William Chong

Here’s something for Christians to consider: the Rational Response Squad issued a challenge to all atheists to commit what they termed the “unforgivable sin” – denying the Holy Spirit, by posting a youtube clip online recording their statement of non-belief: http://youtube.com/watch?v=i7QVbJnSPQE.

As you can see, they quote Mark 3:29, which states:

“…but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.”

And they make it a dare to publicly do this, and therefore never be forgiven. Sorry to disappoint you all, but if you read the Bible carefully (including other chapters and verses), the general consensus is that God does forgive us of our sins. 1 John 1:9 says that “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us of our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Granted, looking at Mark 3:29, it does look pretty contradictory. But the RRS, bless their souls, leave out Mark 3:30, which explains why Jesus said this. 

“…because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”"

And they also leave out the entire 3rd chapter of the gospel of Mark, which outlines the circumstances surrounding this seemingly shocking claim.

Isn’t it sad to hone in on one or two verses that seem so offensive, your mind becomes irrationally closed? That’s just poor hermeneutics.

I’m not here to push an agenda – atheists are free to make their leap of faith as much as anyone else. But I do want to dispel the myth that Mark 3:29 refers to a sin that can *never* be forgiven.

Context here is crucial – Jesus was responding to the Pharisees and lawmakers that, after seeing for themselves throughout Jesus’s ministry direct evidence of his miracles of healing, bread-multiplication, driving out unclean spirits and so forth, instead of accepting that he was truly the Son of God, they claimed that “He has Beelzebub,” and , “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.” (Mk 3:22).

In the next few verses, Jesus then explains why he isn’t demon-possessed by using some good old fashioned logical thinking – “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.” (Mk 3:23-4).

So if these religious leaders came all the way to watch him do miracles, and attributed this power not to the Holy Spirit but to demonic activity… this isn’t just denying the Holy Spirit. This is calling God a demon, calling good evil and mixing it all up – knowingly, and in the presence of Jesus Himself. Unpardonable? It seems so.

But since Jesus isn’t here at the moment, this unpardonable sin can’t be duplicated today. Even if I posted a statement blaspheming the Holy Spirit on youtube, it’s not the same as watching plain evidence of Jesus’s power and nature, and then declaring it to be demonic. What these guys are doing is in fact nothing new, nor special – we’ve all been denying accountability to our Creator one way or another since the beginning of time.

Continued unbelief, it’s fair to say, won’t lead to forgiveness. Posting a youtube clip saying essentially the same thing? It’s about as useful as Ray Comfort’s argument about bananas.

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