What is blasphemy?

[Trurl]

I read that there is one sin, for which there is no forgiveness: “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”. If this is correct (and I don’t know if it is), then I hope there is some proper, official teaching about just “what is blasphemy againt the Holy Spirit?” Words? What words? Actions? What actions? Thoughts? What thoughts? How can one avoid committing an unforgivable sin if there is no proper guideline to tell what not to do? Any official teaching on the subject? Thanks.

 

[1AugustSon7]

I read that there is one sin, for which there is no forgiveness: “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”. If this is correct (and I don’t know if it is), then I hope there is some proper, official teaching about just “what is blasphemy againt the Holy Spirit?” Words? What words? Actions? What actions? Thoughts? What thoughts? How can one avoid committing an unforgivable sin if there is no proper guideline to tell what not to do? Any official teaching on the subject? Thanks.

There is official teaching on the subject, yes. I believe His Holiness John Paul II has also taken up the question explicitly in one of his encyclicals.

Blasphemy is ordinarily something said but it of course originates from the human heart: i.e., there’s an animus behind it that could also animate actions.

I believe - though don’t quote me - Pope John Paul II linked the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit mentined in Holy Writ with *final impenitence *: i.e., a hardening of the heart that refuses God’s grace, love and forgiveness to “the bitter end.”

 

[dchezik]

I read that there is one sin, for which there is no forgiveness: “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”. If this is correct (and I don’t know if it is), then I hope there is some proper, official teaching about just “what is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?” Words? What words? Actions? What actions? Thoughts? What thoughts? How can one avoid committing an unforgivable sin if there is no proper guideline to tell what not to do? Any official teaching on the subject? Thanks.

 This is an excellent question that is reasonable given the awful consequences.  The explanation of this "unpardonable sin" occurs in a context where the miracles of Jesus were being attributed to Satan (Matthew 12:32-32). Jesus, apparently disgusted by the crowd's failure to believe in him despite the miracles he performed,  said something to the effect that "all sins will forgiven but the sin against the holy spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this age, nor in the age to come." Because some explained his miracles by saying he did these through the power of the devil, that really ticked him off and he read them the riot act and said they would never be forgiven for this heinous sin -- not in this age nor in the age to come.  
The unpardonable sin has usually been interpreted as attributing the works of the holy spirit to Satan although it is unclear why this should be such a heinous sin as to cause ineluctable eternal damnation.
 The so-called "unpardonable sin" has caused untold worry to those Christians who have "obsessive thoughts" and without willing it and knowing that blasphemy against the holy spirit is the unpardonable sin, seem compelled involuntarily to think blasphemous thoughts about the Holy Spirit that they cannot keep from coming into their minds.  It is a little reminiscent of Poe's story called "The Imp of the Perverse" in which the main character commits the perfect crime, but in exulting in his cleverness, thinks, "They can never catch me..." and then the thought enters his mind, "unless...unless..." -- he can't hold it back -- "...unless I were to confess!" And he runs to the police station and confesses!  I suspect Poe, himself, may have had problems with obsessive thoughts.  
Here's an illustration of how it works:  "I'll give you a million dollars if you can go 5 minutes without thinking about an elephant."  Can't do it, can you?
But let's give the omniscient God who sees into men's hearts a little credit here.  I think God would respond to the vilest blasphemy anyone can utter with "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me!"  Or, maybe he'll say, "I'll see you in hell for that insult, Buster!"  What do you think is most consistent with the character of God?

 

[bzkoss236]

My understanding “blaspheming against the Holy Spirit” has been that in full knowing of the existence of the Holy Spirit as a person in God and rejecting Him. This doesn’t count knowing that people claim the Holy Spirit exists. You have to be in full belief that the Holy Spirit exists. So a regular atheist who doesn’t believe in the existence of God in general, would not be able to commit this sin because of their doubt as to His existence, so their is still hope for them.

Like I said, this is just my understanding from what I’ve gathered. If someone can point me to more official Church teaching on the matter, that would be helpful.

 

[thistle]

I read that there is one sin, for which there is no forgiveness: “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”. If this is correct (and I don’t know if it is), then I hope there is some proper, official teaching about just “what is blasphemy againt the Holy Spirit?” Words? What words? Actions? What actions? Thoughts? What thoughts? How can one avoid committing an unforgivable sin if there is no proper guideline to tell what not to do? Any official teaching on the subject? Thanks.

CCC 1864 “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the 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. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.

