I just committed the unforgiveable sin

[Monica4316]

I’m posting here cause I have nowhere to go about this, I don’t have anyone to ask!!

I just committed the unforgiveable sin… this is it…I don’t know what to do!!!
I’m so scared… and I just feel numb…

for the past couple weeks I’ve been tempted with horrible blasphemous thoughts against the Holy Spirit. I’ve resisted them, and sometimes I felt them but still didn’t will them and didn’t WANT to feel them.

Today, things seemed to be going better… and suddenly, I felt tempted with the thoughts again. And this time, once, I gave in. I completely gave in! For a moment, I MADE THE CHOICE to think the words in my head and MEAN THEM. I chose this - in my will! I chose to go with the temptation.

Jesus said all would be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit… and I just did it… I just chose to blaspheme the Holy Spirit! I’m going to hell!!!

oh my goodness… please please help me… it’s midnight here and I have no one to talk to… is there still hope for me? Can I come back? Or is this it? I don’t even know WHY I chose these words… it wasn’t out of malice… it wasn’t for any reason at all. I just gave in to the temptation. The temptation was so strong.

Please pray for me a sinner

 

[LilyM]

Monica - Jesus said ‘EVERY sin that men commit will be forgiven them’. The only sin that cannot be forgiven is sin that is not repented of.

So the real and only ‘unforgiveable’ ‘blasphemy against the Holy Spirit’ occurs if you die impenitent.

Rest assured that as long as you have repented your sinful thoughts, which you have done, and resolve to confess them to your priest as soon as you can do so, you CAN be forgiven no matter what those thoughts were - ‘Whatever sins you forgive will be forgiven’ after all.

:hug3: prayers for you

 

[JaredR]

You have not committed the unforgivable sin, Monica. The enemy wants you to fear God. That is their lie, that God is towering over His servants waiting for an excuse to send them to hell. Jesus is love and mercy! He knows you don’t want these thoughts. He knows you love Him.

Remember a week ago you helped me in my thread about trusting God’s mercy? Well, now it’s my turn: trust Jesus when He says He is mercy!

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!

 

[Monica4316]

Lily, I don’t understand how it can be

Blasphemy is speaking evil against God… the thoughts were evil and towards the Holy Spirit… which translates as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit… and I meant them, though I don’t know why I meant them - I think it was because the temptation was so strong and I was tired of fighting, and totally gave into it

I feel this strange numbness inside

I’m so afraid… I feel almost certain there’s no hope… please pray for me

 

[Monica4316]

You have not committed the unforgivable sin, Monica. The enemy wants you to fear God. That is their lie, that God is towering over His servants waiting for an excuse to send them to hell. Jesus is love and mercy! He knows you don’t want these thoughts. He knows you love Him.

Remember a week ago you helped me in my thread about trusting God’s mercy? Well, now it’s my turn: trust Jesus when He says He is mercy!

O Blood and Water, which gushed forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of Mercy for us, I trust in You!

Jared but I chose that thought, that particular time!!! It wasn’t just an intrusive thought, it wasn’t just a feeling, it was a choice made in my will… and I feel that I’d never be able to come back… I’m praying for a miracle…

 

[JaredR]

Jared but I chose that thought, that particular time!!! It wasn’t just an intrusive thought, it wasn’t just a feeling, it was a choice made in my will… and I feel that I’d never be able to come back… I’m praying for a miracle…

Did you really choose the thought though? You said yourself you didn’t know why you meant it. Do you think God is going to send you to hell because of something you thought in the heat of the moment?

Even if you did, look at St. Peter. He denied Jesus three times. That was definitely not a slip of a tongue by the third time he said it. Yet Jesus forgave Him and honored Him above the other apostles. Surely what you thought wasn’t as bad as denying Jesus three times.

