Copyright:
September 1999
Thomas E. Blaylock, Jr.
Updated: 07/27/2010
CHAPTER 4
THE UNPARDONABLE SIN
Let's
begin studying a little about how the philosophy of life called Clear Thinking
works. I said earlier, Clear Thinkers do not accept claims and conclusions
simply because they are made by some authority. Like the Clear Thinkers,
religious people do not accept the claims and conclusions of authorities from other
religions. They logically and sanely conclude those other authorities are wrong
in their arguments and conclusions. However, believers do not apply the same
logical and sane thinking to their Own faith or belief
as they do to those other authorities of different religions.
Instead, believers Do
accept as true, not only the authorities of their own denomination, but they
also accept the claims and conclusions, which their authorities present to the
people. Their authorities may include priests, rabbis, ministers, teachers,
professors, or anyone else who passes himself off as a religious expert of
their faith. They may also include written works such as denominational
magazines and books, textbooks or holy books. Most religious authorities insist
that you must agree with them and with their conclusions and interpretations.
Clear Thinkers accept claims and conclusions only when they are based on an
honest logical interpretation of the known facts and on good acceptable
morality.
This approach can best be demonstrated by
using an example. Since most people think of religion
when they think of Atheism, we will draw our example from religion. Most
religions have a doctrine that they call the unpardonable sin. What is this
unpardonable sin in most religions?
By unpardonable sin, the Christian means
that wrongdoing that will cause a person to be damned by God to hell fire and
terrible punishment - forever. According to the Holy Bible, it means once a
person commits this wrongdoing he can never, never, never
receive forgiveness from God, the church, priest, or minister. We are
now talking about a very serious offense. It is so terrible, so vicious, if you
are found to be guilty of this unpardonable sin, even God will not forgive you.
It is a sin from which you cannot repent. If you do commit this unpardonable
sin, it is Permanent. You will never change your mind about it. You will
never even wish to repent of it. Therefore, God's goodness, justice, love and
his salvation are forever withheld from you (according to the Holy Bible and
most Christian denominations). So what is this most terrible and vicious of all
sins?
The unpardonable sin is not murder, child
abuse or spouse abuse. It is not robbery, rape, or rage. It is not infanticide,
suicide, or genocide. It is not torture, tyranny, or excessive taxation. It is
not adultery, idolatry, or profanity. It is not pedophilia or incest. All of
these sins and more can be easily forgiven by following the plans of salvation
of your religion. So, the unpardonable sin is not one of these wrongs. Instead,
it is a rather nebulous and foggy sin, which is specific, but extremely hard to
understand.
In the Christian Bible, this sin is called
the sin against the Holy Spirit. Matthew 12:32 (KJV) says, "And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man (Jesus), 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.” Thus, speaking against the Holy Spirit becomes that sin, which
is unpardonable and for which there is no forgiveness.
"To speak" is to express an opinion.
That expression can come in vocal form, written form, or in some action form.
One of my daughters will make an excellent
example here. She would often verbally agree with me that a certain action on
her part was not in her best interest, nor in the interest of the family (I was
a minister of the gospel back then). In spite of her verbal agreement, she
continued to do that which I advised her against. So, in practice she acted
against her verbal agreement and the advice given her.
Thus,
in spite of her verbal agreement, she Spoke against
the advice (and me) by her actions. Later she told me she never mentally
agreed. She verbally agreed because that was the easiest and most painless
course for her. However, she said she didn't Believe
the advice to be correct. So, she acted on her own judgment. She honestly Doubted that the advice was correct. She turned out well, so
as I now know, I was wrong (thus, confirming the wisdom that out of the mouths
of children comes truth).
This
same thing happens every day with millions who call themselves Christians. They
vocally agree, but they act against the advice of the Holy Ghost. They are,
therefore, speaking against the Holy Spirit and his advice.
Now the Holy Ghost is just full of advice
and claims. It is asserted that the Holy Ghost (Spirit) wrote a book of advice
and claims. It is called the Holy Bible. In that book, the Holy Ghost has given
everyone the command to follow his Holy advice and thereby receive everlasting
salvation. Or, by not following the advice of the Ghost, one will be condemned
forever to horrible punishment, torment and not given the free forgiveness from
God. Forgiveness will forever be withheld by a loving God.
