God defined blasphemy in Numbers 15:30-31<\/a>. “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.<\/i>” 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?”<\/p>\nWhen 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.\u00a0 Are we then guilty of blasphemy?\u00a0 How then can we be forgiven when we truly and sorrowfully repent?\u00a0 I am still struggling with my forgiveness.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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<\/strong>.<\/em>“<\/p>\nPlease pray for me and offer any other words of help.\u00a0 What is entailed in leaving the Lord?\u00a0 Is it falling into\u00a0a sinful lifestyle for a span still believing the word of God but not walking in a righteous manner?\u00a0 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?\u00a0 During my sinful span, I quit going to church for two years\u00a0(well, I went periodically),\u00a0but I felt guilty for my lifestyle.\u00a0 I still believed in God and His word but just let myself be drawn away into sinful situations.\u00a0 As I stated previously, influencing a whole host of people along the way, some fellow Christians and some non-Christians.\u00a0 I\u00a0need<\/strong>\u00a0to know that the Lord will forgive me.<\/p>\n\tAnswer:<\/h2>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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!”<\/em>” (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\u00a0all<\/strong>\u00a0should come to repentance<\/em>” (II Peter 3:9).<\/p>\nThe 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\u00a0no place for repentance<\/strong>. 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.<\/p>\nThis 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<\/em>” (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<\/em>” (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.<\/p>\nThe 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I was reading another answer that you gave to someone else concerning unforgivable sin and blasphemy.\u00a0 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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[180,1571,181],"class_list":["post-9198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-blasphemy","tag-forgiveness","tag-unforgivable"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45281,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-willfully-sinning-blaspheming-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":9198,"position":0},"title":"Is willfully sinning blaspheming the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm ashamed of my sin. I know you and others say that God forgives, but I committed the sin willingly. Is that not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit that Jesus discussed? Answer: We need to get a good definition of what blasphemy is: Smith Bible Dictionary: \"in its technical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42142,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-repeating-a-false-doctrine-blasphemy\/","url_meta":{"origin":9198,"position":1},"title":"Is repeating a false doctrine blasphemy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Minister, When I was in college I took a Jewish mysticism course and the professor explained a theory about God to the class. The theory was basically that God had a very small portion of evil in Him and He despised that evil so He created humans and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49331,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-blasphemy-against-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":9198,"position":2},"title":"What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering what exactly is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Could you please help me with this? Answer: What Is Blasphemy? Blasphemy is a transliteration of a Greek word:\u00a0blasphemia. Literally, it combines the Greek words for hurt and speech. It means to speak evil of someone or to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8832,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-be-assured-god-will-forgive-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":9198,"position":3},"title":"How can I be assured God will forgive me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 27, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am so tormented with the fear of the sin against the Holy Spirit. When I read the Scripture, it says \"blaspheme\" which is to \"speak.\" How can one change that to \"reject?\" How can I be assured that God will forgive me of any and every sin? I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42147,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/could-blasphemy-of-the-holy-spirit-be-an-exception-to-the-rule-that-god-will-forgive-anyone-who-repents\/","url_meta":{"origin":9198,"position":4},"title":"Could blasphemy of the Holy Spirit be an exception to the rule that God will forgive anyone who repents?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings, I have read some of your articles on the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit on your website and I know you don't want to repeat the same topic over again, but I\u00a0do have some questions about it if you don't mind addressing them. I have held a similar\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2644,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-blasphemy-of-the-holy-spirit\/","url_meta":{"origin":9198,"position":5},"title":"What is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 12, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Mark 3 it talks about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and we do not understand what that means. Maybe you can explain that so we can understand. Answer: The passage you are referring to says: \"Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9198\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}