 

[LilyM]

Lily, I don’t understand how it can be

Blasphemy is speaking evil against God… the thoughts were evil and towards the Holy Spirit… which translates as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit… and I meant them, though I don’t know why I meant them - I think it was because the temptation was so strong and I was tired of fighting, and totally gave into it

I feel this strange numbness inside

I’m so afraid… I feel almost certain there’s no hope… please pray for me

You want an explanation? I can give you a million. Here are a the ones that come immediately to mind. a) It’s a bad translation. b) It’s a figure of speech of some kind that we’re unaware of. c) You’re taking an overly literal understanding of the passage (as so many Christians do with so many passages of scripture).

Any one of these is immeasurably more likely than your idea. To answer a question with a question, how can it be impossible notion that God places such an arbitrary limit on His Mercy as to deny forgiveness for this particular sin?

Why, if literally true, is it blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, when blasphemy against the Father or Son are treated exactly like all other sins and are forgiveable?

How is thinking bad thoughts about the Holy Spirit different in nature to other blasphemies that would make it unforgiveable and not ALL blasphemy? It isn’t - and it IS forgiveable.

Please, trust in His Mercy - He died so that your sins - ALL of them - could be forgiven if you but repent and confess. Trust in His commission to the Apostles that WHATEVER sins they forgive (as long as you are genuinely contrite) will be truly forgiven.

 

[Monica4316]

Did you really choose the thought though? You said yourself you didn’t know why you meant it. Do you think God is going to send you to hell because of something you thought in the heat of the moment?

Even if you did, look at St. Peter. He denied Jesus three times. That was definitely not a slip of a tongue by the third time he said it. Yet Jesus forgave Him and honored Him above the other apostles. Surely what you thought wasn’t as bad as denying Jesus three times.

Jesus said we would be forgiven if we deny Him, but not if we blaspheme the Holy Spirit I actually dont know what to do… I feel that I did mean it, because I thought the words slowly, I had the opportunity to turn back, but I didn’t, I just gave in… It’s like in that moment, I chose to hate the Holy Spirit and to think something horrible against Him. But now I’m regretting this… I want to come back… but I don’t know how… And I don’t understand why I don’t feel a great sense of contrition, I feel sorry for what Iv’e done and want to take it back, but generally I feel numb inside

how can a person tell if the Holy Spirit is still working in them?

You want an explanation? I can give you a million. Here are a the ones that come immediately to mind. a) It’s a bad translation. b) It’s a figure of speech of some kind that we’re unaware of. c) You’re taking an overly literal understanding of the passage (as so many Christians do with so many passages of scripture).

Any one of these is immeasurably more likely than the impossible notion that God places such an arbitrary limit on His Mercy. Why, if literally true, is it blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, when blasphemy against the Father or Son are treated exactly like all other sins and are forgiveable? How is thinking bad thoughts about the Holy Spirit different in nature to other blasphemies that would make it unforgiveable? It isn’t - and it IS forgiveable.

Please, trust in His Mercy - He died so that your sins - ALL of them - could be forgiven if you but repent and confess. Trust in His commission to the Apostles that WHATEVER sins they forgive (as long as you are genuinely contrite) will be truly forgiven.

when a person blasphemes the Holy Spirit, they’re blocking themselves off from the one who gives forgiveness and brings people to repentance… so they don’t repent

thing is, I CAN’T TELL how repentant I am, I wish I had more contrition, I don’t understand how I’m feeling

please pray that the Holy Spirit would give me true contrition for my sin

 

[Erethorn]

Monica, I remember reading somewhere on this site that by “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” we must understand turning away from God (who works on us through the Holy Spirit) in the our of our death.

In other words, the ONLY unforgiveable sin is that, when we get our LAST chance, we willingly and consciously tell the Holy Spirit, and through Him, Jesus and the Father - “NO, I DON"T NEED YOU, or your mercy, I’m going my own way”.

It means total lack of repent and a final decision to separate fully from God.

That’s what the unforgiveable sin is.