That person has done the unpardonable sin.
If
you follow his advice, you are speaking in favor of the Holy Ghost, his advice
and his claims. If you reject his advice and claims because you do not believe
it, you are speaking against the Holy Spirit, against his advice and against
his claims. You know what is supposed to happen to people who do that!
But the heart of the matter is this: Before
you can act (speak) in favor of this Ghostly advice, or act (speak) against
this advice of the Holy Ghost, you must form an Opinion or conclusion about the
matter. That is, you must either believe the advice to be true, or honestly
doubt that the advice is true. To believe is to obey, and thus, you will act
(speak) in favor of the advice and claims of the Holy Ghost. If you honestly
doubt (or try to hide your doubt) concerning the advice, and do not act
according to it, you are speaking against the advice and claims of the Holy
Ghost. You are committing the unpardonable sin according to the Book of the
Holy Ghost.
So, the real sin (the root of the matter)
is whether you Believe the advice to be true or
honestly Doubt the teachings about, and by, the Holy Ghost. Therefore, the Real unpardonable sin is “Honest Doubt.” Why? Because that
must come First!
We find out that the unpardonable sin is not
something you can do. You cannot Do the unpardonable
sin! Rather, it is an honest mental conclusion. The holy writers of the
Bible (or God) have chosen to call such honesty, the unpardonable sin. So we
find the unpardonable sin is something you honestly Think or conclude. This sin
is simply an honest conclusion based upon the facts available to you. It harms
neither God nor man, and certainly, it does not harm the one who has these
honest doubts and conclusions that are classified by the Holy Bible and Holy
Ghost as the unpardonable sin.
Why
is God (or the Holy Ghost) so afraid of honest thinking and honest conclusions?
Is Honesty a threat to the power and activity of God? How can Honesty be
classified as the worst sin in which man can engage? Who felt that honest doubt
was a threat to their holy teachings anyway?
Why
did an honest and just God allow such a dishonest and unjust rule into his holy
book? Did God really make Honest Doubting and Honest Thinking an unpardonable
sin? Does God really condemn honest doubt and the honest search for truth? Did
God really write this book? Just who outlawed Honesty in the Bible? Were some
religious authorities trying to scare people into doing their bidding? Did some
unjust, dishonest (and maybe greedy) men sneak it into the Bible? Was it God’s
wish to outlaw honesty, or was it holy men’s desire to rule and control the
people? Which?
Be very careful with such thoughts.
According to the Bible, such honest thoughts will send you to hell. If you
claim (or honestly conclude) the Bible is in error about this and you honestly
doubt the claims and advice (any of it), you are calling the Holy Ghost a liar
because the Holy Ghost is the claimed author of the Bible. You have committed
the sin that is unpardonable. You have spoken against the Holy Ghost. If you
say you doubt the Holy Ghost does exist, you are claiming the Bible is in error
when it tells about the Holy Ghost. If you say the Holy Ghost is dishonest,
evil or bad, or some of the actions and advice attributed to the Holy Ghost are
evil or bad, you have sinned this unpardonable sin. You have spoken against the
Ghost. You have honestly Doubted the teachings of the
Bible inspired by the Holy Ghost.
This
unpardonable sin becomes even more broad when one
considers the present day claims made in behalf of the Holy Ghost. If you don't
believe all the claims and advice made by the religious leaders in behalf of
the Holy Spirit, you may be sinning unpardonably. (All anyone knows about the
religious claims is that someone says the Holy Ghost came into their head and said
this or that.) They say the Holy Spirit told them to write down these religious
claims and advice. Are the religious leaders telling the truth when they say,
"The Holy Spirit led me to tell you to support (send money to) this
ministry?" If they are telling the truth, you are lost and damned to hell
fire and torment forever if you don't believe and obey the Ghost. You better
send that money in.
Therefore,
if you examine the facts and honestly conclude that some of the claims and
advice of the Holy Ghost are wrong, you have committed the unpardonable sin
(according to the Christian Bible). If you honestly doubt that the Holy Ghost
of God exists, then all claims for her/him/it are man made, and therefore, your
Honesty is evil in the eyes of the Bible. So, if you honestly doubt any of the
claims or the advice made by, or in behalf of, the Holy Ghost, you have
committed the unpardonable sin. There is no hope for you. To pray “May God have
mercy on my soul.” is just a waste of good air. If you are an honest thinking
person, God has no mercy for you. You are a damned vile Honest Clear Thinker.
