If life is eternal,& love is the answer. Than hating life is hell & choosing hell is permanent in the eternal life Once a hater always a hater. Don't be a hater 👉♥️
I would say the divider is death…once dead, it’s kind of hard to see things through…that said..who’s to say there isn’t a time you spend after death in which you go to think about the way you’ve been living, and before it’s time to emerge back into life?
What you're missing Alex is time. Time isn't real, it's an illusion we use to understand the world around us. When you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you are choosing to never repent. You are capable of affecting your past and future. Quantum Gravity Research is proving this on UA-cam. If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you remove the possibility of repentance. God does not violate free will, so he has no choice but to harden your heart or he would have to violate your very will. In a sense that would be killing you anyway.
The important thing to remember is that blaspheming the Holy Spirit means you don't ask for forgiveness. Which means God will not forgive those who never ask for forgiveness. So you don't need to fear that someone you forgive will never ask for forgiveness. Because if they do that, God will punish them in your stead. You can forgive everyone that has wronged you, indiscriminately, for God will render justice unto all.
Probably the simplest. But Alex is trying to play word games, so they're trying to answer his challenges. I wouldn't play that game, because as we see it just goes into a circle. Alex's issue is he wants to know the final results of a person's life now. That is for God alone to know, as it is written, "God alone judges the heart." - Proverbs 21:2 We humans won't know who blasphemed the Holy Spirit until Judgment Day. We may see outward signs, but those can be deceiving. That said, it is also written, "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit" - Matt 7:18. So while we cannot judge the heart with finality, we can know that a person who willfully rebels against God is showing signs of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. We know that our habits influence our character: when we repeatedly do bad things, we tend to get worse and worse until it reaches a point of no return. Just like a drug addict who refuses to stop using or the alcoholic who refuses to quit drinking: eventually, those choices will kill him. But we don't know which act is THEE FINAL ACT until the addict or alcoholic actually dies. Always while living, there's a chance the user might stop using or the drunk might stop drinking.... but the more they give into their temptation, the harder it is to stop and the closer they come to death. Just so with blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. We will never know what was the "final act" that pushed the person over the edge into 100% turning their back on God's forgiveness. For some people it may take only a few incidents. For others, it may take a lifetime. And God is infinitely just. No one who goes to Hell gets a raw deal or gets cheated.
That is their argument, which is a nice poetic way of putting it. But Alex was asking that can this sin be committed, and then forgiveness asked for after? Apparently doing so negates the sin being committed at all in the first place.
@@sidwhiting665 What is the difference between there being no sin that can't be forgiven if asked and there being one sin that can't be forgiven, and that sin being not asking for the forgiveness, which was a pre-requisite for sin to be forgiven in the first place? Like, do you think the inverse works? Can I say that I give out free food to anyone that asks, as long as they don't do the one unforgivable thing, which is asking for free food... Do I still count as giving out free food when I exclude 100% of the possible cases where that can happen? If not, why is it okay the other way around?
there is a very good reason for that. Dillahunty does the same, as not be caught in his own defensible position, cuz theists will ruthlessly use it against him
Right, I'm looking through these comments and face palming. Someone is going to read this comment and assume what I believe and go to town based on their belief of my belief or lack of belief. I was very active as a "New Atheist" back when it started in the early 2000's and I'm so sick of it all. I watch Alex because I know the video itself will be a break from that. The comments? Same old same old.
@@wjckc79 People often say, “I’m not hurting anyone so it’s ok to sin (lying, stealing, sexual sins, disrespecting parents etc)” The same God who said to love your neighbour first said to love Him to the best of your ability. If you carry on sinning, then you do not love God but are selfish like the devil so you will be joined to your father in hell or repent of your sins and believe in Jesus as God so Jesus adopts you as His child and you will join Him in Heaven forever.
@@wjckc79you're facepalming that some sane people are vocally against delusion. Not everyone is an imbecile like you buddy. Some of us have a backbone
@@thereisnonegoodbutgodjohn363it's a shame that you don't have the teeniest shred of evidence to prove that any of the deluded gibberish you vomited out is anything more than a bedtime fairytale
The unpardonable/unforgivable sin or “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” is mentioned in Mark 3:22-30 and Matthew 12:22-32. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter” (Mark 3:28), but then He gives one exception: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin” (verse 29). According to Jesus, the unpardonable or unforgivable sin is unique. It is the one iniquity that will never be forgiven (“never” is the meaning of “either in this age or in the age to come” in Matthew 12:32). The unforgivable sin is blasphemy (“defiant irreverence”) of the Holy Spirit in the context of the Spirit’s work in the world through Christ. In other words, the particular case of blasphemy seen in Matthew 12 and Mark 3 is unique. The guilty party, a group of Pharisees, had witnessed irrefutable evidence that Jesus was working miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit, yet they claimed that He was possessed by the prince of demons, Beelzebul (Matthew 12:24; Mark 3:30). The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day committed the unpardonable sin by accusing Jesus Christ (in person, on earth) of being demon-possessed. They had no excuse for such an action. They were not speaking out of ignorance or misunderstanding. The Pharisees knew that Jesus was the Messiah sent by God to save Israel. They knew the prophecies were being fulfilled. They saw Jesus’ wonderful works, and they heard His clear presentation of truth. Yet they deliberately chose to deny the truth and slander the Holy Spirit. Standing before the Light of the World, bathed in His glory, they defiantly closed their eyes and became willfully blind. Jesus pronounced that sin to be unforgivable. The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, specific as it was to the Pharisees’ situation, cannot be duplicated today. Jesus Christ is not on earth, and no one can personally see Jesus perform a miracle and then attribute that power to Satan instead of the Spirit. The only unpardonable sin today is that of continued unbelief. There is no pardon for a person who dies in his rejection of Christ. The Holy Spirit is at work in the world, convicting the unsaved of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). If a person resists that conviction and remains unrepentant, then he is choosing hell over heaven. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6), and the object of faith is Jesus (Acts 16:31). There is no forgiveness for someone who dies without faith in Christ. God has provided for our salvation in His Son (John 3:16). Forgiveness is found exclusively in Jesus (John 14:6). To reject the only Savior is to be left with no means of salvation; to reject the only pardon is, obviously, unpardonable. Many people fear they have committed some sin that God cannot or will not forgive, and they feel there is no hope for them, no matter what they do. Satan would like nothing more than to keep people laboring under that misconception. God gives encouragement to the sinner who is convicted of his sin: “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:8). “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). And the testimony of Paul is proof positive that God can and will save anyone who comes to Him in faith (1 Timothy 1:12-17). If you are suffering under a load of guilt today, rest assured that you have not committed the unpardonable sin. God is waiting with open arms. Jesus’ promise is that “he is able to save completely those who come to God through him” (Hebrews 7:25). Our Lord will never fail. “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2).
I agree, however I believe it can be reproduced today as well. The story of Simon the sorcerer is an example where the power of God was sought for the use of personal gain. Using the power of God, through the Holy Spirit, for one’s personal gain and fame seems to me, to be a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Thoughts?
@@benjamindemblowski4716 wrong. Read the article again, it cannot be reproduced today. You end your comment with "thoughts?" There are no thoughts. Only truth. No "thoughts" to discuss.
@@finc4164wrong…,it’s flat out denial of the deity of Christ. Who Christ is and what He has done. Many carry with them false gospels and worship false images of Jesus. Matthew 24:5 (NKJV): 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. Be careful with that one. There’s a reason why Jesus spoke many warnings about false teachers and false brethren throughout scripture.
Lol, I must admit there have been times I said I could care less. Only later did I realize I couldn't😂 After watching the entire video, I realized why this was mentioned.
As Alex mentioned, the hard part to grasp is that there is a distinction made between an unforgiven sin and an unforgivable sin. Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit was by their explanation when someone refuses to ask for forgiveness (at least in a true and honest regard). Alex is wondering why this is unforgivable and not just unforgiven, and they say it is just because it is a lifestyle, not an individual sin... but when Alex goes on to say "imagine a person who by definition lives according to the lifestyle you say is unforgivable, but then they change their lifestyle and begin asking for forgiveness, according to that idea they have committed the blaspheme of the holy spirit, so they should not be possibly forgiven" but they just go on to say that if you ever change the lifestyle you never actually committed the blaspheme of the holy spirit. Am I missing something here? Because it sounds like they are saying it isn't blaspheme as long as you eventually ask for forgiveness... so the distinction between unforgiven sins and the unforgivable sin is actually nothing... it's just an additional thing to ask for forgiveness about having not asked for forgiveness before.
Was thinking the exact same thing throughout. If blaspheme of the holy spirit is a matter of a person's lifestyle, then, as I understand it, it is an unforgivable sin if a person is literally unable to change their lifestyle. Honestly, that's a philosophical question more than anything, although it can certainly be answered religiously, but I wouldn't believe those answers very much.
if you at some point decide hey i was doing wrong that means your hearth wasnt fully hardened. thats how i understand it. could be wrong. The one that reaches point of no return will never even think of repenting etc...
Exactly- I don't see how you can call it a sin if it's a 'lifestyle'? And in what way does that match with the description translate to 'blasphemy of the spirit'? This interpretation seems like a very convenient way for a christian to kill two birds with one stone (Pascal's wager and reconciling an unforgivable sin).
If a person has even the slightest desire, no matter how small, to be saved, then that person will be forgiven, it is a matter of what the person wants, if they DO NOT want to be forgiven by God, then God cannot simply force them to repent, he does the only thing possible that still respects free will, he leaves them to their own desires.
It’s called maturity. I’m not sure many of his fans have such a thing, judging by the average content in his comments section, but I appreciate that he at the very least does. He has outgrown the persona of “new atheism,” unlike some of you.