And it’s clearly NOT YOUR CASE. On the contrary, it is the Holy Spirit Himself leading you to repent for whatever sin it might have been that you committed, and seek advice, and feel sorry and all that.

But It is the devil leading you to believe you might be damned for good. I second the opinion of JaredR. Monica, a while ago you helped me too, with those wonderful citations from - I think it was St. Faustina, the dialogue between the sinner and Jesus - when I thought I could never forgive myself for a sin. It did help me a lot. Just go back to those words.

I will pray that you come to see God’s mercy and kick the devil in the ****

God bless.

Layer edit:

thing is, I CAN’T TELL how repentant I am, I wish I had more contrition, I don’t understand how I’m feeling

please pray that the Holy Spirit would give me true contrition for my sin

But you are contrite. By the very fact that you worry about it, and that you ask for contrition, and you ask people to pray for it, you show TRUE contrition.
Quit worrying, pray, and go confess. You’ll be OK.

Peace.

 

[JaredR]

I’ve got to go, but I wanted to post the John Paul II quote here in case you hadn’t seen it at CF. “According to such an exegesis, ‘blasphemy’ does not properly consist in offending against the Holy Spirit in words; it consists rather in the refusal to accept the salvation which God offers to man through the Holy Spirit, working through the power of the Cross” (Dominum et Vivificantem, Encyclical Letter on the Holy Spirit, no. 46).

Praying… :hug1:

 

[LilyM]

when a person blasphemes the Holy Spirit, they’re blocking themselves off from the one who gives forgiveness and brings people to repentance… so they don’t repent

But forgiveness and repentance doesn’t come from the Holy Spirit alone, NOTHING comes from the Holy Spirit alone, rather from the whole Trinity working together. They always work together - for forgiveness and repentance as for everything else. That’s why the priest absolves you in the name of Father and Son as well as Holy Spirit.

So to blaspheme ANY member of the Trinity means you’re ‘blocking yourself off from the one who gives forgiveness and brings people to repentance’. That’s why ALL blasphemy is mortal sin, as ALL mortal sin does the same! It’s quite the leap to say it’s unforgiveable though.

thing is, I CAN’T TELL how repentant I am, I wish I had more contrition, I don’t understand how I’m feeling

That’s the beauty of the sacrament of confession - it doesn’t matter HOW repentant you are, just matters that you ARE repentant. Read the Catechism. With due respect to scripture, if you have contrition the size of a mustard seed, in the confessional you can use it to move a mountain of sins.

 

[Monica4316]

My intention was not at all to refuse salvation… I dont’ even know what my intention was, I didn’t have any, I just gave in cause I stopped fighting

I hope so much you are all right

Lord have mercy on me a sinner

 

[LilyM]

Jesus said we would be forgiven if we deny Him, but not if we blaspheme the Holy Spirit I actually dont know what to do… I feel that I did mean it, because I thought the words slowly, I had the opportunity to turn back, but I didn’t, I just gave in… It’s like in that moment, I chose to hate the Holy Spirit and to think something horrible against Him. But now I’m regretting this… I want to come back… but I don’t know how… And I don’t understand why I don’t feel a great sense of contrition, I feel sorry for what Iv’e done and want to take it back, but generally I feel numb inside

Of course you meant it and chose it - it’s an essential attribute of any mortal sin that we MEAN and CHOOSE to sin, but that doesn’t make your mortal sin or any other unforgiveable!

how can a person tell if the Holy Spirit is still working in them?

If the Holy Spirit were not working in you, you would NOT regret what you’d done, you would NOT feel sorry and want to come back. In fact you wouldn’t be on here trying to figure out exactly how serious your sin was.

There’s only One who can grant us the gifts and grace of repentance and regret for sin, and it sure isn’t the devil!

 

[LilyM]

My intention was not at all to refuse salvation… I dont’ even know what my intention was, I didn’t have any, I just gave in cause I stopped fighting

I hope so much you are all right

Lord have mercy on me a sinner

Go to confession ASAP and talk to your priest about your concerns, in the meantime don’t fret - do you seriously think you could even PRAY for mercy as you do if you’d really committed the unforgiveable sin?

