Copyright: September
1999
Thomas E. Blaylock, Jr.
Updated: 03/15/05.
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 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, which 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. 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. 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 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 still religiously oriented 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.
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. O, by not following the
advice of the Ghost, one will be condemned forever to horrible punishment and
torment. He 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 men
(or God) have chosen to call such Honesty, the unpardonable sin. So we find the
unpardonable sin is something you honestly Think. This sin is simply an honest
conclusion that harms neither God nor man, and certainly, it does not harm the
one who has these honest doubts and thoughts, which are classified by the Holy
Bible and Holy Ghost as the unpardonable sin.
Did
an honest and just God allow such a dishonest and unjust rule into his holy
book? Did God really make Honest thinking a sin? 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, 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 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 matter is that someone
claims that the Holy Ghost came into their head.) They say the Holy Spirit told
them to make the claims and give the 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.
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. 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
forever - together - 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 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 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. The Holy Ghost is also claimed to
be a judge passing sentences on people, a congress passing laws, a messenger
carrying petitions to 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, a 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 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 324 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
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 and the unpardonable sin sprang fully developed as a test of orthodoxy.
HOWEVER, THIS DOCTRINE HAD BEEN
A MITHRAIC (CHRISTIAN) 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 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 be 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 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.
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?
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 in 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 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 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 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 wrote that in his 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. The truth, morality and honesty of the matter
never even enter 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 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.