@@davelips they are liars! Do not listen to them! You blasphemy the holy spirit when you call a living breathing Son of God who deliverers the truth to you a liar! He has the holy spirit inside of him, so when you call him a liar without letting him prove his truth, you call the holy Spirit inside of His a liar! Like calling God a liar to his face. The the man. He is inly the Lord of Host and is only a man. God is one but lords are many. God can be LORD but lords can not be God
The Holy Spirit aka Air is the Latin Juno. Juno is the one who hoovers/broods over the waters (Neptune) in Genesis one. Nothing moves or comes into existence without Juno..
I like Alex, but here it seemed like he was trying his best not to listen to the explanation. The explanation itself was relatively simple but better questions would have been how it’s derived from the original passage or the purpose of stating that God hardened Pharos heart.
@@ArizonaD-cu8in Yeah I picked up on that too. I don't believe in God but I was sitting here like "C'mon mate, it's not complicated - they're saying that if you ever regret what you did, then it didn't count as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit."
@@Caiyde Doesn't that water down the definition of "blasphemy"? If blasphemy is like any other sin, (i.e. if you regret your actions and ask for forgiveness, you will be forgiven) why separate it out as "unforgiveable"? To my ear, Alex was saying "Here is this defined 'thing' (blasphemy) that if produced will result in this action (no forgiveness)." The responses sounded along the lines of "Well what it *really* means is this!" Tap dancing then ensues. So, the response to the original question comes out as "A sin is only unforgivable until it is forgivable." Which doesn't address the original question. Unless they want to say, "All sins are unforgiveable until they are forgivable." They would at least then be consistent.
For years I was terrified of the unpardonable sin, under the impression it was a one-off thing a person could do and be damned. As a kid I watched Rod Parsley, a televangelist, tell a story about three men who told a street preacher "damn you and damn your Holy Spirit" - blasphemy. Two of the men died sudden and horrific deaths soon after. The third, realizing with horror that he was next, shut himself in his office at work. His coworkers forced their way in to find him in a fetal position grasping his hair, proclaiming he knows what's going to happen and where he's going. Rod's story warned of fatal consequences for uttering those words, and that's all I can remember from that broadcast. I may have never let this story scare me away from Christ, but too many people have.
People often say, “I’m not hurting anyone so it’s ok to sin (lying, stealing, sexual sins, disrespecting parents etc)” The same God who said to love your neighbour first said to love Him to the best of your ability. If you carry on sinning, then you do not love God but are selfish like the devil so you will be joined to your father in hell or repent of your sins and believe in Jesus as God so Jesus adopts you as His child and you will join Him in Heaven forever.
Looking at the context of the biblical passage, the Pharisees had just called Jesus’ casting out of a demon “demonic”. They had called the clear work of God “demonic”. They were rejecting who Christ was, rejecting the work of the Spirit. They were doing this knowingly. They were calling God, Jesus, the Spirit “demonic.” Unforgivable. And yes, it ties in with the hardened heart that the Knectle’s discuss.
Okay. Don’t think that was even close to one of the main gripes Alex had in the video. And it also doesn’t do anything to solve the huge problems with the unforgivable sin and many other bits of Christian dogma
I had to struggle with this for a long time until I watched cliff at a university talking about it and he said something along the lines of “if you are worried that you’ve blasphemed the Holy Spirit, you haven’t” and it was a huge relief because I finally got what it meant. Also I just LOVE how respectful the two parties are conversing! we need more of this in the modern age.
" had to struggle with this for a long time until I watched cliff at a university talking about it and he said something along the lines of “if you are worried that you’ve blasphemed the Holy Spirit, you haven’t” and it was a huge relief because I finally got what it meant" But isn't it odd that Jesus would say something in a way that led you and a host of others to struggle for a long time until Cliff solves it with one succinct phrase? I've read through this discussion and everyone explaining it away does so with ease and always with essentially the same words. But Jesus, on the times he said it that are recorded, couldn't explain it clearly. He apparently said this on more than one occasion because they are in different settings. Some say he was speaking to people of the law so meant THEY had hardened their hearts. But in Mark, he's speaking to his friends, disciples and even his family and he lists it with other sins for which folks can be forgiven. Who should we believe, Cliff or Jesus? OTOH It's nice when someone can salve their fears by listening to someone else besides Jesus.
@@rizdekd3912 Which part of Mark? In Mark 3, he's speaking to the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem, same as Matthew 12. His point is really that, if they can't see that his miracles are God's doing, but rather see them as the Devil's doing, then how can they be saved, how can they be at peace in righteousness, for they see right as wrong and wrong as right?
@ I see what you mean. It is still an odd way to put it...ie to identify specific sins and then say that there is one sin for which one for which they will never be forgiven.
Im a Christian, Im still in the process of watching this, but Id like to say thank you Alex for having a respectful and honest conversation about Christianity (as usual). I find people like you a blessing because it challenges me to look deeper in my faith, and bring me closer to God. And thank you to the Knetchles as well. Wishing you all good health and a purposeful future. God bless 🕊
@@Bec_loves_Jesus Before any of the plagues Exodus 7:2-5 - You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. *But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you.* Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.” God hardened Pharaoh's heart right from the start
This almost happened to me. I gave my life to Christ when I was very young. Then slowly grew away and consciously decided to live my own life, still believed, just didn't live my life as if I did. Then in my late 20's I woke up one morning and something made me go to a church (prompting from God). I remember walking in and crying uncontrollably, realising what I have done, and God asking me if I want to continue to walk away, and if so that will be it, he will no longer pursue me. I had no idea about unforgivable sins or anything. Only what God was placing on my heart that day. I said I will stop walking away and pursue Him. It was the best decision I ever made! The problem is here that Alex is still looking at this like a transaction, a list even, "technicallities" not a relationship, and this is the difference.
That's great for you, but Alex has explained in many of his videos that he would absolutely welcome some kind of divine intervention that you experienced. So, what is god waiting for? It's not really fair for you to claim that Alex is hung up on technicalities if all god needs to do is make believe.
@@jordanbtucker And he can say that all he wants, but until he actually welcomes it in, it won't happen. What do you think is his ratio of spiritual practice to thinking, talking, and philosophizing? I can't know for certain, but I would suspect it's currently 0 to 1. How then can he hear God speaking when all he hears are his own thoughts? If Alex is serious about wanting to have spiritual experiences, I would recommend he go where they happen most frequently - practice-based retreats. Take one month off from thinking, talking, and philosophizing, to sit in quiet stillness, with the guide of a teacher, to meditate and pray.
Playing the game of redefining and reinterpreting what every word means until the Abrahamic theology makes some kind of defensible sense, because the alternative would be so dramatically inconvenient, socially and psychologically, to be virtually unthinkable...
@@chad7070it’s almost like large words don’t invalidate the common sense argument that the inspired word of God should not need exegisis to be made sense of
100%! To those who ask me why I no longer believe. A maximally great being with the power and benevolent incentive to communicate unambiguously, personally, and instantaneously to each individual on earth has, instead, decided to communicate the most important message his creatures will ever hear through a book so prone to error, contradiction, and ambiguity that there is still no unified consensus on what that message is or how to faithfully interpret it.
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, I HAVE COME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, THE MESSAGE THAT I AM PREACHING IS INFLUENCED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND COMES FROM JESUS AND GOD. THIS IS THE TIME TO GET SAVED. FOR GOD LOVES YOU AND WANTS TO BE WITH YOU, JESUS IS GOD, PRAISE THE LORD ALL DAY EVERYDAY. FOR HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS. JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOU SINS AND CRUSHED SATANS HEAD ON CALVARY. YOU CAN BE REDEEMED THROUGH CHRIST. FOR HE WILL BAPTIZE YOU IN THE SPIRIT, HELL IS REAL FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE, A ENDLESS CONSUMING FIRE OF WRATH AND DESPAIR AND SEPARATION FROM GOD THAT BURNS FOREVER FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNREPENTANT. CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR AND REPENT OF YOUR SINS SO THAT JESUS CAN SAVE YOU FROM ETERNAL DAMNATION WHICH IS HELL. JESUS IS THE ONLY TRUE GOD. Ephesians 2:8-9: "FOR BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST" John 14:6 Jesus said to him. “I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME." JESUS CAN TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN, YOUR ADDICTIONS, YOUR DEPRESSION, YOUR SORROWS, AND ANYTHING THAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK FROM A TRUE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST IF ONLY YOU CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS LORD AND THAT YOU HAVE FAITH AND TRUST IN HIM, OUR ONE TRUE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. JESUS CHRIST CAN SAVE YOU WHEN YOU PUT YOUR TRUST IN HIM AND HAVE FAITH IN HIM SO THAT YOU CAN GO TO HEAVEN TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR ETERNITY WITH THE SON, THE FATHER, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. JESUS LOVE ALL OF YOU AND BRINGS GREAT JOY TO THOSE THAT COME TO HIM, IN JESUS NAME I PRAISE HIS NAME, THE LORD'S HOLY NAME, JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. HALLELUJAH.