 

[mfj]

These other posters are the Holy Spirit trying to comfort you. I know you don’t thinnk them mean or blasphemous or arrogant pretending to speak on Gd’s behalf. It is Love and who is Love?

One of the prerequisits for a sin to be a sin is for the person to purposfully choose it over Gd!
So every one of us who has sinned, has by that definition told Gd we don’t care what he says.
You can not let the enemy win by quiting all together.

The tiniest drop of His Blood would cover the world’s sin, how much do you think you’ve done compared with that

I would see a priest. Absolution is the Healer. And being tormented is serious in nature.
Do not under estimate your enemy.

 

[Monica4316]

I read in Divine Mercy in My Soul that souls in hell also feel remorse of conscience… however they also feel despair and are unable to turn to God… they don’t turn to Him for mercy… I have asked Jesus for mercy, does this mean there’s hope?

“Today I was led by an Angel to the chasms of hell. It is a place of real torture; how awesomely large and extensive it is! The kinds of tortures I saw: the first torture that constitutes hell is the loss of God; the second is perpetual remorse of conscience; the third is that one’s condition will never change; the fourth is the fire that will penetrate the soul without destroying it - a terrible suffering, since it is a purely spiritual fire, …the fifth torture is continual darkness and a terrible suffocating smell, and, despite the darkness, the devils and the souls of the damned see each other and all the evil, both of others and their own; the sixth torture is the constant company of Satan; the seventh torture is horrible despair, hatred of God, vile words, curses and blasphemies. These are the tortures suffered by all the damned together, but that is not the end of the sufferings. There are special tortures destined for particular souls.”

“Do not fear, My little child, you are not alone. Fight bravely, because My arm is supporting you; fight for the salvation of souls, exhorting them to trust in My mercy, as that is your task in this life and in the life to come.” After these words, I received a deeper understanding of divine mercy. Only that soul who wants [to be damned] will be damned, for God condemns no one."

“Tell them that no soul that has called upon My mercy has been disappointed or brought to shame. I delight particularly in a soul which has placed its trust in My goodness.”

I want so much for this to be true

 

[Monica4316]

I feel that the ‘choice’ was more through weakness than through a rejection of the Holy Spirit, or God, or salvation, etc… I don’t know if this counts though

I’m remembering all the things the Holy Spirit has done in my life, and it’s so horrible what I did

I looked up the passage in Matthew 12, and right after saying that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgiveable, Jesus says that our words indicate what is in our hearts… so maybe the real problem here is that the Pharisees rejected the Holy Spirit in their hearts? but I do not… I don’t even know why I thought those words, the temptation was very strong, but I didn’t think them out of any previous rejection…

30"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. 31And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

33"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

 

[twf]

Monica: EVERY poster thus far has assured you that you have not committed the unforgivable sin. Why do you still doubt? Satan is attacking you…pray a Hail Mary and the St Michael prayer. The unforgivable sin is to reject the grace of the Holy Spirit up until the last moment of your life. Another poster quoted Pope John Paul to demonstrate that this interpretation is correct. Do you doubt the late Holy Father as well?
The Catechism also affirms this teaching:
CCC#1864 …but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.’ There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit…’

Read the section in the Catechism on the sacrament of penance. ALL sins can be forgiven. Jesus loves you Monica.

 

[Lief_Erikson]

I’m posting here cause I have nowhere to go about this, I don’t have anyone to ask!!

I just committed the unforgiveable sin… this is it…I don’t know what to do!!!
I’m so scared… and I just feel numb…

for the past couple weeks I’ve been tempted with horrible blasphemous thoughts against the Holy Spirit. I’ve resisted them, and sometimes I felt them but still didn’t will them and didn’t WANT to feel them.