 

[R_C]

When I read the title of this thread, I tremble at the thought of the answers you would have received on Yahoo Answers…

While you will get many useful answers on the official teachings, I’ll just say that I believe one cannot commit the unforgivable sin without (a) being fully aware of what he is doing, and (b) refusing to repent. Because there is no mortal sin without full knowledge and deliberate consent, and there is nothing that God will not forgive if we repent, except that for which we refuse to ask for forgiveness.

 

[Trurl]

1AugustSon7:

There is official teaching on the subject, yes. I believe His Holiness John Paul II has also taken up the question explicitly in one of his encyclicals.

Blasphemy is ordinarily something said but it of course originates from the human heart: i.e., there’s an animus behind it that could also animate actions.

I believe - though don’t quote me - Pope John Paul II linked the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit mentined in Holy Writ with final impenitence : i.e., a hardening of the heart that refuses God’s grace, love and forgiveness to “the bitter end.”

Nice, but generic. As the saying goes, “God is in the details”.

bzkoss236:

My understanding “blaspheming against the Holy Spirit” has been that in full knowing of the existence of the Holy Spirit as a person in God and rejecting Him. This doesn’t count knowing that people claim the Holy Spirit exists. You have to be in full belief that the Holy Spirit exists. So a regular atheist who doesn’t believe in the existence of God in general, would not be able to commit this sin because of their doubt as to His existence, so their is still hope for them.

Like I said, this is just my understanding from what I’ve gathered. If someone can point me to more official Church teaching on the matter, that would be helpful.

Very reasonable. But we don’t know if it is correct or not.

thistle:

CCC 1864 “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the 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. Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.

Unfortunately that is not really helpful. Does it mean that the atheists (or any non-christians), who simply do not believe in God, do not believe the notion of sin or idea of salvation actually are blasphemous in their behavior? Mind you, they can be perfectly aware of the teachings, but do not believe them.

 

[thenobes]

I read that there is one sin, for which there is no forgiveness: “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”. If this is correct (and I don’t know if it is), then I hope there is some proper, official teaching about just “what is blasphemy againt the Holy Spirit?” Words? What words? Actions? What actions? Thoughts? What thoughts? How can one avoid committing an unforgivable sin if there is no proper guideline to tell what not to do? Any official teaching on the subject? Thanks.

It’s calling good evil. And it’s unforgivable because it leads one to definitively reject the Good.

How can one come to repent of evil if he sees good as evil itself? At that point only a special effort of God to bring one to see the good is possible.

That separation from God cannot be bridged by any effort on one’s own part. If one had some belief that good IS good, then some repentance could come to one from the work of the Holy Spirit within that belief.

But rejecting the Holy Spirit rejects the source of repentance itself.

peace
steve

peace
steve

 

[thistle]

Nice, but generic. As the saying goes, “God is in the details”.

Very reasonable. But we don’t know if it is correct or not.

Unfortunately that is not really helpful. Does it mean that the atheists (or any non-christians), who simply do not believe in God, do not believe the notion of sin or idea of salvation actually are blasphemous in their behavior? Mind you, they can be perfectly aware of the teachings, but do not believe them.

Atheists by definition do not believe in God and if they die unrepentant then they go to Hell no matter what their behaviour during life is.

 

[Trurl]

thistle:

Atheists by definition do not believe in God and if they die unrepentant then they go to Hell no matter what their behaviour during life is.

A few questions.

1. Does the lack of belief constitute blasphemy?
2. How can you (or anyone else) have positive knowledge about the second-to-second behavior of each and every atheist? How do you know that every one of them did something that “needs” to be repented? After all the only common trait among the atheists is that they lack the belief in God.
3. To commit a mortal sin, there are three requirements: a) the act must be a grave matter, 2) the person who commits the act must be fully aware that it is a grave matter, and 3) the person must act with full consent. Now, let’s suppose that the lack of belief is a grave matter according to some believers (or maybe even by the catholic church). However, the atheist does nor accept that it is a grave matter, therefore she cannot act with full knowledge that it is a grave matter. Of course the atheist is aware that some people consider it a grave matter, but it is not the same as “knowing” that it is a grave matter. You see my point?
4. Is your post your personal opinion, or is it the official teaching of the church?

 

[thistle]

A few questions.