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, I HAVE COME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, THE MESSAGE THAT I AM PREACHING IS INFLUENCED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND COMES FROM JESUS AND GOD. THIS IS THE TIME TO GET SAVED. FOR GOD LOVES YOU AND WANTS TO BE WITH YOU. JESUS IS GOD. PRAISE THE LORD ALL DAY EVERYDAY. FOR HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS. JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOU SINS AND CRUSHED SATANS HEAD ON CALVARY. YOU CAN BE REDEEMED THROUGH CHRIST. FOR HE WILL BAPTIZE YOU IN THE SPIRIT, HELL IS REAL FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE, A ENDLESS CONSUMING FIRE OF WRATH AND DESPAIR AND SEPARATION FROM GOD THAT BURNS FOREVER FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNREPENTANT. CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR AND REPENT OF YOUR SINS SO THAT JESUS CAN SAVE YOU FROM ETERNAL DAMNATION WHICH IS HELL. JESUS IS THE ONLY TRUE GOD. Ephesians 2:8-9: "FOR BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST" John 14:6 Jesus said to him. “I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME." JESUS CAN TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN, YOUR ADDICTIONS, YOUR DEPRESSION, YOUR SORROWS, AND ANYTHING THAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK FROM A TRUE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST IF ONLY YOU CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS LORD AND THAT YOU HAVE FAITH AND TRUST IN HIM, OUR ONE TRUE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. JESUS CHRIST CAN SAVE YOU WHEN YOU PUT YOUR TRUST IN HIM AND HAVE FAITH IN HIM SO THAT YOU CAN GO TO HEAVEN TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR ETERNITY WITH THE SON, THE FATHER, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. JESUS LOVE ALL OF YOU AND BRINGS GREAT JOY TO THOSE THAT COME TO HIM, IN JESUS NAME I PRAISE HIS NAME, THE LORD'S HOLY NAME, JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. HALLELUJAH.
Matthew 7:21 Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers
I went to a Christian high school and devoutly read the Bible on my own everyday. In 7th grade, I came across this passage and it scared the hell out of me. The next day, I asked to talk to my 21 year old Bible class teacher after class to get clarification and make SURE I had never accidentally done this. He explained very similarly that it was like a hardening of the heart. The problem is this is clearly an ad hoc justification of what Jesus is actually saying. It feels like Scripture is being twisted to plant the issue on a person who himself chooses to repeatedly turn away from God rather than God’s unwillingness in a particular case to forgive a sin, which would throw a large wrench in the centerpiece gospel message taught by Evangelicals like Cliff.
Really? I feel like that verse in context of what's going on in the story and the fact that hes talking about the Pharisees is fairly clear from a straight narrative sense whether you believe it's religious or atheist.
@ Yes, in Matt. 12:32 Jesus drills down further from the initial statement in the prior verse. He says it can still be forgiven to speak a word against the Son of Man, but can never be forgiven in this life or the next to speak against the Holy Ghost. The explicit text and context doesn’t give a very convincing basis for the loose “hardened heart” explanation. Jesus clarifies this is about speaking words against the Holy Spirit.
@@trex1448yes same here. Cliff’s cite to the thief on the cross is a good example of context and defining what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The thief is granted eternal life by accepting Christ in his last moments. Thus, it is not a blind rejection to say that to blaspheme the Holy Spirit must mean something else than the what the interviewer is intimating.
@coanwilliams context is that he's talking to Pharisees at a very particular point in the narrative and referencing hardening of hearts which is a heavily, heavily contexted term. It's pretty insane to say there's no context in the texts being discussed here.
Talking about a complete insane cult, where seemingly rational adults believe in a fairytale, actually a bloody sadistic horrific fairytale, is interesting. How can these guys believe this stuff? I just don’t understand.
watch Chris Langans talk about CTMU (Cognitive theoretical model of the Universe) and the fact that God is logically and metaphysically real and you’ll understand. You don’t need to believe in Jesus to be a believer in God. God = energy. You and everybody and everything on this earth is a part of God. God is the first mover. It’s not a superstitions thing, it’s just a way of saying there is something bigger that you are a part of. The people who follow christ do it not necessarily because they literally believe what he did. But that they were metaphors of an ideal person that you should strive to be like for the world to be a better place. Hope you understand that way of seeing God.
@@kriskaayne This God also sounds like the "Consciousness = God" that Ekchart Tolle talks about. But I'm not sure what the purpose of such a God is. Does he care whether people believe in him or not? What is his purpose?
Romans 7:12-14 literally described the law as the holy Spirit. Just an FYI, preachers are ridiculous. Plus Dueteronomy 4:2 don't add or diminish from the Torah/ law. Jesus adding to the law would qualify him as a sinner.
@@Viod753 why is blaspheming the holy spirit unforgivable? because the person committing the sin cannot be forgiven why can they not be forgiven? because they do not ask for forgiveness can they ask for forgiveness no so why is it unforgivable because they cannot ask for forgiveness
This is quite interesting since there's a temporal tension in saying something is unforgivable. If someone does x, it is unforgivable, which implies that after a specific time, x is unforgivable no matter what happens. The sin is the primary unforgiving parameter - time is secondary. But Cliffe and Stuart make x the act of never asking forgiveness. The word never here is strange since it shifts the primary unforgiving parameter from the sin to the "time." It seems like saying, "This is unforgivable until something happens" (to repent or feel remorse). But if that is the case, the word unforgivable seems to lose practical merit, since it isn't the action of not asking for forgiveness, or whatever sin, it's "never asking for it". Time here is the parameter that leads to unforgiveness. And to us humans with our limited perception, it's ironic, almost paradoxical, to say that something is unforgiving until something down the timeline occurs. How can something be unforgivable if it could be forgiven later? Because humans could act in a way, behave in a way, never ask for forgiveness, and be on the trajectory to commit "the unforgivable sin" until we don't. And when we don't, when we change our minds, we are forgiven. There's almost no point for Jesus to say unforgiving. That switch from unforgiven to forgiven sounds really volatile, which makes those two binary states nearly indistinct like they're separated only by a thin, porous line rather than a rigid boundary.
I feel and have written the same thing. They are spewing some nonsense. Unforgivable looks like: "God, forgive me" - Person "No" - God Unforgivable doesn't make much sense when it is reframed simply as: An indifferent human just goes about his whole life doing evil things and dies without repenting.
Don't waste your energy. Once ensnared by religion, even the most intelligent of minds will defend the most atrocious and abhorrent things done in the bible.
Sir if your looking at it threw gods eyes he has already seen your entire life and know if you will ever ask for forgivens or accept God's mercy. If you reject God's mercy you can't be forgiven because you won't accept the forgiveness. In plain terms unforgivable. Another interpretation to this is attributing God's work as demonic would be the unforgiveable sin. As the pharisees just did.
Thing is Pharaoh was going to change his mind and then God actively hardened his heart so that his glory would be shown. For context “And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.” Exodus 4:21 NRSV
@iamdanielmonroe, That "glory" of which you speak, led to the death of all the 1st born of an empire. Thus countless dead bodies of the 1st born children. So you may what to think showing the Lords glory being worth the murder of Egyptian children. If this happened in today an you saw/heard the families grieving this would hit home more. But the story from the Bible is detached an wrought with the stuff of myth.
the question you have to ask yourself how is God hardening pharoah heart. Well the answer to that is that God is harderning his heart by withdrawing himself from him. God knows that withdrawing his presence will harden Pharoah heart but that is what Pharoah wants
It’s so refreshing to witness discussions on a high level note on both ends. To me, the clearest example on the hardened relationship with God is by becoming so hypocritical that your whole essence as a human changes to a cynic. I think of criminals, m*rderers, r4pists, child m0lesters who will say anything from the lips out in order to convince someone they’ve changed but they know they will continue to live their lives unchanged. Thank you for posting this, Alex!
This sounds like a P-hacking situation. You can’t say they’ve blasphemed if there’s any future left for them, because they might repent, in which case “they didn’t blaspheme since blaspheming means you never would have done that,” but if they’ve died without repenting you can say “see they blasphemed.” It’s a nice self-confirming maze they have on their hands
I think the difference is knowing God and choosing to rebel. Like the Devil will not be forgiven because not only does he refuse to apologize, but he knows intimately the level of love and power yet decides to actively reject this to make himself his own ruler. Just as some humans do. But personally I think this sin is attributed to demons or people that have "sold their soul"
P-hacking, or simple begging the question. I think Alex did his best to get them to say when exactly that window of opportunity to still be forgiven would close. It sounded like they couldn't give any example of someone who had actually committed blasphemy.
@@Christian-xv5hb in that case, it's better never to know God. You can't rebel against what you don't know. It's arguable if you can rebel against what you don't believe exists. Me rebelling against my parents is different from me rebelling against Thor.
But there’s also reality.. if you tell someone “I never want to be with you” and then never do it’s reality. They can play games and say “well what do you mean, what you mean by never”. But it’s just games… same is true w God
@oscargr_ it's nearly impossible. If there's a God you will be forced to encounter him after your life ends. If not, then you're safe. But if he's real, then you'll have to explain this conversation to him as to why you didn't take this as an opportunity to learn of him
@@joshuascott3428 "Just because it's a magic system doesn't make it not real" is such a funny thing to see an adult human say. If I believed that, you wouldn't be able to waterboard it out of me, and yet here you are saying it for free.
doesnt unforgivable just definitionally mean that even if forgiveness is asked for, it wont be granted. Why then does he make it seem like the blasphemer is definitionally someone who wont even ask for forgiveness ?
B'c then the onus is switched from god to blaspheme to achieve forgiveness. The way cliffe painted the picture is: god is always ready to forgive but the blasphemer will never and would never ask for forgiveness anyway. The Bible says nothing of the sort.
@@ereynacarde-borre6803 Make sure as a you are a repentant Christian. Read the Bible daily and pray often throughout the day, the devil is trying to make lukewarm Christians everywhere (Rev 3:16). Join us in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ. If you tell everyone that you are a mechanic but day in and out, you do the work of an accountant are you truly a mechanic? No, you are an accountant. Likewise, a Christian by name who lives contrary to Jesus’ teachings by living sinful/worldly is not a real Christian.
