Jesus teaches that there is a sin that is unforgivable.
Mark 3:22-30 the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "Jesus has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons." 23 And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. 27 But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. 28 "Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-- 30 for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit."
An unforgivable sin? This story really doesn't match with progressive Christian thought. We want to say that Jesus never stops pursuing anyone... that forgiveness is available to all of us all of the time. That the Holy Spirit continues to work on us even after death until we "get on board" with Jesus. But, sadly, this story sure doesn't seem to back that up.
The religious leaders of the day didn't like Jesus. He was rocking their world... he was tearing down their rules and rituals in favor of compassion and love. He was turning their family systems and lines of authority upside down. And the real problem was that the general public was starting to like Jesus more than they liked the religious leaders. So to scare the people, the religious leaders started spreading a rumor that Jesus' was empowered - not by the Holy Spirit - but by Satan.
Jesus says this is an unforgivable sin: "Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin". I don't supposed it helped any that their motivation was to preserve their power base by scaring people away from Jesus and back towards the religion and lifestyle they were promoting.
As a teenager these verses really worried me. Perhaps they still do. How many times have I looked at something the Holy Spirit is doing and because of my own selfish desires and ignorance not recognized it as the Holy Spirit's work? And then because it didn't benefit me, I called it evil instead of recognizing it as God's work?
For instance, I once heard a group of people call Christian praise music evil because it had a rhythm they thought was too hip for church. I wanted to say, "Are you sure you want to call that evil? Is it not possible the Holy Spirit is at work in that music?" Their motivations for calling it evil seemed to be to keep their musical preferences intact on Sunday morning. Not terribly far from what these religious people in Jesus' time were doing.
I heard another group say that one could not be Christian if they identified with a certain political party. Is it not possible that the Holy Spirit is at work in people of all political persuasions? Were they blaspheming the Holy Spirit when they called people in the opposite political party evil? Their motivations for calling the other person evil was to push a political views that promoted their lifestyle. Not terribly far from what these religious people in Jesus' time were doing.
Another group called women ministers evil; another those who spoke in tongues; another those who baptize infants; another those who don't. Do we have a habit of arrogantly and ignorantly calling things evil that might just be the work of the Holy Spirit?
Or perhaps it is completely different because none of these groups were calling out Jesus himself as being empowered by Satan. But they might have both been calling the work of the Holy Spirit evil - and for selfish purposes. Maybe the difference is that the groups in my example were doing it unintentionally out of ignorance - where as, the religious people in the story did it with full knowledge of what they were doing? I don't know. Either way, to call the work of God evil is a very serious offense.
How often do we indirectly call the work of the Holy Spirit evil? And when does it become the same thing as saying that Jesus has an unclean spirit?
Do we ignore Jesus' teaching that there is an unforgivable sin? I'd sure like to ignore it.
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