No
matter how you interpret the unpardonable sin of the Bible, the most important
question of all is, do you honestly doubt?
HONEST DOUBT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.
To
honestly doubt any of the claims of sin, salvation, hell, heaven and such in
the Bible is to doubt that the Holy Spirit is telling the truth. You are saying
he is a liar (or is badly misinformed). You will then be excluded from
salvation, heaven and other wonderful but unverified claims. If you do not
believe all of it, you are sinning against the Holy Ghost, unpardonably. In my
opinion, this sin includes almost all Christians. Almost all Christians doubt
some part or some portion of the Holy Book of the Ghost, as we will see.
Therefore, we will all burn in hellfire forever - together – comrades in
suffering - Christians and Atheists alike. That is, “if” the Bible is telling
us the Truth.
Now forever is a fairly long time. There
are no vacations, no sick time, no time off for good behavior, no pardon and no
parole. I do not know but you may not even be allowed to pray and certainly,
you will not be allowed to have your spouse or lover visit you. There will be
no water breaks in God’s name either. I have been told, smoking is allowed in
hell so long as you are the one on fire.
On
the other hand, suppose you do believe in the Holy Spirit, but you cannot
believe a certain claim is true, or that a certain action or statement is from
the Holy Ghost. Say a TV preacher claims the Holy Spirit told him to ask you to
send the preacher some money. If the Ghost did indeed talk to him, your doubt
might be causing you to commit the unpardonable sin without you knowing it. If
you are a believer, the safest action you can take is to send a dollar or so to
every person who says the Holy Spirit told him to ask you for money (or stop
watching TV and listening to the radio.)
According to the Bible, the religious
person must believe and obey the voice of the Holy Ghost of God or go to hell.
Even though many people claim to be talking for the Holy Ghost, how can a
person be sure? Many of the religious people are bilked of their savings and
earnings by just such conning tactics. The radio and television evangelists are
masters of this strategy. They constantly are telling you, God, or his Holy
Ghost, told them to ask you to send them some money. Is it a fact that the
Ghost talked to the preacher? Is it a lie? If there is a Holy Ghost, does he
work this way? Is the preacher committing the unpardonable sin by lying about
hearing from the Holy Ghost? Has he received his orders and the "Good
Begging Seal of Approval" from the Ghost? Who knows?
This
sin against the Holy Ghost is the strongest and scariest doctrine in the Bible.
The Christian Bible says every sin a man commits can be forgiven except this
sin against the Holy Ghost (the sin of honest doubt and honest action). What
has the Bible claimed for the Holy Ghost? What are some facts?
The Ghost of God is claimed to be a teacher
of wisdom, a doctor who heals, a professor of foreign languages, a nurse or
comforter, a psychologist or counselor and a general leading the soldiers into
war. The Holy Ghost is also claimed to be a judge passing sentences on people,
a congress passing laws, a messenger carrying petitions to and from God, a
hostile witness giving testimony against people and a Santa Claus answering
begging prayer by giving gifts. He is supposed to be a friend, an enemy, a
preacher, a lawyer (the mouth piece of God), a fortuneteller telling the
future, an historian telling the past, a wind or bird descending on people, a
devouring fire, a guide leading people into the wilderness, a devil chaser and
a father of many. That is just a summary to start.
Finally, the Holy Ghost is supposed to be
God himself. That is the Holy Ghost is God and God is the Holy Ghost. (See John
4:24.) The Holy Ghost is also listed as a murderer, a thief, one who drives men
insane, an adulterer making women pregnant and a bringer of great evil. All of
this comes from the New Testament. We do not have space or time to list all the
claims.
1 John 5:7 says, "For these are three
that bare record in heaven, the Father (God), the Word (Jesus) and the Holy
Ghost: and these three are one."
This
is called the Doctrine of the Trinity.
Now, This
Doctrine of the Trinity is the culprit that caused so many thousands of
faithful religious believers to be declared heretics. It is This doctrine of the Holy Ghost
being God that burned thousands of honest doubters and believers at the stake.