@@thereisnonegoodbutgodjohn363 You're right and I try my best to do the will of my Father. I fall short all the time, just like everyone else, but it's doesn't mean that I don't love my LORD JESUS ❤️🙏😭 or that I don't want to be counted as a daughter of the Most High God. No one is righteous, no not one. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. QUESTION❓ Why did you feel you needed to tell me all that? My comment was simply Amen in response to the scripture. Just curious 🤔
If you read it in the original Hebrew, this is the meaning of the word "harden" means "strengthen resolve". So Pharaoh had already made a decision (resolved) not to obey God. God merely sped up or intensified the process to see it through to the end. Think of it like a catalyst in a chemical reaction. If you mix substance A with B, we know it turns into C in 60 seconds. But if you add substance D (a catalyst), then the conversion happens in 30 seconds.... because you "strengthened" the reaction. It was going to happen either way. The chemist didn't change the outcome. Think about a time you made a decision to do something a week from now, but then something happened and you decided to do it sooner. The result is the same either way.
@@sidwhiting665 So if someone would eventually agree to sleep with me in a year, it's okay for me to mind control them into doing it tonight? That sounds morally good to you?
@@kieranharwood7186 Brodie what ? Pharaoh stopped listening to God since he hardened his heart and continued to do evil by being a tyrant and oppressing and abusing the Israelites, are you saying it would've been better for pharaoh to keep doing what he was doing? of course not, therefore God used him so that he'd free the Israelites from slavery and so his power would be shown.
@@EmilianoQuezada-w5n I think he's talking about the morality of taking away someone's free will to make them more evil rather than the utilitarian outcome of the decision
This is like saying "I have an unbreakable cup" then it falls and breaks then he says "Well it was unbreakable until it broke" Its Unforgivable but also it can be forgiven. What nonsense.
If someone offers you a gift and you firmly and voluntarily go out of your way to ensure you don’t get the gift and reject it, by definition the gift giver can’t give you anything. Blaspheming of the spirit is unforgivable because the individual willfully does not want to receive forgiveness. God will not force you to receive him if you don’t want to
@@Khalid-kz3mdDoes that not apply to every sin? You have to repent for it to be forgiven, otherwise every sin that you don't repent for is unforgivable because you are not accepting the fact that you committed such sin in the first place.
You just did not understand. Please listen to the first explanation by Stuart again. It's the first time in my life when I hear him saying something coherent, but this time he explained it very well.
@@Khalid-kz3md There is a big problem with your analogy, let me fix it for you: If someone offers you a gift and you firmly and voluntarily go out of your way to ensure you don’t get the gift and reject it. Now, that someone who offered you a gift declares that you are now forever someone un-gift-able, and is not deserving of gifts FOREVER. It doesn't matter if you had murdered someone, or raped someone. They would've still gifted you if you ask for it later. But, willfully not wanting to receive a gift for one time, nope, that's it!
@@pl5994 That's not right either, because that person can at ANY time decide they now want that gift, and shall be granted it? So the unforgiveable is only that person that continues to refuse this gift for their entire life. What's so difficult to understand here?
@@bonnie43uk (I have to send these comments in seperate messages since YT isn't letting me post it all together) The Knechtle's struggled to give Alex a satisfying answer, but I don't think this is by the fault of them and more the unsatisfying fact that Christ can not forgive blasphemy of the Holy Spirit even if he wanted to. Mark 3:28-30: "Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin-for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit.""
Jesus keeps the description ambiguious and unsatisfying. Even if I wanted to commit this sin, I wouldn't even know where to start. It's in the same way that heaven and hell aren't described in full but left as a glooming mystery by Christ. It's not for us to know, we will have an eternity to be exposed to it afterall. All we need to hear is the sound of the alarm, not exactly why the alarm is being sounded in the first place.
Back to the Holy Spirit, it demands faith. If you lack faith, then you lack food to feed it. How is it meant to save you if you have stocked all of your faith in other finite things, (things that Jesus warns us of)? Do you see why Jesus described it as an 'eternal' sin? Good deeds are good for the finite, but unfortunately your finite goods won't save you. Faith is the governor of all good actions, faith is what allows us to step out. How do you expect to meet God if you don't have enough faith to walk out to him? God can not forgive this, since you haven't given him any material to work with. This is why Jesus's blood can't cover for that sin, because you don't even believe that the blood will heal you.
This wasn't the kind of discussion that warrants us to bet on any side. Alex respectfully listened while Cliffe and Stuart tried to appease Alex in the best of their abilities, this left them in a cycle. I just wish that Alex could have moved on from the idea that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a sin that can be tracked down to specific time and place. It's an eternal sin, so why does he think it can be pinned down in a vacuum? All 3 were good sports and all of them played fair. Thanks for asking me!
Definitely not the best I've heard Cliff and Stewart do on this topic, but I think Alex doesn't really understand what the unforgivable sin is and so they're trying to take a different approach that he misunderstands. The original Hebrew word hazaq used in the passages about Pharaoh means hardening in the sense of "strengthening". Pharaoh's heart was already hard. He wasn't going to let the Israelites go. God didn't force him to disobey. Think of how chemists add catalysts to speed up reactions. The result is the same with or without the catalyst, but it's stronger with the catalyst.
@@sidwhiting665 Interesting analogy, but your last sentence is contradictory. If a catalyst makes a reaction stronger, then the result has indeed been changed. It's like the difference between putting one mentos in a coke vs an entire pack of mentos. Sure, the end result, coke spurting out, is the same, but the quantity and quality of the spurting is much greater. They made a similar analogy to yours in the video but both analogies fail to answer the question, "which is it?" Can people change their minds and repent at anytime in their lives or does God sometimes interfere with their free will and prevent them from doing so? The latter option is what the Bible explicitly states God did with Pharoah.
@@vmolin2162 Let me answer your question with a question. Why do you think God “interfered with pharaoh’s free will”? It might seem silly to ask, but I want to know
@@vmolin2162 I'm an atheist, but I think the analogy is perfect. It doesn't matter how much coke spurts out, you're still making a mess. It's the same with god's lack of forgiveness. It doesn't matter how much or little you sin, you're going to hell anyway, unless you repent of course. Then the holy spirit sweeps in with a mop and cleans it all up. The morale of the story is: If you're not going to repent anyway, make sure you sin big. Work your way through as many of the 7 deadly sins as you can, and break all the commandments you desire. A fun bucket list to run through. An eternity in hell doesn't get any shorter if you don't 😈
Jesus was a Jew and spoke Aramaic. Jesus did not speak Greek, Latin or English. Jesus did not say ''GOD'' Jesus said ALAHA-ELOHIM. Jesus' name is YESHUA. You have everything wrong. You do not even know the name of Jesus. You do not even know that the name of Jesus' God is ALAHA-ELOHIM. There is not even a word called ALAHA-ELOHIM in the bible you read. There is not even the name of Jesus and you still say that your bible is true. It is clearly written in the Bible that Jesus was a prophet. “When Jesus had entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds replied, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’” Matthew 21:10-11 “They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.” NIV Matthew 21:46 Jesus said “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” Luke 4:24 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. Acts 3:13 “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” Luke 6:12 “And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’” Matthew 26:39 “They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’” Mark 14:32 Jesus is referred to as "Son of Man" 82 times in the New Testament (NIV and ESV). Even Jesus says I am a man and you still say no he is God. How can you be so stupid?
Yup, you can aaaalllwaayyss just change the interpretation. It's so sad that 21st century humans literally have barbaric ancient beliefs stuck in their minds. They're not reachable by logic and reason, which honestly frightens me. They're literally brainwashed.
@@worldfacts1977 So your saying that Allah is the Most High and Yeshua is a prophet of Allah. But doesn't yeshua mean yahweh is salvation. Is yahweh the Name of Allah?
I like Stuart and Cliff, but I think their response missed the mark a little bit. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is often misunderstood as a specific act, but it’s more about a persistent rejection of God’s offer of forgiveness through Christ. When Jesus mentions this unforgivable sin, He’s responding to the Pharisees, who accuse Him of using demonic power to cast out demons. He explains that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, pointing out that someone aligned with God cannot work against God, just as someone aligned with evil cannot work for God. This rejection of the Holy Spirit means a heart that remains unrepentant, refusing to accept Christ’s salvation. In Acts 2, Peter tells the crowd to “repent and be baptized” to receive forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Rejecting this is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit because it’s a refusal to acknowledge sin, turn from it, and seek forgiveness. In essence, the only unforgivable sin is a hardened heart that continually rejects God, as it closes the door to receiving His grace.
@@jsmall10671 Which aspect? Do you mean my entire interpretation? Here's Origen in the 3rd Century on this: “For it is called blasphemy, to assign to the impure spirit, that which is of the Holy Spirit; and this is what he who blasphemes does. But I think that this blasphemy of the Holy Spirit consists in the man’s not receiving the Spirit in such a way as to turn to the grace of God.” Here is St. John Chrysostom in the 4th: “For even if a man shall have believed rightly in the Father, and in the Son, but shall speak anything blasphemous of the Spirit, his faith shall not avail him, nor his becoming a son. And if he shall mock any work of the Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him. ... But they who after this course remain incorrigible, and are against their own salvation, shall no more receive the means of healing. ... That which was done had been manifest, and it was easy to distinguish it from the deception of the demons.” There are others, including Augustine, Tertullian and more who associate this with a rejection of the Holy Spirit and attribution of the work of God with evil (which would result in resisting salvation).
@@JacobTheStrangeOfficialno. It is in fact a specific act. Jesus even tells us what it is. I'll say it again for the 50th time. 😑 Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is witnessing God's UNDENIABLE SUPERNATURAL WORKS OF POWER and then WILLFULLY, MALICIOUSLY, and INTENTIONALLY choosing to attribute those works you KNOW are FROM GOD to Satan and demons INSTEAD.
When Jesus "says" something that may threaten our afterlife, isn't it convenient that we can simply interpret his words into a convenient favorable loophole.
Not really. Cliff's explaining a hard truth to a person who is hostile to his position. Each person is different and will respond differently, so a different approach is sometimes required. Alex could have God's forgiveness, but to date he has hardened his heart and tried to say that God doesn't even exist. Cliff's just trying whatever approach might work. We can't say if Alex has or hasn't blasphemed the Holy Spirit yet. God alone knows. I pray, for Alex's sake, that he earnestly seeks God and repents.
