Christian Living

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You know how you can read a Scripture over and over again in your life, and then one time you go through it and suddenly your eyes are opened up to a revelation of it? I had a very eye-opening experience one night when I was reading. I was at Men's Retreat in Lexington, NE and one night during the services, I decided I wanted to read through the book of Mark again. Shamefully, I did not expect the Bible to speak to me again since I had read it so many times previously, but I got into the book and began to read. I came upon the "unpardonable sin" described in Mark 3:20-29 and was truly appalled by what I had just read. Verse 28-29: "all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation."

My view of Jesus was starting to shift a bit because I could not comprehend that a man who sacrificed His own body and soul in order to forgive all of our sins, could say that there is one sin that cannot be forgiven. My world was rocked and I began a search trying to find answers. I looked up the context, I did word studies, I asked well tenured pastors and I prayed for clarification of this verse. What I found did not line up with what I thought would happen. I thought there was going to be a nice reason why Jesus said this and that it is not what it means. No, nothing could be further from the truth. I was scared and did not know what to think about my 'gracious' God.

Through my time of study I learned so much, and it ended up being one of the best things for me. I was able to study the Word for what it is worth as well as discover a way to become closer in relationship to Christ. Also through my study, I realized that this verse scares me because of what it says. I found that Jesus specifically used the word "blasphemes" in the present tense instead of the past tense. Why is this important? It means that if we are in that state of blaspheming the Holy Spirit that we are under this unpardonable sin, but there is an chance to get out. That was the hopeful part. If it were used in past tense, then most all of us would be doomed and there would, in turn, be no reason to continue in relationship with Christ if you cannot receive forgiveness. But since Jesus said it in present tense, we have hope to repent and receive forgiveness and our inheritance in full.

That being said, I began to think about the word blaspheme and what it really means. I knew it was not a pleasant word, but I also did not know the definition, so I had to do some more research. The dictionary defines blasphemes as: "speaking irreverently of God", or not showing respect and not acknowledging His authority. Through a word study, the word "blasphemes" used in this passage in Greek means to "speak evil of" and "specially impiously". Another dictionary defines blaspheme as "to utter obscenities or profanities", which are both words that mean, to speak ill of and demean. Now, when studying this word and the passage itself, you have to take into account the context of the verse, chapter and book really. Context is crucial to our study and comprehension of Scripture, and it cannot be read without knowing the context. I digress.

After my study and learning of the word blasphemes, seeing the end result if we continue to, and thinking about how many American churches act towards every aspect of God, I grew extremely concerned for many of my brothers and sisters in Christ. If "blasphemes" means all the definitions I found, there are many church-going people that may be headed down a dangerous path. God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one, they are in Trinity relationship. And to deny the power, existence, authority, etc. of one of them is to deny all of them. Denying God His authority and glory in His fullness, is blaspheming Him. If there are people who do not accept the Bible as the "infallible Word of God" (2 Timothy 3:16), or acknowledge the full power and existence of the Holy Spirit, or that Jesus' work was for all, then we are blaspheming the Holy Spirit! And from what we learned in this passage in Mark, this is a dangerous game that will inevitably lead to lack of forgiveness. Can we enter Heaven without receiving forgiveness?

Not acknowledging the full power, reign and authority of the Holy Spirit is, not only wrong, but extremely dangerous. It is my conviction that if we live in a state of demeaning, dismissing and blaspheming the Holy Spirit, then there will not be forgiveness for us on the other side. And if we cannot receive forgiveness... It is not my place to say, but what this implies is not something to mess with. I am concerned and worried about the church in the West because of the lack of reliance I see on the Holy Spirit. He is our comforter, and if we set our lives up in a manner that we do not need the "Comforter", we really are not living by the Spirit and, in turn, not allowing Him to live and work in our lives. I do not want to be guilty of that, nor do I want any of my friends, family or church family to be guilty of that. The Bible has plenty of information of the Holy Spirit and how He works, read Acts, Romans, John, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, etc. It is our duty as Christians to acknowledge the power of the Holy Spirit and live a led by Him.

I write this to stir something up in our hearts as Christians. Since this verse is part of God's Word, and is therefore perfect, we can be sure that if we continue to demean the work of the Holy Spirit, we will not receive full forgiveness. It is time to put our own understanding's aside and begin to read the Bible for what it is worth and then act out our lives according to it. Will it look different? Absolutely. Will it be uncomfortable? Without a doubt. These are promises found in the Bible. The world will look at us differently and will not accept us. So, if we, as the church, are being accepted by the world, isn't there a glaring issue there? Read the Bible in its entirety and accept the teachings found in it. We are called to love God and love people, if we do not have those difficult conversations and, instead, sweep things under the rug, how are we loving God and loving people?

Do not take my word for it, I want to present this information to you in order for YOU to do the study and take the time to read and receive insight from the Holy Spirit. I know this is an unpopular topic, one filled with half-truths. But it is truth and as my friend John McDermott said, "be wary of half-truths, you do not always know which half you will get." Discover the truth for yourself through study and relationship with Christ.

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