1. Does the lack of belief constitute blasphemy?
2. How can you (or anyone else) have positive knowledge about the second-to-second behavior of each and every atheist? How do you know that every one of them did something that “needs” to be repented? After all the only common trait among the atheists is that they lack the belief in God.
3. To commit a mortal sin, there are three requirements: a) the act must be a grave matter, 2) the person who commits the act must be fully aware that it is a grave matter, and 3) the person must act with full consent. Now, let’s suppose that the lack of belief is a grave matter according to some believers (or maybe even by the catholic church). However, the atheist does nor accept that it is a grave matter, therefore she cannot act with full knowledge that it is a grave matter. Of course the atheist is aware that some people consider it a grave matter, but it is not the same as “knowing” that it is a grave matter. You see my point?
4. Is your post your personal opinion, or is it the official teaching of the church?

CCC 2148 Blasphemy is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward him in one’s speech; in misusing God’s name. St. James condemns those “who blaspheme that honorable name [of Jesus] by which you are called.” The prohibition of blasphemy extends to language against Christ’s Church, the saints, and sacred things. It is also blasphemous to make use of God’s name to cover up criminal practices, to reduce peoples to servitude, to torture persons or put them to death. The misuse of God’s name to commit a crime can provoke others to repudiate religion.
Blasphemy is contrary to the respect due God and his holy name. It is in itself a grave sin.

You should have read my post carefully. I did not say anything about the “second to second” behaviour of atheists. I don’t need to know that. I said their behaviour (whether it is blasphemous or not) doesn’t matter if they “DIE” unrepentant. Its the state of their soul at death that determines their destination. If they deny God to the end without repenting then they go to Hell, and yes its an official Church teaching that baptism is necessary for salvation and that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church.

 

[dchezik]

It has always struck me as odd that salvation would hinge upon belief and that blasphemy should be such a big deal. Muslims of course really take it seriously and have a very low threshold for what is blasphemy.

First, why should belief be required for salvation? Can anyone think of any other situation where what you believe and not what you do is so important? No boss ever tells a subordinate, “Do this – and by the way BELIEVE that it is good thing to do.” No parent ever tells a child, “you have to clean your room – and BELIEVE that you should.” No lender ever tells a borrower, you have to pay me back and BELIEVE that you owe me.

IMHO, I think it’s because requiring belief for salvation ensures that the religion will be perpetuated.

And how would we know if someone BELIEVES? Because we can’t see into their minds, we have to have rituals and rules that attest to belief. We have to “believe in our hearts” and “confess with our mouths.” Someone who follows the rules must harbor the underlying belief, else why would they follow them?

And of course, words are the manifestations of belief; hence the importance given to what is said. Obviously, if you say bad things (blaspheme) it shows a disrespect that could not emanate from one who believes. If you think Christians are strict about blasphemy, look at the Muslims. Blasphemy is punishable by death. You could have a fatwah issued on your life just for disrespecting Mohammed.

As I may have said in another post, it’s hard to believe that God would be so touchy about what people say. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” John 4:12-13; Hebrews 10: 2-4.

But I still don’t understand why it was so bad to attribute the works of God to Satan. Or why the Holy Spirit is the one you can’t blaspheme against. You can say all kinds of nasty things about God, the Father and Jesus, the Son, but lay off the holy spirit. Theologians have struggled with this for centuries.

 

[Trurl]

thistle:

CCC 2148 Blasphemy is directly opposed to the second commandment. It consists in uttering against God - inwardly or outwardly - words of hatred, reproach, or defiance; in speaking ill of God; in failing in respect toward him in one’s speech; in misusing God’s name. St. James condemns those “who blaspheme that honorable name [of Jesus] by which you are called.” The prohibition of blasphemy extends to language against Christ’s Church, the saints, and sacred things. It is also blasphemous to make use of God’s name to cover up criminal practices, to reduce peoples to servitude, to torture persons or put them to death. The misuse of God’s name to commit a crime can provoke others to repudiate religion.
Blasphemy is contrary to the respect due God and his holy name. It is in itself a grave sin.

My “goodness”, that sounds pretty serious. Opps, was that euphemism a blasphemy? What about someone saying “Doggone it”? We all know what it stands for.

thistle:

You should have read my post carefully. I did not say anything about the “second to second” behaviour of atheists. I don’t need to know that.

Oh I read it very carefully. Indeed you did not specify a “second to second” knowledge, it was, however, implicitly included. You need to know every act to “know if the atheist did something that NEEDS to be repented”. After all, if one does not do anything sinful, there is no need for repentence. And there are billions of human “beings” (according to the catholic definition of human beings) who all die without ever committing any sin… either venial of mortal and who never reject the grace that God allegedly extended to them… and their “fate” is still uncertain.

thistle:

I said their behaviour (whether it is blasphemous or not) doesn’t matter if they “DIE” unrepentant.