@@sidwhiting665 But we're here to discuss theology and the meaning of texts, not try to save poor Alex's soul. They talked all this time and still couldn't define a moment when this unforgivable sin is committed.
👋 Hiya Folks - amateur theologen here! Let me start off by saying I appreciate this conversation! I’ll go on to say as a Christian, I think this can be answered a little more effectively. Firstly - when talking about The Bible, if you’re genuinely interested in discerning it, you must understand it is a book of guidance that each person has a right to interpret. I personally believe The Bible is both literal and metaphorical in practically everything it says - sometimes it’s 50/50 between the metaphorical/literal, most of the time it’s a sliding scale. This is true because language and communication generally works this way - and The Bible is ultimately a book communicating God’s intent to humanity. Okay, so based on that - every biblical passage has at least two interpretations. Likely more in fact, as The Bible is also intended to be historical, so you can have referential interpretations too that speak to a greater trend/context. If you’re still with me (good on you btw!) we shall proceed to the point… The passage is: -- Mark 3:28-30 “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” -- This quote is also recorded in Matthew 12:31 and Luke 12:10. Generally speaking, I believe Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a bit of a chicken and egg situation - do you blaspheme and are thus unforgiven or are you unforgiven and thus you blaspheme? In my personal opinion, there are two main ways to interpret the meaning of this - as in, there are two cases of “blasphem[ing] against the Holy Spirit” that a person can be guilty of: Blaspheming in life, and Blaspheming at point of death. BLASPHEMING AT POINT OF DEATH is best explained with an analogy. If you and your Parent had an argument that was your fault, but you died before you could apologise, would your Parent be able to forgive you posthumously? Strictly technically speaking, no, because YOU never asked for forgiveness to be forgiven. In christian theology, you can only be forgiven if you ask for forgiveness - so if you die without repenting, you literally can not be forgiven. This is essentially how those who do not believe in salvation through Jesus get to ‘Hell’. Which, Biblically speaking, since ‘Heaven’ is being with God, ‘Hell’ literally means being without God (AKA permanent death/de-creation). BLASPHEMING IN LIFE is closer to what they were speaking of in the video. Basically, since God is the root of life and goodness, straying from God means death and perversion of goodness (bad). If you are in rebellion (disconnected from God) for prolonged periods of time - things start to happen to you. The bible essentially says, in so many words and passages, that you lose your conscience and the ability to tell good from evil. You’re handed over to your worst desires. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” Jeremiah 17:9. Furthermore, if it gets REALLY bad, you can end up demonically oppressed, possessed, and even teaming up with demonic entities to spread evil (whether you’re cognisant of it or not). The Pharaoh of the Exodus was an example of a ‘spiritually dead’ person (Ephesians 2:1-2), who was aligned with demonic entities/idols (Exodus 12:12). Despite being alive, he was so intertwined with sin (hardened heart) that he may as well have been dead (continuous sin is likened to death in Christian theology). In my opinion, these sorts of people are a rarity… we’re talking Emperor Nero, Leopold II of Belgium, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, the kinds of people that kill millions, traffic humans and felt they were in the right for most of it. They think evil, is good. THESE people are so unrepentant, so actively against God’s purpose in their lifetime, that they are spiritually dead (have hardened hearts) long before they die. And of course God, being the most intelligent being in existence with ALL the facts loaded like a supercomputer, is well aware that’s the case. Anyway, thanks for reading this long reply - hope that helps! Feel free to reply if you have any more questions and I’ll do my best to respond!
Oh boy, a couple of financially dependent religion deludeds! Matt Dillahunty exposed Knechtle for the sad and misguided little person he is. Some day it will be quite funny that a human, not having enough information, would choose to believe in religious poop. Many believers are believers because 'Mama said so.'. Mama was wrong.
lol kinda. It’s really to harden your heart so much that you make it impossible for yourself and to ever repent or accept God. This means that you pushed the Holy Spirit away which is who comes to you and give you Godly thoughts of repenting and sin preventance. So if you block out the Holy Spirit because you never want to accept God then by that you are committing the unforgivable sin because you have hardened your heart so that God knows you will never accept him. However if you still have even slightest consideration in God’s existence that means there is still a possibility of you accepting God which means the Holy Spirit is within you still. And even if you don’t have that consideration now and you have it later that means you never fully hardened your heart to God so you never committed the unforgivable sin.
It says "they are guilty of an eternal sin.” in Mark 3:29. Its an unforgivable sin because you enter a perpetual state of rejection. As a result, God stops reaching out to you and you're left with no means by which to be forgiven.
It seems pretty clear that the Gospel writers intended that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is attributing the works of God to demons. That's the context of the story. Otherwise Jesus is just kind of bringing something up to the Pharisees appropo of nothing. The idea that it's just not wanting to be forgiven seems to come from the Church Fathers, probably Augustine
I did 6 months in jail during college due to some poor choices and bad behavior, but I became very interested in how Christianity was so prolethic in that setting of “sinners.” I asked one guy that had been in and out of jail for the last 20 years “why do you get on your knees every night and pray” and he said “because all will be forgiven, you just have to pray for forgiveness” and it dawned on me how eerily convenient the idea of forgiveness can be and why Christianity remains so appealing even to those incarcerated
Almost like a coping mechanism for those who can’t cope with bad decisions they made, not having the answers to why things happen and being scared of death. Religion is the answer to the questions people want, it’s comforting.
Someone who prays for forgiveness yet does not repent(attempt to live without the sin to the best of their abilities) is not getting salvation. The bible makes it clear that the ability to be forgiven is not a sin pass, and if you see it that way you are not saved.
I'm kind of like the cases Stuart was talking about. For 10 years I was basically dead emotionally and spiritually. I was very depressed because I thought I had committed the unforgivable sin. The child I was at the time never understood the grace and theology behind the topic, so I suffered for a long time until the pandemic hit. One day I felt so frustrated and depressed toward God that I basically prayed, "Lord, I've given you everything I have, I don't know what else you want from me." Of course, I was in a deep search for forgiveness. The next day, the problem was resolved. I felt forgiven, and I will never go back, Jesus is Lord, come to him, be saved, it is never too late. Jesus healed me, and He can do the same for you, there is always hope. Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household. ~ Acts 16:31
I remember growing up as a independent fundamentalist baptist, the preachers I sat under tried explaining this as "not accepting Jesus into your heart" basically rejecting salvation the IFB way. Because of the way they interpret the amalgamation of versus concerning the method and pathway to be saved which they believed it to be a singular event and also teach that you cannot lose your salvation afterwards, and that there is no such thing as an unforgivable sin, they are forced into pulling an interpretation out of their butts that doesn't contradict their doctrine of salvation even though this has nothing to do with what the word blasphemy even has to do with. And I ended up finding this pretty consistent with other denominations where they will interpret this in a proprietary way as to not contradict their other doctrines. And funny enough most of them will not interpret it as "talking against" or "misusing" the Holy Spirit which would be consistent with how the word blasphemy is used. Funny how that works right. If you catch one of them off guard and ask them how something should be interpreted, they will never ever interpret anything in a way that will contradict anything else they believe already.
Perhaps you were explained wrong or in a difficult way, but that doesn't contradict once saved, always saved. If you ever commit blast me against the holy spirit, then you were never safe to begin with. God knows the future and your heart.If your heart was never in it for god in the first place, but you try to put on this badge of "oh, i'm a christian" god will know that you aren't actually in it. A fake christian is the exact same as a "good" atheist, they just say they believe different things. And then they have a moment in their life where they decide to change.But god knew that was gonna happen a long time ago. If a christian's heart "changes" it was never truly there in the first place, that's the best I think I can explain it.
@@RemingtonTripp well that's how I was indoctrinated growing up. I also have a problem with Christians who call each other fake Christians. That is also something I heard our preachers accuse other Christians of. They were so full of themselves that they said a person probably isn't saved and it's definitely not a true Christian if they are not an independent fundamental Baptist with the claims that because we or the only ones that interpreted scripture correctly that there would be no way the Holy Spirit would be influencing any other preachers so all other so-called Christians were being misguided by the devil. So I have a big problem with anybody committing this hypocritical no true Scotsman fallacy. It absolutely is not anybody else's place to say whether or not someone else is a "real "Christian or not. Adding the "ian" turn the end of any word means you are "a follower of the work of", so anybody who believes that they are following the teachings of Jesus as they interpret the scriptures would qualify as Christians definitionally. And even though I am a non-believer in the supernatural, I do still admire many of the teachings of Jesus as portrayed in the gospels alone. I just absolutely hate the religions that have been created from this Jesus character whether there is any historicity to him at all or not. I hate any ideology that teaches it's subjects to hate, fear, harm, or look down upon others 4 arbitrary reasons and as far as I can tell all religions are guilty of this and I don't believe for one second that any one of them were influenced by any kind of benevolent spirits, rather just a bunch of self-serving self-righteous malevolent pricks.
@@RemingtonTripp which is an idea that leads to existential terror of whether one is "really" saved or not. You can't ever know if you're "really saved" or just think you are, which undermines the whole point of the teaching to begin with. Ironically, now that I don't believe in assurance of salvation I have much more hope that I will be saved.
Kudos to Alex for trudging through these conversations. Theists give the most long winded non-answer answers to questions. They dance around it with their utter nonsense. It’s amazing people even listen to them.
It’s amazing you can’t just listen for a bit and pay attention. Unless you have ADHD it’s really not too hard to listen to an actual answer. It’s not “long winded” and “dancing around.” They give answers and reference why they think what they think
If you want a really simple answer, then the unforgivable sin is ignoring all promptings from God to consider personal sin and/or the claims of the Bible. Eventually God stops bothering your conscience, and lets you do whatever you want. I'm sure that's a positive outcome to an atheist when they're no longer bothered by the possibility that God exists and an afterlife is real.
