How ambiguous are Luke 12:10 and Mark 3:29?

Question

"and whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven."

"But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation."

(quotes taken from KJV, http://bible.cc/luke/12-10.htm and http://bible.cc/mark/3-29.htm )

I ask this because I see a lot of discussion about what blaspheming the holy spirit actually is. What is your opinion, and denomination?

Invisible: yeah, so what, exactly, should I do?

Answer 1

let's try it and find out, you first.

Answer 2

Jesus said these words as a response to something that was said or observed. By considering those circumstances and what prompted Jesus to speak, we can better understand what Jesus meant.

In Mark 3:22, Jesus is accused of casting out demons by the power of Satan. If that were true, Jesus replied, then Satan's house is broken, for Satan is going against Satan.

Jesus cast out the demons by the power of God, through the Holy Spirit. The scribes were therefore blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Jesus was warning them that if they continue, they may never get saved.

Some people think they can say nasty things about the Holy Spirit and thus blaspheme him. But in this case, we see the Holy Spirit actually at work, and scribes had acknowledged the work but attributed it to an ungodly source.

When an atheist says something against someone he does not believe in, that is not necessarily blasphemy, just ignorance. They are not denying a supernatural work they have witnessed. They have not seen a supernatural work and attributed it to an ungodly source.

Answer 3

I am full gospel.

These two Scriptures apply to those under the law when God's forgiveness of their sins depends on their action. These Scriptures do not apply to Christians because God's forgiveness of their sins in based only on Jesus' death on the cross and on His shed blood. Christians are forgiven and saved by grace and not their works. Christians cannot blaspheme the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit will not empower them to do so (1 Corinthians 12:3). For Christians to say anything of spiritual significance they must be empowered by the Holy Spirit because the New Covenant is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).

Answer 4

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit means the rejection of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit does the work on a man or womans heart, and when It ( Holy Spirit) say Jesus is Lord and you reject ( Blasphem) call the Holy Spirit a liar. You can't inherit eternal life but the wrapth of God abides on that person.

Answer 5

Today we are confused about the meaning of blasphemy. Some of the people here that joke and play around, being generally obnoxious -- though sometimes very funny -- may be called blasphemers, but that's not what they are unless they posses a certain quality of mind and heart. To blaspheme means to hate, not the lamp, not the Prophet of God as an individual -- from ignorance, or because one does did not recognize Him -- but the light itself, the perfections of God which the Prophet reflects; blasphemers hate the light in the lamp -- and this detestation of the light has no remedy and therefore cannot be forgiven.

Answer 6

Well the way it was explained to me and the way I understood it, it that you would have to be a "True Christian" in the first place to ever commit the unforgivable sin. Basically it's supposed to be having full knowledge about God, Jesus, the bible, having the holy spirit in you, etc.., and then wholly rejecting Christ. Essentially what is known as "apostasy a fide", or the complete and voluntary abandonment and rejection of the Christian religion.

Supposedly, apostasy of that sort is an automatic death sentence when Jesus returns, you don't get to make it to that "great white throne judgment". It puts you in the same category as Lucifer and the fallen angels with a one way ticket straight to hell. The reasoning behind that line of thinking is that, and ask any Christian, Lucifer is already sentenced to the lake of fire and cannot repent. Well, how did get that sentence? These Christians should know that Lucifer used to be God's right hand man, his favorite...until he rebelled of course. The assumption is if you know exactly what you are doing when you reject god, then you've committed the unforgivable sin.

And because it was seen as a automatic death sentence, that's why it was the number one choice of for listing as a crime to arrest and torture someone during the inquisition.

Answer 7

Blasphemy is not a sin of ignorance, but the deliberate, willful, settled hostility toward Christ.

Whenever someone deliberately and disrespectfully slanders the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit in pointing to the Lordship and redemption of Jesus Christ, he completely negates and forfeits any possibility of present or future forgiveness of sins ( see also Matt 12:31 ), because he has wholly rejected the only basis of God's salvation.

This is a serious sin. Very much so. The only unforgiven sin. You cannot find God without the Spirit of truth...and that leads to denial of Him. Right the way Satan wants it.

Non-denominational Christian, follower of Jesus Christ. : )

Answer 8

Here we see that, the Son of Man, and the Holy Spirit are two seperate and distinct beings. When a man referres to his wife as - the other half, what do you think that means? - Some men say - the better half in regard to their wives. Religionists have distorted the Son of Mans image so much, as to be unrecognizable. Like Jesus would want to marry a man - tell me another one! Seeing religionists preach a distorted Jesus, people can be forgiven for repeating and teaching it, or maligning Jesus. But Jesus will not tolerate people maligning His Wife, who was introduced in the book of Revelation.
Non-denominational.

Answer 9

"Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin." There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss."

Answer 10

I knew a guy in high school who said "Boo! on the Holy Ghost."

I was horrified.

(In Leviticus 24:16 it says the whole congregation must take part in stoning the blasphemer. I'm just not sure which type of stoning is intended here.)

Answer 11

The Holy Spirit was sent to man by God the Son to be our guide and comforter, our mentor. To disregard Him is to blaspheme against Him.

To deny His ability to assist you in becoming that perfect person whom God wants you to be is to blaspheme against Him.

To fail to seek His aid, to ask for His forgiveness is to blaspheme against Him.

Because any and all of the above is to deny His Godhood and that is blasphemy indeed.

God can forgive even THAT, but He cannot give absolution unless you ask for it. God will NOT deny you the use of your free will even if you use it to deny Him.

Funny thing about salvation. It's yours. It's a fait accompli. Happened two thousand years ago on a hill outside the walls of Jerusalem. But, it's optional. You can have it for the asking, but if you don't ask, He's not gonna shove it down your throat.

Therefore, if you do not accept the aid and assistance of the Holy Spirit you are in effect saying to God, I'm not interested in being saved. You are saying "No" to His offer and God will respect your decision and as long as you keep to that decision He will abide by it. If you keep it unto death then you are denying yourself life with God and that is damnation.

God does not damn. He simply gives each of us the option to say "yea" or "nay" to His offer of life eternal with Him. Reject the Holy Spirit, you've rejected the offer. Reject the Holy Spirit and you have rejected God. Rejecting God is blasphemy.

Hope this clarified things for you, at least a bit.