Today, things seemed to be going better… and suddenly, I felt tempted with the thoughts again. And this time, once, I gave in. I completely gave in! For a moment, I MADE THE CHOICE to think the words in my head and MEAN THEM. I chose this - in my will! I chose to go with the temptation.

Jesus said all would be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit… and I just did it… I just chose to blaspheme the Holy Spirit! I’m going to hell!!!

oh my goodness… please please help me… it’s midnight here and I have no one to talk to… is there still hope for me? Can I come back? Or is this it? I don’t even know WHY I chose these words… it wasn’t out of malice… it wasn’t for any reason at all. I just gave in to the temptation. The temptation was so strong.

Please pray for me a sinner

First of all, it’s hard to say for sure that this is a mortal sin because your will was not wholly free in the matter. You were enduring strong pressure, and a mortal sin has to be free, premeditated and deliberate to be mortal. You gave in to strong pressures of the moment, which is not necessarily a mortal sin. Though obviously you should take this to Confession as soon as possible. You also are sincerely sorry, which is a very good sign. Your sin did not come from a malignant will but from caving to pressure. I’ve experienced similar things in the past and I know what that kind of mental pressure can be like. It is horrible, it is from the devil, but caving into something under strong pressure is not the same as committing an act freely and deliberately.

So I want to emphasize again that it is by no means certain this sin was mortal. It’s of grave matter and I think with full knowledge, but it does NOT sound like you gave the sin “full and deliberate consent.”

There’s a second point that’s also very important for you to be aware of. That is the definition of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Blasphemy against Holy Spirit is unrepentant mortal sin persisted in to the end of one’s life. For throughout one’s life, the Holy Spirit is there speaking to the soul, calling it to holiness. When we reject Him and keep rejecting Him, we sin mortally and shut Him out of our lives, which is reviling His very nature and so is blasphemous.

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is a sin people can be falling into during their lives but can never complete in their earthly lives until the moment of death. Any mortal sin can be forgiven as long as we are alive on Earth. That is the teaching of the Catholic Church. There is no sin beyond God’s forgiveness. The reason Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit cannot be forgiven is that it is the sin of rejecting the Holy Spirit’s witness to the soul in life all the way to the hour of death.

I’ll show you the Catechism’s explanation of Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit to prove my point.

1864 "Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven."136 There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.137 Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.

I’d bet you a lot, Monica, that the reason the devil tempted you so strongly toward this particular sin is that he knows how you are prone to fear and worry, so he thought to himself, “maybe this is a way I can steer her away from trusting God and holding firm to her faith.” Which is not true. You went to others for help and I just know God won’t let this shake you away from holding fast to Him.

Just seek (and pray to Mary) to trust God more and more . This experience you’re going through now can be a great thing to grow from and learn from if you let God use it that way. I’ve heard of several other people who went through the same great fear that they’d Blasphemed the Holy Ghost and then later on they lost that fear when they learned what it means to commit that sin, that this sin is impenitent rejection of God. They learned about the depth of God’s mercy through this. They were penitent and they received forgiveness. You certainly can too.

Don’t listen to the fear and don’t let it bind you. Pray to Mary and trust in the Lord, your Rock and Salvation. He won’t let you down.

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

Oh Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Oh Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us. Oh Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee! Amen.

Don’t be afraid, Monica. God is with you still and He’ll never abandon you. Defy the devil through determined faith and may God bless you with His peace.

Romans 8:38-39,

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

[Monica4316]

TWF,

Thank you…

how do I know that I’m repenting? what is repentance, exactly… if I’ve said I’m sorry to God and asked for His mercy, and want to come back, and told Him that I accept the Holy Spirit again… and want to go to Confession… does that qualify as repentance? because in Hebrews it says:

Hebrews 12:16-17
“Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
For ye know how that afterward , when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected : for **he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears **.”

Esau sought repentance and didn’t find it… ? how do we know if we’ve found it or not? Sorry if this is a stupid question… I just don’t know what to think