To see them talk like they are SO SURE about this, gives me chills… they are taking a text and adding their own interpretation but yet think they got it all figured out, like they control the outcome… “You don’t have the worry about that”… wow, the audacity…
I think they need to stop saying morals are objective and just say its divine command theory. If morals are objective, then god has to follow the moral rules as well and if its a objective moral duty to save a drowning child if you can with no risk to yourself and you have a sound mind, then god is immoral if he does not do it. I have gotten a few to agree to this now and these are the questions I used. #1 Are morals objective? #2 Are there objective moral duties? #3 Is it immoral not to do an objective moral duty? #4 Does god do the objective moral duties? #5 You see a child drowning in a shallow pool and notice a person just watching that is able to save the child with no risk to themselves but is not, is that persons non action moral? #6 If you go to save the child, the man tells you to stop as he was told it was for the greater good, but he does not know what that is, do you continue to save the child? #7 Is it an act of justice to punish innocent people for the crimes of others? #8 If you were able to stop it and knew a person was about to grape a child would you stop it? #9 Would you consider a parent who put their kids in a room with a poison fruit and told the kids not to eat it but then also put the best con artist in the room with the children knowing the con artist will get the kids to eat the fruit and the parent does nothing to stop it a good parent? #10 Would math be objective if 2+2 did not equal 4 for god?
I agree that if morals are objective, then we can ascertain the morality of any being with agency by their behavior. The issue is that religious apologists have framed god as a being that exists outside the bounds of time and space which makes him/it exempt from the rules of literally everything. It's moving the goalpost so they never have to concede that their belief system and its central figure are flawed in any way.
@@stephenschaffenberger6765 That is the thing, I have gotten a couple to concede this now using the socratic method and very simple questions. #1 Are morals objective? #2 Are there objective moral duties? #3 Is it immoral not to do an objective moral duty? #4 Does god do the objective moral duties? #5 You see a child drowning in a shallow pool and notice a person just watching that is able to save the child with no risk to themselves but is not, is that persons non action moral? #6 If you go to save the child, the man tells you to stop as he was told it was for the greater good, but he does not know what that is, do you continue to save the child? #7 Is it an act of justice to punish innocent people for the crimes of others? #8 If you were able to stop it and knew a person was about to grape a child would you stop it? #9 Would you consider a parent who put their kids in a room with a poison fruit and told the kids not to eat it but then also put the best con artist in the room with the children knowing the con artist will get the kids to eat the fruit and the parent does nothing to stop it a good parent?
@@Rudol_Zeppili I have found questions that work that sometimes get them to admit it. I posted them but YT sucks and ghosted it. might be able to see them if you sort the list by newest.
@@stephenschaffenberger6765Being outside time and space doesn’t exempt you from the responsibility of your actions, in fact it kind of compounds the issue further considering god could help anyone at anytime from accidents, diseases, and suffering inflicted upon them just because of the place they are born in, but he doesn’t stop any of those things even when they’re clearly not the fault of the sufferer, and yet he commands genocides in the bible and kills children of egyptians, who have done no wrong doing simply to punish their parents and the pharaoh.
It's incredible watching the mental gymnastics. To get around the idea of an unforgivable sin, they simply define an unforgivable person as a person who never asks for forgiveness... this is like saying there is a law banning some people from playing golf, but it only pertains to people that don't want to play golf....
Well, you have to define what blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is… It’s a vague topic that requires a definition, and you can’t throw out the one that makes the most sense because it’s kinda complicated. Also I agree with you, an unforgivable person is someone who doesn’t ask for forgiveness. For your analogy take out the law part and it makes complete sense, people who don’t like golf are “banned” from playing golf. The Bible is full of complicated metaphors and sentences, and because of this you have to use so called “mental gymnastics “ to understand them. I believe that the entire Old Testament is metaphorical and didn’t actually happen.
Entirely possibly it's less mental gymnastics and more willful misinterpretation, which some would call heretic, that in itself may be considered blasphemous.
I'm not sure if I'd even call it mental gymnastics. I imagine what Cliff and Stuart is doing is the kind of mental gymnastics if it was Raygun performing it
The reason it makes sense is that Jesus himself told these Pharisees that prostitutes and theives were going to enter the kingdom of heaven ahead of them. Sin in general, even great impurity or great greed, murder (as Jesus even forgave his tormentors) can be forgiven but the hardness and the complete hardness towards the Holy Spirit (the person of God who acts within us, and calls us out of our sin) will not be forgiven. Jesus said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" about people who knew they were causing torment and killing. But they did not know they were killing the author of life, who had such love for them, so they were not committing an unforgiveable sin, or shutting their souls off to the need for God. Thats why demons cannot be forgiven, they have received revelation about God and rejected him in favor of their own pride. They knew they hated the author of life.
Huge respect both all three of these Guys. Alex aspects in the most good faith way some very dificult questions in which Cliffe answers without making Alex look bad. Need more discussions like these
@@domcruise274 bingo. God won't force someone to trust him. If you don't want him, then his forgiveness cannot help you. It'd be like the judge in a murder trial saying, "Hey I'd like to pardon you for this offense" and you saying,. "No, I don't believe I need that and furthermore you don't exist." People have a problem with God's sovereignty. Alex's mistake is he's trying to play word games with the lord of the universe. He's not even interested in God's existence or forgiveness.
It's interasting up to the point when you comment something and then get tortured with 15 different irrelevant od dumb responses to which you now have to respond to (I'm a Christian, but both Christians and Atheists send senseless responses)
Where does it say that we cannot be forgiven without asking for forgiveness? I’ve forgiven plenty of people who have never apologized to me. Am I more forgiving than god?
My mom loved me exactly for who I am. Rip momma. If god can't do the same for me as my parents did is he really all loving, powerful, and forgiving? Murderers, thieves, and rapists can be forgiven but some cant? Doesn't make any sense. Either we are all going to heaven or basically no one is going to heaven. Either way nothing I can do but live my life how I want to.
Well you may be forgiving but you arent just. God is held to be both. Hes a judge and a judge doesnt let a criminal off on probation without him ever even have been tried in court or even arrested. You are tried and a defense is given. The defense in this scenario is the sacrifice of Jesus. He is your advocate before the judge 1 John 2:1
He does love you as He created you :) God asks that we believe that He sent His son to die and pay for all the wrong we do in our own flawed human nature. Just to believe that we are forgiven by the sacrifice He made :) parents love for us is a perfect example of the kind of love God has for us but he's created a solution so we can be reunited after death also! Hope you have a lovely day :)
Well, yes. Even in a secular sense, if you had 2 people who are rapists/murderers, one of them realizes that what he did was wrong, is truly sorry about it and tries to atone for it, while the other either denies it or tries to justify. Comparatively, who is worse?
@@KolgartExactly. Maria Goretti forgave the murderer who tried to rape her and she asked God's forgiveness on his behalf, and years later he repented and begged her mother's forgiveness and lived his life for God, never to rape or murder or to torment the image of God in humans again.
@@gordon3186 I haven't been in that position nor do I know of any real life examples, so I can't comment on that, but objectively speaking I think the first one adds more value to the society.
@@Kolgart --- Blasphemy of _anything or anyone_ is not worse than robbing someone of their life or bodily autonomy. You religious cranks are just too much. There's nothing objective about your comments.
I can see there are many people commenting who did not understand the AMAZING GRACE that this conversation was discussing. The fact that the ONLY unforgivable sin is that we give up on ourselves is...overwhelmingly indicative of a God of love and grace, and yet many just won't see it. God calls us to be good, kind, loving, and respectful, EVERYONE falls short, but he only asks that we keep growing in that direction and TRYING. That's enough because he's covered us the rest of the time. WOW, what amazing grace! I'll repeat for effect: The ONLY unforgivable sin is that we give up on growing ourselves toward what is good...Amen, anyone??
Not a preacher and wouldn’t even consider myself of Christian. But if I just apply common sense here, this is what I get. Jesus forgives ALL sins, or his sacrifice would be pointless. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit simply means you refuse to repent and take up the cross, hence you can’t be forgiven. I say this is because in reality religious or not, we all have autonomy, every choice we make, although we may be heavily influenced is our own
that wording would actually make more sense though. you cannot ask for forgiveness due to your nature. but it says blasphemy is unforgivable, which applying common sense means that regardless of IF someone asked for forgiveness, they would be denied it. if jesus wanted to say the way you described it he could’ve, but he chose not to, why? why use contradicting language? unforgivable in all other contexts does not mean the lack of ability to ask for forgiveness, rather it means the lack of ability to be granted it.
@ or it’s supposed to be taken how it is, which is that blaspheming the holy spirit is unforgivable even if you ask for forgiveness. everything that’s good in the bible is never rewritten or reinterpreted the way bad things are. it’s like a god saying “if u reply to me that is unforgivable”. and you say “really, that’s a bit over the top and harsh?” and his followers say “well no he doesn’t actually mean that he’s means that the act of you replying would make you incapable of asking for forgiveness due to the messed up nature of your soul.” maybe he did mean that, but as a powerful being, he better have clearer ways to explain something rather than it being unintuitive. it seems infinitely more likely jesus message was the simpler version rather than one that cliffe speaks of.
Its the obvious interpretation, but of course Alex and his followers will play dumb so as not to give any way or benefit to those they disagree with. Alex is good at disguising opposition as innocent inquiry
@@m.d.sharpe8892 If you have to sanitize a commandment through multiple filters to come to a tolerable conclusion then you don't understand it not the other way around.
In normal English useage blasphemy is an act that you can do on an occasion. The only reason they are working so hard to modify its meaning to be “not asking for forgiveness” is to make the Bible agree with their theology.