An atheist - by definition - is unable to “repent”. In order to repent one needs to be religious. So according to your argument all atheists are hell-bound. I don’t think that this is the official teaching these days. I wish there would be an “official” teaching on this subject, something definitive.

thistle:

Its the state of their soul at death that determines their destination. If they deny God to the end without repenting then they go to Hell, and yes its an official Church teaching that baptism is necessary for salvation and that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church.

I am aware of this teaching, however it has been “watered down” to irrelevancy. One does not have to be “catholic” in order to be considered to be “inside” the church any more. There is also baptism by desire and baptism by fire… and who knows? there might be others. I wonder if you are aware of the difference between “denying God” and “denying the arguments for God”? An atheist is unable to deny God, he or she is very much capable of denying the concept of God, and these are very different denials.

 

[thistle]

My “goodness”, that sounds pretty serious. Opps, was that euphemism a blasphemy? What about someone saying “Doggone it”? We all know what it stands for.

Oh I read it very carefully. Indeed you did not specify a “second to second” knowledge, it was, however, implicitly included. You need to know every act to “know if the atheist did something that NEEDS to be repented”. After all, if one does not do anything sinful, there is no need for repentence. And there are billions of human “beings” (according to the catholic definition of human beings) who all die without ever committing any sin… either venial of mortal and who never reject the grace that God allegedly extended to them… and their “fate” is still uncertain.

An atheist - by definition - is unable to “repent”. In order to repent one needs to be religious. So according to your argument all atheists are hell-bound. I don’t think that this is the official teaching these days. I wish there would be an “official” teaching on this subject, something definitive.

I am aware of this teaching, however it has been “watered down” to irrelevancy. One does not have to be “catholic” in order to be considered to be “inside” the church any more. There is also baptism by desire and baptism by fire… and who knows? there might be others. I wonder if you are aware of the difference between “denying God” and “denying the arguments for God”? An atheist is unable to deny God, he or she is very much capable of denying the concept of God, and these are very different denials.

And I thought only God could read my mind. There is nothing implicit in what I said. I do not care about the second to second behaviour of atheists. They are irrelevant as to whether they go to Hell or not. It is exclusively the state of a person’s soul at death that determines their destination and not their behaviour while alive, albeit we would like everyone to live a good life.

Atheism is a conscious decision and to not believe in God and die in that state means the person will go to Hell.

By the way, sacramental baptism, baptism of desire, baptism of blood make someone a Catholic. An atheist does not fit into these categories unless they have changed and believe in God and his Church and want to know more.
What is baptism of fire? I have never heard of that and its not something the Church teaches.

 

[dchezik]

“Atheism is a conscious decision and to not believe in God and die in that state means the person will go to Hell.”

First of all, I really don’t think not believing in God is a conscious decision. Do you think that a person just sits down and thinks, “Hmmm! I have a choice. I can believe in God or not. Guess I’ll not believe in God.”? This is a common fallacy – that you can choose what to believe and what not to believe. There are certain factors that cause beliefs, some of which cannot be be overcome by conscious effort. Here, I’ll show you: If you can choose not to believe in God, do it! Just try it for a couple of days and at the end of this, go back to believing. “But,” you say, “I don’t want to not believe.” Ok, so choose to want to. Just for a couple of days. Then you can choose to believe again. Just be especially careful those days you don’t believe, because if you were to get killed you would go to Hell… I guess you would. Unless God looked ahead and saw that you would resume believing shortly and was lenient. Do you see how ridiculous this choosing to believe stuff is?

Here’s another one: If you can choose to believe whatever you want, choose to believe just for a few minutes that your closest family member is really Satan in disguise. Or that your neighbor is an extraterrestrial. Can you choose to believe that?

My point is that we can’t really choose what to believe, no one ever examines their beliefs and culls them out, like “it upsets me to believe that I’m going to die someday, so I’ll just believe I’ll live forever. There, now I feel better! Let’s see…what other beliefs are troubling me…”

Here’s another point: If someone asks you to stop being a Catholic – just completely disavow the whole religion, repent (there’s that key word!) that you ever believed it, to just reject the notion that a merciful, omniscient, infinitely loving God would be so unjust as to sentence you to eternal torment just for what you believe – if someone you loved asked you in a nice way to choose to change your belief, could you?

One final point: I have had many good friends who were Christians try to persuade me to be a Christian again; they pray for me a lot. I am saddened to reject their pleas and disappoint them, but you see, I have thought about it carefully for a l-o-o-o-o-ng time. It took me about 30 years to have the ultimate realization that Christianity was more likely to be false than true, so that is what I “incline toward.”