It sent thousands more to torture chambers, jails and horrible deaths. It is This doctrine that
impoverished thousands of families all over Europe. This is the doctrine that allowed the church to take away the
children from families who did not believe This doctrine sell the children
to others and make domestic slaves out of the children.
This
doctrine of the Trinity gave the church the power to appropriate (steal) the
property of thousands of faithful believers because they could not believe God
was the Holy Ghost, or the Holy Ghost was God. Neither could they believe God
and Jesus and the Holy Ghost were one and the same person. Even many widows, of
long dead husbands, had their possessions taken (stolen) from them by the church.
The church declared that their long dead husbands were actually heretics. As
heretics, the church could seize their property. Few teachings of the church
have ever been so profitable as This teaching that God, the Ghost and Jesus were one and the
same person.
The early Jewish church (called "The
Way") knew nothing of This doctrine. None of the pre-Nicean
(pre 325 AD) church fathers ever heard of This doctrine, never quoted it
and never discussed it. They didn't even contemplate it in any of their writings.
It was not heard of in the early Jewish church called “The Way” until
Constantine put together his new Bible and his new Holy Catholic Church in
three hundred and twenty-five (325) AD. Suddenly This doctrine of the Ghost being God and the unpardonable sin sprang
fully developed as a test of orthodoxy.
HOWEVER, THIS
DOCTRINE HAD BEEN
A MITHRAIC (CHTISTIAN) DOCTRINE
FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS.
Along
with This new doctrine came the new
unpardonable sin doctrine and the new penalty of eternal damnation for
disbelief (honest doubt). No doctrine except one ever gave the church more
psychological power over the people than This doctrine of the unpardonable sin. This doctrine of the Ghost being the same as God and Jesus broke
upon the scene of the early church of “The Way” as suddenly as a summer
rainstorm in South Georgia. It also came at the right time, just when the
church needed such a doctrine to gather wealth to go along with its new power.
Until
325 AD, the difficulty in the Jewish sect of The Way was whether Jesus was
fully God or fully man, or whether God just entered Jesus at his baptism and
left him at his crucifixion. The early church never discussed if the Holy Ghost
was God or not. No one discussed the unpardonable sin. There was no
unpardonable sin in the early Jewish church (called The Way) until 325 AD.
Finally,
after 325 AD, in order to be saved and not commit the unpardonable sin, one had
to believe in God, Jesus, Holy Ghost and the church in This specially prescribed manner.
He also had to believe all of the claims made for the Holy Ghost by anyone and
every one of the church leaders, or bs
burned at the stake. And that was just before he went to hell.
Luckily, if one does not believe in these
ungodly and unjust claims (the Doctrine of the Trinity and unpardonable sin) he
is not likely to worry about them. Neither is he likely to make application for
salvation from the churches that teach This doctrine. Only the non-thinkers (the believers) can
accept This
illogical, sacrilegious and devilish doctrine. God is not so dishonest that he
would or could, condemn a person forever because that person Honestly
questioned and honestly wished to know the truth about some of the unbelievable
statements and claims made in the Book of the Ghost. I have a higher opinion of
God than that! How about you?
DID SOMEONE LIE ABOUT THIS
DOCTRINE IN THE BIBLE?
DID TWO OR MORE SOMEONES LIE?
Almost
all other religions, except the Hindu, Buddhist and Oriental religions, have an
unpardonable sin doctrine. Under the Hindu and Buddhist teachings, all of
mankind are to be saved. I think I like the Buddhist
and Hindu beliefs best on this point. So, boiling the claims down to their
smallest and simplest form, one must believe in all of the claims and advice of
the Holy Ghost and in his inspired Holy Bible - or it is hell fire and
damnation for him.
You cannot pick and choose with the advice
and claims of the Holy Ghost. You either accept it all, or you have spoken
against the Ghost. The Bible is not a cafeteria. You cannot pick and choose!
You must eat what you are served - or go to hell. So says the Holy Ghost in his
holy book.
If
one believes and obeys everything, he will not be committing the unpardonable
sin. Only then will he be truly saved. To honestly doubt any of the inspired
claims and advice of the Ghost is to be eternally lost and condemned to hell
fire forever. Did I say forever is a long time? Do not All Christians reject
some portion of the Bible? Hell is going to be pretty crowded.
HONEST
DOUBT IS THE REAL UNPARDONABLE SIN.