I think an important thing to clear up, is how can God be surprised by someones actions? God made us all, and knows everything( or maybe not ) , so surely he makes people knowing they will blasphem or be gay, just to punish them?
He knowing has nothing to do with the fact that you still went ahead to do it. I knew you would steal the cookie, and you stole the cookie how does that make me bad? Jesus knew Judas will betray him, and Judas betrayed him. How is that Jesus' fault?
Right, I remember reading a part of the Bible that talked about how god puts their intelligence for you. What the two Christians were arguing seems to show that there is free will but once you consider this it seems as if you don’t. Contradictions! Ahhhhhh!!!!!
@@thoughtsoutloud6685But it makes it impossible that god would be surprised that I stole the cooky. And it's still true that he made us who we are? In a universe with an all-knowing god, all that life is, is god's playback system. It's like a flip book animation where god made all the drawings.
@@thoughtsoutloud6685its not just that he knows but he knew it was gonna happen and still chose to make it a sin and punish them for ever (and also being gay its not a choice)
I wonder if these Christians ever think they know who has a hardened heart. I suspect they do. Thank you for helping me to understand why Christians are so judgemental.
It's like Republicans trying to explain that Trump did not mean what he actually said. And the contradictions of their own statements of a few seconds ago... A couple of crooks.
I didn't understand this at all. I'm a Christian who enjoys watching Alex, but for lack of better words this was dumb. if you don't ask for forgiveness, you're not forgiven. it's not a one day thing or whatever. it's your lifestyle. Hitler committed the unforgivable sin, you think he cared about God...any God from any religion really 😂. this is simple, I was confused.
Unforgivable sin as the indeterminate point where one rejects God completely is a pointless distinction. Not believing in God at death is already not forgiven, a state of unforgiveness seems like a scare tactic. Its pretty clear in the Bible that the unforgivable sin is attributing the demonic to the holy spirit, or something to that effect.
@defenestratedalien1448 I'm not sure, the context is that the pharisees imply Jesus' powers are demonic or impure when he is doing healings. The actual witnessing of miracles seems to play a role in the sin, so without that you'd be fine.
god, I HATE these ppl; whom pretend to "know", tell and preach what the bibles means. these are the kind of ppl who for centuries have put themselves on pedestals and subverted the ppl
I can't imagine ANY scenario in which I personally would be so deceptive and foolish as to speak with such certainty and authority on a subject which it is impossible - in principle - to actually KNOW anything about. Why pretend to know the mind of a god?
We can answer when we use his Word, because his Word by definition is part of his mind that has been revealed to us. For example, I can confidently say "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life." I can confidently say that, because God himself said it during Jesus' ministry on Earth in John 3:16. Those are his words. What we can also say because God's Word says it is that there is such a thing as an unforgivable sin, because Jesus himself (the Second person of the Trinity) says it. We may not fully grasp all the implications of that, and we do have to be careful not to inject our own thoughts into God's thoughts. It's a hard topic because everyone wants to know the results now, today. God alone knows the heart, though, as he reveals to us in Proverbs 21:2. Only he knows who has or hasn't blasphemed the Holy Spirit. We humans will find out on the Last Day when all are judged either according to their own works, miserable things that those are in the sight of a holy God, or according to Christ's righteousness which he offers as a free gift to all. I'm here to tell you, that God wants all to be saved, but he won't force you, as he reveals to us in the Bible.
I hit $113k today. Thank you for all the knowledge and nuggets you had thrown my way over the last months. Started last month 2024. Financial education is indeed required for more than 70% of the society in the country as very few are literate on the subject.
It's essential for you to have a mentor to keep you accountable. Myself, I'm guided by Evelyn Vera. for years and highly recommend her I focus on him. To be honest, I almost didn't buy the idea of letting someone handle growing my finance, but so glad I did.
Cliffe and Stuart may want to read their Bible a little more closely. In the story of the Exodus, God initiates the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, doing it twice before Pharaoh gets a chance to exercise his own free will. When Pharoah's will is finally his to control again, he voluntarily hardens his heart twice. Then, Pharaoh starts to soften, but since God isn't done showing off for the Hebrew slaves, he hardens Pharaoh's heart three more times as a flex for his chosen people. The last instance of God's inference with Pharaoh's will resulted in the deaths of his army. This commandeering of Pharaoh's will is attested to in Romans 9:13-23, where Pharaoh is described as being raised up for the express purpose of being destroyed as a demonstration to those God was saving. He never had a chance. He was predestined for destruction. If this is an example of the 'unforgivable sin', it looks like God is the one committing it.
Honestly, I would have been more satisfied with that answer (partially). At least the first part, as I disagree that God was "showing off" or anything like that (just a bit simplistic in all fairness). Pharoah wasn't going to let the Israelites go, and when he had his chance he still refused. Regardless, scripture says that God "has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and hardens whom He will harden" (Romans 9:18). Instead of mental gymnastics, just own that God has the authority to do what He wants with His own creation. It wouldn't have been a popular answer, but it would have at least been an honest one. Christian or not, apologists like this do more harm than good. They insinuate that all Bible believers will dance around hard topics instead of giving straight up answers. Even categorizing Pharoah with Judas, being "destined for destruction" would have been better as you said. Christians and non Christians can have good and profitable dialogue, but it bugs me when either party refuses to give what I'd call honest answers. Just my opinion of course
What I find fascinating is how you're painting Pharaoh as the "good guy" in this scenario. He was using the Hebrews as slaves, punishing them mercilessly when they failed to meet his demands. God FREED the slaves. "Hardening" Pharaoh's heart was like taking iron and turning it into steel. Yeah, it's harder than it was, but it was already hard to begin with. What's your take on the Union Army in the American Civil War? After all, they killed Confederate soldiers who were just trying to go about their business of protecting their way of life by enslaving people to help the Southern economy. Attacking the South surely "hardened" the resolve of the Confederate to fight to break away from the North.
@@bradleynowell96 I agree. IMHO, the gate is narrow because God is not who we would prefer him to be. He is not likable. If you are lucky enough to have been spared from his wrath, shut up and be grateful. Romans 9:19-20 is clear about this. Paul anticipates the question he will get from those who struggle with the idea that God has created some people as fuel for hell; "One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” The apostle responds, "Who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?" The message is clear. God doesn't have to abide by our ideas of justice or morality. He gets to do what he wants because nobody is powerful enough to stop him. Also, I don't think the idea that he wants to show off for those he saves is simplistic. As it says in that same chapter in Romans, "What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory- ". Essentially, god waited for the right time to destroy the people he decided to destroy to demonstrate how awesome and scary he was to those he had chosen to save. It's a straight-up tyrannical flex.
OK, but don't let's forget that the real Pharaoh of the time (whatever his other crimes may have been) had nothing whatsoever to do with the history of the "Israelite" people, who were never in reality "taken into captivity" in Egypt at all. It's all fantasy.
@@sidwhiting665 Agreed. You see this same type of thing with the Canaanites argument. The typical presentation seems to assume they were completely innocent. Which they were obviously not
It seems to me that this was the subject treated in Charles Dickens 'The Christmas Carol'. Scrooge head harden his heart to the point of hyperbole. And it took quite a bit of spiritual journeying for his heart to be warm and full. And, his redemption was true happiness! This video makes me want to revisit that Christmas classic
I believe that CS Lewis' The Great Divorce can shed light on this difficult topic. The book illustrates the unforgivable nature of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by portraying souls who, given the chance to embrace heaven and let go of their self-centered attitudes, persistently refuse to do so. These souls reject the grace offered to them, clinging instead to pride, resentment, or self-pity, even when loved ones try to guide them toward repentance and healing. This self-imposed exile illuminates the nature of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: it’s not unforgivable because God withholds mercy, but because the soul itself refuses the very means of forgiveness, hardening itself against the transformative power of grace. In this way, Lewis’s work vividly depicts how a person can become eternally closed to grace through obstinate rejection, mirroring Jesus’ warning.
One, thats not what the word blasphemy means Two, that just means "they wont be forgiven if they dont want to be forgiven" Which applies to all sin, so it wouldnt make sense to make a distinction in the bible that blasphemy is unforgivable
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is understood as a persistent, willful rejection of God’s grace. St. Thomas Aquinas and other theologians have emphasized that this sin is unforgivable not because of any limitation in God’s mercy but because the individual has closed themselves off from the very means by which forgiveness is offered-grace and repentance. The Catechism (CCC 1864) explains it as a refusal of the salvation offered by God through the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus refers to the “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:28-29), He’s using the term to describe a more profound offense-not merely in words, but in a willful, persistent rejection of God’s presence and power. In biblical language, “blasphemy” doesn’t always mean just verbal insult; it can also mean any act of profound disrespect or rejection of God’s sanctity, authority, or work. In this case, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit means to resist the very Spirit who brings us into communion with God, offers us salvation, and works to transform our lives. Jesus is addressing those who not only fail to recognize God’s mercy and grace but actively attribute the Spirit’s work to something evil, as the Pharisees did when they accused Jesus of performing miracles by the power of Beelzebul. The term “blasphemy” is therefore appropriate because it signifies a deep, rebellious contempt for the Spirit’s redemptive work. It’s not just a lapse or momentary doubt, but a hardened, obstinate attitude that opposes the very means of reconciliation with God. This is considered the ultimate “blasphemy” because it’s an offense that places a person beyond the reach of forgiveness-not due to any limit on God’s part but because they continually refuse the grace that forgives.