Having achieved that, I find myself fascinated by the fact that so few people can do what I did. Why can’t they? It goes back to what I said: You can’t choose your beliefs. Things have to happen and you have to think about them to change.

So what am I doing on this list? I consider myself like the sower that went out to sow some seed and some of it fell on fertile ground and grew up, and some of it fell on rock and died. (I think that’s in Matthew somewhere). I’m just sowing seed. (And there is something called “the sleeper effect” that may help.) I see so much pernicious irrationality! Look at the role religion plays in politics and world unrest! Look at the current rioting because – now think about this – because of a movie showing disrespect to the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh)!

Just on this list, I have seen the distress caused by irrational beliefs and I want to ease that distress. I am struck by the case of one Catholic who was wondering if it was a sin to have sex with his wife because he had had a vasectomy years before he become a Catholic. (I am a Ph.D. psychologist with 20 years of teaching and clinical experience).

And yes, I have experienced the worry of hellfire awaiting for me even when I was “saved.” How can you be sure you believe enough? How can you be sure you have satisfied all the requirements? These are doubts I’m glad I’m done with. (By the way, I have also been baptized, so I got that one out of way – Whew!)

Well, you are all my brothers and sisters – we humans have got to stick together!

This is so interesting to me –

 

[thistle]

“Atheism is a conscious decision and to not believe in God and die in that state means the person will go to Hell.”

First of all, I really don’t think not believing in God is a conscious decision. Do you think that a person just sits down and thinks, “Hmmm! I have a choice. I can believe in God or not. Guess I’ll not believe in God.”? This is a common fallacy – that you can choose what to believe and what not to believe. There are certain factors that cause beliefs, some of which cannot be be overcome by conscious effort. Here, I’ll show you: If you can choose not to believe in God, do it! Just try it for a couple of days and at the end of this, go back to believing. “But,” you say, “I don’t want to not believe.” Ok, so choose to want to. Just for a couple of days. Then you can choose to believe again. Just be especially careful those days you don’t believe, because if you were to get killed you would go to Hell… I guess you would. Unless God looked ahead and saw that you would resume believing shortly and was lenient. Do you see how ridiculous this choosing to believe stuff is?

Here’s another one: If you can choose to believe whatever you want, choose to believe just for a few minutes that your closest family member is really Satan in disguise. Or that your neighbor is an extraterrestrial. Can you choose to believe that?

My point is that we can’t really choose what to believe, no one ever examines their beliefs and culls them out, like “it upsets me to believe that I’m going to die someday, so I’ll just believe I’ll live forever. There, now I feel better! Let’s see…what other beliefs are troubling me…”

Here’s another point: If someone asks you to stop being a Catholic – just completely disavow the whole religion, repent (there’s that key word!) that you ever believed it, to just reject the notion that a merciful, omniscient, infinitely loving God would be so unjust as to sentence you to eternal torment just for what you believe – if someone you loved asked you in a nice way to choose to change your belief, could you?

One final point: I have had many good friends who were Christians try to persuade me to be a Christian again; they pray for me a lot. I am saddened to reject their pleas and disappoint them, but you see, I have thought about it carefully for a l-o-o-o-o-ng time. It took me about 30 years to have the ultimate realization that Christianity was more likely to be false than true, so that is what I “incline toward.”

Having achieved that, I find myself fascinated by the fact that so few people can do what I did. Why can’t they? It goes back to what I said: You can’t choose your beliefs. Things have to happen and you have to think about them to change.

So what am I doing on this list? I consider myself like the sower that went out to sow some seed and some of it fell on fertile ground and grew up, and some of it fell on rock and died. (I think that’s in Matthew somewhere). I’m just sowing seed. (And there is something called “the sleeper effect” that may help.) I see so much pernicious irrationality! Look at the role religion plays in politics and world unrest! Look at the current rioting because – now think about this – because of a movie showing disrespect to the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh)!

Just on this list, I have seen the distress caused by irrational beliefs and I want to ease that distress. I am struck by the case of one Catholic who was wondering if it was a sin to have sex with his wife because he had had a vasectomy years before he become a Catholic. (I am a Ph.D. psychologist with 20 years of teaching and clinical experience).

And yes, I have experienced the worry of hellfire awaiting for me even when I was “saved.” How can you be sure you believe enough? How can you be sure you have satisfied all the requirements? These are doubts I’m glad I’m done with. (By the way, I have also been baptized, so I got that one out of way – Whew!)

Well, you are all my brothers and sisters – we humans have got to stick together!

This is so interesting to me –

God gave us freewill. Atheists freely choose not to believe in him.