The unforgivable / eternal / unpardonable sin

Our interpretation. Narrowing the
definition. Various beliefs about it.

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Our interpretation of Mark 3:29 and parallels:

The vast majority of Christian denominations believe In a Trinity: a single deity composed of three persons -- the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Denying the existence of the Trinity, or denying the existence of God, the Son, or the Holy Spirit as separate persons would be considered blasphemy by most Christians. The unforgivable sin in these Gospel passages could be interpreted as denying the existence of the Holy Spirit as a person within the Trinity.

The religions of the world have different concepts of deity. From a Christian worldview:

	Any person who is or was a strong Atheist -- even for a brief interval at one time during their life would have denied the existence of the entire Trinity, and thus blasphemed against the Holy Spirit.
	Strong monotheists, like Jews and Muslims, who regard God as being a single undividable entity would have similarly sinned.
	All of the other Theists in the world who do not believe in the existence of the traditional Christian Trinity are blaspheming. This includes followers of almost all theistic religions from Asatru to Zoroastrianism, including Mormons, some Pentecostals, Hindus, Wiccans, etc.

Further, even within Christianity, there are denominations that reject the traditional Trinity concept:

Jehovah's Witnesses, followers of The Way and others believe that the Holy Spirit is not a person, but is an impersonal force used by God to interact with the world.

From a traditional historical Christian view, these groups are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit and would have committed the unpardonable sin; their believers would be destined to spend eternity in Hell.

Of course, if one views deity from a Muslim point of view, it is the Christians who are committing the ultimate blasphemy by believing that God is divisible. And so on with other religions. Also, if one views deity from the point of view of the Jehovah's Witness or other Trinity-denying group, then it is they that have the proper view of the Holy Spirit, and all other Christian groups are guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

"You pays your money and you take your choice."

One might think that the solution to deciphering the unpardonable sin would be to assess the will of God. One could simply pray to God to find out whether one of the 33 beliefs is the correct one, or whether all 33 are wrong and some different definition is correct. After all, it would not be reasonable for God to allow an ambiguous passage in the New Testament to leave Christians hanging.

Unfortunately, a pilot study that we conducted into the assessment of God's will seems to indicate that it is impossible to assess God's will through prayer. An individual may feel certain that they have assessed God's will, but it appears to be not so.

So, perhaps there is no way to be certain what, if anything, is the unpardonable sin.

Is it possible to narrow down the dozens of interpretations of the unforgivable sin?

It may be possible to reject some of the many dozens of interpretations given for the unforgivable sin by analyzing the precise definition of the word "blasphemy."

Barnard Franklin, in his article "The Blasphemy Against the Holy Ghost" writes:

"The word 'blasphemy' in its various forms (as verb, noun, adjective, etc.) appears some fifty-nine times in the New Testament. It has a variety of renderings, such as, 'blasphemy,' 'reviled,' 'railed,' 'evil spoken of,' 'to speak evil of,' etc. ... It is evident from these that blasphemy is a sin of the mouth, a 'tongue-sin.' All New Testament writers except the author of Hebrews use the word. _1,2

In Matthew 12:32, the author attributes to Jesus the sentence:

"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 world, neither in the world to come." (Emphasis ours)

One might conclude that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit must be spoken. It cannot be an action or thought. That would eliminate many, perhaps most, of the historical interpretations of this sin, such as murder, suicide, adultery.

How conservative Protestant groups deal with unforgivable sin:

Most Christian groups, whether conservative Protestants, liberal Protestants, Roman Catholics, or others, downplay the importance of these passages, for various reasons:

How liberal/progressive Christian groups deal with unforgivable sin:

	Have long abandoned the concept of eternal punishment in Hell as being a profoundly immoral belief unworthy of a loving, compassionate God. It lowers God's moral standards to a level beneath that of the most degenerate humans, such as Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein, those CIA operatives who engaged in torture, etc.
	The belief that God is unable to forgive all sins negates one of God's main attributes: his omnipotence.
	Alternately, to say that God is unwilling to forgive all sins of a repentant sinner negates another of God's attributes: his omnibeneficience.

Thus these passages have little impact on their theology.

How the Roman Catholic Church deals with unforgivable sin:

"The Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation (also known as the Sacrament of Penance, or Penance and Reconciliation) has three elements: conversion, confession and celebration. In it we find God's unconditional forgiveness, and as a result we are called to forgive others." ₃

Author Sandra DeGidio implies that a person who has committed a sin and who has a close relationship with God will sense God's love for them, and realize that God's love saves them. The individual's role is "...to be open to the gift of God's love -- to be open to grace."

Moral conversion means to decide to turn away "...from the evil that blinds us to God's love, and to turn toward God." Following conversion, the individual may confess her or his sin to a priest and receive the prayer of absolution which signifies God's forgiveness.

All sins, even the unforgivable sin -- whatever it is -- can presumably be forgiven by God through this process. ₄

References:

1. Barnard Franklin, "The Blasphemy Against the Holy Ghost: An Inquiry into the Scriptural Teaching Regarding the Unpardonable Sin," Bibliotheca Sacra, 93:220-233, (1936-April).
2. Kyle Butt, "Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit -- The 'Unpardonable Sin'," Apologetics Press, at: http://www.apologeticspress.org/
3. "Sacraments," American Catholic, at: http://www.americancatholic.org/
4. Sandra DeGidio, O.S.M., "The Sacrament of Reconciliation: Celebrating God's Forgiveness," American Catholic, at: http://www.americancatholic.org/

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Copyright © 2006 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Posted: 2006-OCT-25
Latest update: 2009-AUG-30
Author: B.A. Robinson

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