yes, if we did know that Jesus was real, and that God was real, then yes will be judged because we should live our lives according to what we know. But God does NOT condemn us to an eternal, fiery hell for what we wrongly believed anymore than you or I would do that to each other! And if God really did that like lots of christians SO VERY WRONGLY teach, it would make God EVIL, not GOOD. And which thing makes more sense: A God good enough to make us is also mean enough to destroy is if we're WRONG?!!? Or a God that's good enough to make us is also good enough to forgive us for our wrong thinking!?! HE'S GOOD ENOUGH TO FORGIVE US FOR OUR WRONG THINKING. And you know, I know that God grieves that people teach that He's a monster. He's NOT a monster. I promise!

Answer 6

Actually, there are a few unforgivable sins, that were punishable by stoning, burning, decapitation or strangulation in the ancient Hebrew (Judaic and Israeli) cultures.

Try reading the books of the Tanakh (old testaments) some time.

Blasphemy originally meant that you were cursing the name of God (one of the names being YHWH, thought to be pronounced Yah - weh). It had nothing to do with believing in God or not, for children weren't even of age to believe or understand, yet were not guilty of any sin. Lack of knowing the truth wasn't sin, ignoring the truth or spitting in the face of God however was considered wrong.

Other unforgivable (or nearly so) sins included: Murder, rape (taking virginity without intent to marry), idolatry, incest, adultery and major violations of Shabbat (Sabath).

Now, the Christian reinterpretation of capital crimes and unforgivable or deadly sins varies from sect to sect.

According to the Roman Catholic church, a mortal sin must be confessed and then absolved or the sinner goes to Hell. Mortal sins are gravely serious in nature, understood and fully done with consent of the sinner(s) (they chose to do it, weren't trick/forced).

The orthodox churches however don't make the same distinction between mortal and venial sins.

According to many sects of Protestantism, mortal sins are eternal sins, the most grievous or unforgivable of which is to "deny the Holy Spirit" of God, but one must be careful when reading this part of the new testaments to remember that the sin was one done by one who already had knowledge/ /experience of the Holy Spirit.

For example, if you point at people with your index finger, or cross your legs a certain way, in certain cultures, this is considered rude; but, generally, a foreigner will be forgiven because they had no idea it was rude. However, one native to these cultures committing such a social 'faux pas' will likely receive much more negative responses than the foreigner because the native had foreknowledge that it was an offense.

The eternal sin of denying the Holy Ghost/Spirit is just like this. It is talking about men of God (like Balaam in the old testament) or supposed Christians who openly choose to deny God's will (Holy Spirit in so many words) even though they understand it well, proving that one can have faith in God's existence or understand Jesus was the Son of God (in Christianity) and still go to Hell (or turn to dust, not all believe in Hell) by rejecting the will of God or teachings of Jesus, or by cursing them or purposefully ignoring certain truths so as to follow one's own path in overt disobedience or disrespect to God.

In short, living a life of sin or disrespect of God, even though you know better, in such a way as to rebel against God--that is an unforgivable or eternal sin that makes salvation impossible for that soul.

So, in a way, while true atheists are not saved, due to their lack of faith, they are also not condemned to hell by not believing God exists alone. Only if they once knew of the Holy Spirit, and then rejected it 100% are they guilty according to the Christian church of an unforgivable sin.

So one can finally now see that the issue has nothing to do with God's supposed jealousy or omni-qualities but with the individual's free will. The individual chooses to embrace God and goodness or to knowingly rejects it.

Rejecting the human concept of God is NOT the same as rejecting God.

Many atheists will find faith and go to heaven (if there is a heaven), and many Christians (or Jews) will be condemned to Hell (if there is one) because they have evil hearts and only pay lip-service to religion (that is even according to verses in the bible actually).

So, no it isn't strange, it is just a matter of various concepts of Judaic and Christian theologies.

Forgive me, but I don't have time to self-edit or add citations. Just look to the Wiki sources I listed and reread the Tanakh and new testament if you have the time.

I hope this helped.

Be well and good day,

~Xzaerynus.

Small Edit: Teresa reminded me of a VERY important point. One can always repent, always. Thus, an unforgivable sin really is only unforgivable in the Jewish sense if it cannot be undone or forgiven by the affected party or in the Christian sense if the sinner refuses to repent of her/his sin. As Teresa says, it is very possible we will meet God and then have the opportunity to still be forgiven and thus saved.

Nora Explora, Joyful Noise, momma b, and shaol all also make valid and insightful points.

Peace.

Answer 7

God is not worried about himself. You see He is already in heaven preparing the way for his children. The ones that God is concerned about is his children and if they choose to follow the right path. That will lead them home to him. May God Bless You!

Answer 8

Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare have caught the imagination of the nation. If any untoward would happen to them (may be a genuine accident), public would accuse the government. So it is not strange.

Answer 9

You'd think.

But the concept of eternal hell simply for not accepting is a pretty powerful tool. No wonder it's such a huge religion.

Answer 10

The unforgivable sin is denying the Holy Ghost. That means that you have a sure knowledge of God and then deny Him. It is not forgivable because it has to do with knowledge and not just faith.