Can you be forgiven after blaspheming?

Question:

I was reading another answer that you gave to someone else concerning unforgivable sin and blasphemy.  You wrote: "God defined blasphemy in Numbers 15:30-31. "But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him." Hence, we learn that God's definition of blasphemy is acting in defiance of the Lord and His commandments. In other words, blasphemy is willfully sinning when you know full well that it is wrong. Since God defined it, why not accept His definition?"

When we have been taught God's laws, for example not to fornicate and we, in turn, go out and fornicate, we know it is wrong but choose to break that command.  Are we then guilty of blasphemy?  How then can we be forgiven when we truly and sorrowfully repent?  I am still struggling with my forgiveness.  I am so remorseful for the way I lived and I am so afraid that the Lord will not forgive my sin because I knew better.  What about the verse: Hebrews 12:15-17 "Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble [you], and thereby many be defiled; 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."

Please pray for me and offer any other words of help.  What is entailed in leaving the Lord?  Is it falling into a sinful lifestyle for a span still believing the word of God but not walking in a righteous manner?  Or is the leaving or "falling away" in Hebrews a conscious thought that you no longer believe in the word of God and could care less what the bible says?  During my sinful span, I quit going to church for two years (well, I went periodically), but I felt guilty for my lifestyle.  I still believed in God and His word but just let myself be drawn away into sinful situations.  As I stated previously, influencing a whole host of people along the way, some fellow Christians and some non-Christians.  I need to know that the Lord will forgive me.

Answer:

There are two basic concepts that I think didn't get across well. First, by willful defiance, I am referring to a person who knows what right and wrong, but basically tells God, "I don't care what You say, I'm going to do it anyway." But blasphemy goes a step further. The person purposely sets out to slander or ruin God's reputation before others. But even blasphemy can be forgiven a person when he turns back from his sin.

The second, however, is more critical. You are reading the verses as if God refuses to forgive a person of certain sins. That has never been God's attitude. ""Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!"" (Ezekiel 18:30-32). He holds that same desire today. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).

The problem is not that the Lord will refuse any person who comes to Him. The problem is that there are certain sinners who will never come back. The verse you quoted regarding Esau illustrates this. Notice that though he was sorrowful, he found no place for repentance. He was sorry that he lost his blessing, but he remained in his sins. He was rejected, not because he could not have a blessing, but because he would not repent.

This was the point Jesus was trying to warn the Jews when they called the miraculous works he did as being done by Satan. A person can blaspheme God or Jesus and there is a possibility that he can be turned back from the error of his way. "For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe" (I Corinthians 1:21). That message was given to the world by the efforts of the Holy Spirit (II Peter 1:20-21). But when a person becomes defiant against the Word of God, when he purposely, willfully, and defiantly chooses to go against the message, there remains nothing to draw him back to God. "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me" (John 6:44-45). It is not that God doesn't want the person, it is an acknowledgment that some people, because of the nature of the reason for their sin, will not return because they have rejected the one path that can turn them around. Jesus was trying to tell the Pharisees that they were on the edge of no return.

The fact that you want to live righteously, that you have renounced your sinful ways, and are willing to heed the Spirit's teaching tells me that you have not blasphemed the Holy Spirit. If you had, you wouldn't be seeking God's forgiveness because you wouldn't believe the Bible.

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