Blasphemy

I consider the Holy Spirit to be addressed not with words but directly through the heart and soul. Whenever God communes with our hearts, we call it the Spirit of God. So whenever God communues with our hearts at the time of offering us our salvation, if we resist that, and speak against that, we don't get saved, because we rejected salvation! And that, logically, cannot be forgiven.

Its another way of saying that rejecting forgiveness is the one sin that cannot be forgiven.

 

I have a different take on that puzzling statement:

The two most complete parallel passages are in Mat 12 and Luke 12. Both have the context of Christ in conflict with the Pharisees and their followers.

During Jesus' earthly ministry, few turned aside from those Jewish leaders to follow Christ. But that was not their only opportunity to repent. After Christ's ascension, the Holy Spirit bore witness to the truth of the gospel--then many repented. However, those Jews who did not repent in that generation in which the Holy Spirit ministered among them would be destroyed.

History bears out this explanation of Christ's puzzling statement. Put it in past tense, and you see it more clearly, verifying that those Jews "who [spoke] against the Son of man, it [was] forgiven them; but [those who spoke] against the Holy Spirit, it [was not] forgiven them."

Makes sense to me anyway,

Tim

 

Understanding the unpardonable sin makes this problem go away. Many people misudnerstand this, and it leads to the seeming inconsistency you have noted. IN the event, Jesus was casting out evil spirits and the Pharisees were accusing him of doing it by the power of the chief evil spirit, Beelzebub, or Satan himself. Jesus was pointing to the blasphemy of attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to an evil spirit. This sin is not one that can be committed today.

 

I rather like A.H. Strong's analogy. He likes it to the the blind fish of the mammoth cave left light for darkness, and so in time lost their eyes.
It is a loss of religious sensibility. One has so hardened their heart that no witness of God has any effect on them. In other words, if one even thinks about the unpardonable sin, he has not committed it. He would be totally unaware of sin or salvation.

The sin is against the triune God in any of the persons with this understanding of its gravity.

Cheers,

Jim

 

IMO, the only unforgivable sin is unbelief and unacceptance of Jesus Christ.

"Blasphemy" against the Holy Spirit is, as was mentioned above, accrediting what He has done to be the work of Satan. To me, this equates to unbelief.

The JW are seriously twisted when it comes to just who the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are. The best we can do is to pray for them, and to attempt to reason with them (if we are prepared to do so). To reason with them, I recommend that you look into a book or two about witnessing to them. Just don't let them try to twist thier reasoning around your own .

Personally, I enjoy it when they come knocking on my door, but they don't do that anymore . I have a heart for those that have allowed themselves to be swallowed up by cults. The JW is one of the most aggressive.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

To turn that question of theirs around to them to answer, ask them if they believe the same. Does the Holy Spirit take presidence over the Father? They believe the two to be the same, as the trinitarian belives the three to be the same. They are twisting to cause you to loose your focus. The trinity is one of their most common oppositions, and they train their people to answer that subject. Most people who believe the three are one will have a hard time trying to untangle the twisted JW thought pattern. Throw the question back in their face and have a different topic, one you are prepared with. Make them think about what they believe, put the doubt into their mind. Try not to ever be on the defensive.

God's Word will not come back void. They need to hear about salvation, even though they have the "lingo" and will claim they are saved. I, too, love to talk with JW's. They are really big on head knowledge, and can hold great conversations. Pray, and continue steadfast