The
anathema and enemy of All religious salvations
is Honest Doubt. Now you are faced with a most critical question. Select the
question that will enable you to find the truth about this matter.
1.
Have I committed the unpardonable sin against the Ghost?
2.
Does the Holy Spirit or Ghost exist as described in the Bible?
If you selected number two, you have
selected correctly and wisely. The question “does the Holy Spirit exist” is the
only one that will allow you to Honestly examine the facts from both sides of
the question. The truth could be the Holy Ghost does exist, or it could be the
Holy Ghost does not exist. The truth could also be that the Ghost does exist
but doesn't care a spit against the wind if you speak against him or not.
But
the true believer can hardly ask question number two. He has great difficulty
because he is a believer. To ask the first question, "have I committed the
unpardonable sin," is to accept the conclusion that the Holy Ghost of God
does, in fact, exist. After that, he must accept as true what the Bible says
about the Holy Ghost. The Honest Clear Thinker is only dealing with the problem
of whether or not that which is called the Holy Ghost in the Bible does or does
not exist. The believer starts with a predetermined conclusion and sees no
alternative. To the believer, the Holy Ghost is God and Jesus and the Ghost
does exist regardless of what the truth, facts or morality of the matter may
be.
That a good and just God could not possibly
be that devilish, immoral and unjust never enters the believer's mind. That any
God could, or would, command us to stop honestly thinking and command us to
start believing these unbelievable claims, is both outside of the definition of
a good and just God and beyond the comprehension of any honest thinking person.
No good and just God could condemn a person for honestly hunting for the truth.
No good or just God ever wrote such unbelievable nonsense in any book.
TO BELIEVE IS TO EXCLUDE THE POSSIBILITY
OF BEING WRONG.
So
a person who is a believer can hardly have the desire, the will, the honesty,
or the Courage to check up on the facts of the question and find out if the
Holy Ghost does exist - or not. And if so, are the claims for him true? The
truth, morality and honesty of the matter never even enters
the believer's mind. To the believer, it would be the unpardonable sin to
honestly and seriously question whether the Holy Ghost exists, whether he is
God or not, or if he really does oppose and condemn the honest hunt for truth.
However, (and this is an important however)
there is Hope! If even a little bit of Honest Doubt and Courage comes into the
mind of a believer, then he is released or freed by exactly that same little
bit. If the believer doubts a little, he is a little free - to be Honest. If he
doubts a lot, he is free a lot. The bigger the doubt, the bigger the freedom
one has to be Honest.
The proof of the reality, or the
nonexistence of the Holy Ghost being God is tied directly to the question of
the Bible. If the Bible tells the truth there is a Holy Ghost, and thus, there
is also the unpardonable sin. However, if the Bible is not telling the truth,
the doctrine of the unpardonable sin is not true. (We will examine more about
the truthfulness of the Bible in Chapters 5 and 6.)
In all unpardonable sin doctrines, in all
the religions, Believers And Honest Doubters are threatened with eternal
punishment. The only way to keep from sinning this unpardonable sin is to Believe and Obey everything that your particular religion
teaches. The only way to commit the unpardonable sin is to Honestly Doubt some
of the unbelievable religious claims and advice made by priests, preachers,
rabbis, prophets and the Holy Book of the Holy Ghost.
The only way to commit the unpardonable sin
is to honestly try to find out the Truth about these matters. The honest search
for truth is a Sin that will send you to hell forever and forever (if the Bible
is true). The Honest search for truth is condemned by the Holy Ghost and his Holy
Book.
So, according to the Word of God, inspired
by the Holy Ghost, the only possible way to sin so dreadfully that even God
will not forgive you, is to:
BE
HONEST AND THINK LOGICALLY.
AND THAT IS THE UNPARDONABLE SIN.
You have now seen how the Clear Thinking
philosophy looks at a problem. By looking at the problem of the unpardonable
sin in Christianity, we find ourselves faced with the necessity of taking
another step. We need to examine the heart of the matter. That is, we must look
at the difference between Belief and Doubt.
The first rule in the Clear Thinking
philosophy is to Honestly Doubt any claim or advice that is not accompanied by
reasonable facts, reliable witnesses, acceptable morality, or that is provable.
DOUBT
IS THE EXERCISE OF HONEST THOUGHT.
HONEST
DOUBT IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM.