@catsareawesome8190 Except that just leads to the same issue of "they arent forgiven because they dont want to be forgiven." If it just meant they consistently rejected god and the holy spirit, then it would say that, because its said it before. Its obvious that rejecting god leads to god not forgiving you. The author made the conscious choice to make this distinction, you cant wave it away like this
It’s the persistence and pure unwillingness to do it, long as you have the desire and will to change the door is open. Like a totally bad addiction that you just will not stop. You essentially become a beast
@zackmeaders6199 its not arguing over which fan fiction is it that one group of people (protestants) broke away from the first church where as the orthodox did not and hold on to the tradition of the church started by Jesus Christ
Another enormous stretch . The meaning is.....the action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; got nothing to do with hardening hearts. It doesn't say anything about a lifestyle. They are saying this because they have blasphemed so much and still do. Good on you Alex for staying on these fools. The bible is such a good adventure story.
They say the book is the word of god. Then they say it was written by man. Then they say some of it is hyperbole. Then they say "that's not what it said". If god wrote instructions for a bunch of knuckle-dragging desert folk, who are low on education, don't you think it'd be less airy and more direct? Or, ya know, it's a buncha bull.
Yea Cliff just came up with an ad hoc rationalization. Matthew 12:32 just talks about speaking words against the Holy Spirit , not about "hardening of the heart".
i love alex and his questions are always so valid. in this case i think cliffe and stuart answer him in a way that makes sense and he just didn't want to agree so he kept trying to figure out why it was wrong but it really is quite simple.
It is amazing how much humans are willing to invest time and efforts into taking religion seriously. It is truly astonishing so many would waste their lives in this manner.
You don’t believe in religions, so you must be an atheist. So then I ask you what is the point of living when you, everything you know and everything you love, everything human kind has achieved is just a bunch of random accidents. Doesn’t matter what you do, everything is eventually meaningless because your emotion and your thoughts is just a bunch of chemical reaction inside your body. Moral is relative so you just go around killing baby or raping people as long as it makes you “feel” happiness. And when you die, you return to nothingness. Living like that promises you nothing because you believe in nothing and that is a sad life. But having faith promises you eternal life, having faith gives you hope at the end of the road, that your life is not just an accident, your life is not meaningless.
I know it wasn’t emotional, but it’s tears to my eyes regardless. Our God is so merciful and for better or worse my life I’m thankful for his son! Father bless everyone in the comments section in your son’s name, AMEN!
Cliffe is the best modern apologist because he's the best manipulator out of all of them. He's really good at manipulating words and people to make it sound like awful things are okay. So much of this video was Cliffe just asserting that things are the way he wants them to be. You don't get to decide that "Actually, pharaoh was hardening his own heart." No. It strictly says God did it to him. You don't get to act like that's not true because it doesn't line up with your agenda. But then again, that's his whole job. He has to defend something so clearly false, that the only method is to manipulate. EDIT: And his definition of blasphemy is absolute bogus. Arguing that blasphemy means NOT WANTING to repent is crazy work. Again, I get it though. This was the only definition that could possibly justify it, so he has to go with it, no matter how false it is.
Watch the full episode on UA-cam now: ua-cam.com/video/r8RZarGC8B4/v-deo.htmlsi=iSNr1-PJmhbeojKk
having grown up in the church; i've really enjoyed and appreciated your talks.
If life is eternal,&
love is the answer.
Than hating life is hell
& choosing hell is permanent in the eternal life
Once a hater always a hater.
Don't be a hater 👉♥️
I would say the divider is death…once dead, it’s kind of hard to see things through…that said..who’s to say there isn’t a time you spend after death in which you go to think about the way you’ve been living, and before it’s time to emerge back into life?
What you're missing Alex is time. Time isn't real, it's an illusion we use to understand the world around us. When you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you are choosing to never repent. You are capable of affecting your past and future. Quantum Gravity Research is proving this on UA-cam. If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you remove the possibility of repentance.
God does not violate free will, so he has no choice but to harden your heart or he would have to violate your very will. In a sense that would be killing you anyway.
The important thing to remember is that blaspheming the Holy Spirit means you don't ask for forgiveness. Which means God will not forgive those who never ask for forgiveness.
So you don't need to fear that someone you forgive will never ask for forgiveness. Because if they do that, God will punish them in your stead. You can forgive everyone that has wronged you, indiscriminately, for God will render justice unto all.
There's actually two sins that will never be forgiven, Blasphemy and the growing of Alex's moustache
Mustache? I don't know what you mean,
But he should really wipe that coffee stain off his upper lip. It was very distracting 😂
@@CrustaceousBhe speaks so gracefully but drinks coffee like an animal from a trough
Yeah, it 's really gross
Blasphemy towards Alex’s god-gardened moustache is unforgivable
He’s a sigma, he don’t care 🗿
Isn't this as simple as saying, "the only one that can never be forgiven is he who does not truly ask for forgiveness" ?
The Spirit of God (Jupiter) is Juno (Air).
Yup.
Probably the simplest. But Alex is trying to play word games, so they're trying to answer his challenges. I wouldn't play that game, because as we see it just goes into a circle.
Alex's issue is he wants to know the final results of a person's life now. That is for God alone to know, as it is written, "God alone judges the heart." - Proverbs 21:2
We humans won't know who blasphemed the Holy Spirit until Judgment Day. We may see outward signs, but those can be deceiving. That said, it is also written, "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit" - Matt 7:18. So while we cannot judge the heart with finality, we can know that a person who willfully rebels against God is showing signs of blaspheming the Holy Spirit.
We know that our habits influence our character: when we repeatedly do bad things, we tend to get worse and worse until it reaches a point of no return. Just like a drug addict who refuses to stop using or the alcoholic who refuses to quit drinking: eventually, those choices will kill him. But we don't know which act is THEE FINAL ACT until the addict or alcoholic actually dies. Always while living, there's a chance the user might stop using or the drunk might stop drinking.... but the more they give into their temptation, the harder it is to stop and the closer they come to death.
Just so with blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. We will never know what was the "final act" that pushed the person over the edge into 100% turning their back on God's forgiveness. For some people it may take only a few incidents. For others, it may take a lifetime. And God is infinitely just. No one who goes to Hell gets a raw deal or gets cheated.
That is their argument, which is a nice poetic way of putting it. But Alex was asking that can this sin be committed, and then forgiveness asked for after? Apparently doing so negates the sin being committed at all in the first place.
@@sidwhiting665 What is the difference between there being no sin that can't be forgiven if asked and there being one sin that can't be forgiven, and that sin being not asking for the forgiveness, which was a pre-requisite for sin to be forgiven in the first place?
Like, do you think the inverse works? Can I say that I give out free food to anyone that asks, as long as they don't do the one unforgivable thing, which is asking for free food... Do I still count as giving out free food when I exclude 100% of the possible cases where that can happen? If not, why is it okay the other way around?
I love the fact that Alex is asking all those relevant questions that a lot of people certainly have
Well why don't you consult a catechism like the rest of us do? Duh
@@nankosa82 Sorry what do you mean? btw I do believe in Jesus. I was just pointing out that I like Alex asking questions.
@@nankosa82 they don’t critically think and can’t analyze the religion they believe in
@@DefenestrateYourself we do. Do you really think the Popes are stupid? No... you're the stupid one
@@danipianoarts oh...ok ... sorry 👍
THIS IS THE CONVERSATION I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR
When you realize ghosting the Holy Ghost might be a bad idea.
Hilarious, such clever ppl on this platform.
It's not about ghosting the Holy Ghost but ghosting yourself from the Holy Ghost /Spirit.
marked safe from "Holy Ghost"
@@khrawbryanGood things none of it is true.
@@mikieemiike3979 How are you so sure that what you said is not false?
Alex is always perfectly prepared for his conversations. This is something very rare in conventional television
there is a very good reason for that. Dillahunty does the same, as not be caught in his own defensible position, cuz theists will ruthlessly use it against him
Welcome to UA-cam
Alex gives these Apologist all the slack they need.
@@rafachrzanowski “always perfectly” is a a stretch but he’s usually is prepared but I think both sides did well also
Alex. Are you aware of the UA-cam live that Inspiring Philosophy did criticizing you as part of the new atheism?
This conversation was so chill. I'm way too used to people arguing about my religion online.
Right, I'm looking through these comments and face palming. Someone is going to read this comment and assume what I believe and go to town based on their belief of my belief or lack of belief. I was very active as a "New Atheist" back when it started in the early 2000's and I'm so sick of it all. I watch Alex because I know the video itself will be a break from that. The comments? Same old same old.
@@wjckc79 People often say, “I’m not hurting anyone so it’s ok to sin (lying, stealing, sexual sins, disrespecting parents etc)” The same God who said to love your neighbour first said to love Him to the best of your ability. If you carry on sinning, then you do not love God but are selfish like the devil so you will be joined to your father in hell or repent of your sins and believe in Jesus as God so Jesus adopts you as His child and you will join Him in Heaven forever.
@@wjckc79you're facepalming that some sane people are vocally against delusion. Not everyone is an imbecile like you buddy. Some of us have a backbone
@@thereisnonegoodbutgodjohn363it's a shame that you don't have the teeniest shred of evidence to prove that any of the deluded gibberish you vomited out is anything more than a bedtime fairytale
The unpardonable/unforgivable sin or “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit” is mentioned in Mark 3:22-30 and Matthew 12:22-32. Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter” (Mark 3:28), but then He gives one exception: “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin” (verse 29).
According to Jesus, the unpardonable or unforgivable sin is unique. It is the one iniquity that will never be forgiven (“never” is the meaning of “either in this age or in the age to come” in Matthew 12:32). The unforgivable sin is blasphemy (“defiant irreverence”) of the Holy Spirit in the context of the Spirit’s work in the world through Christ. In other words, the particular case of blasphemy seen in Matthew 12 and Mark 3 is unique. The guilty party, a group of Pharisees, had witnessed irrefutable evidence that Jesus was working miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit, yet they claimed that He was possessed by the prince of demons, Beelzebul (Matthew 12:24; Mark 3:30).
The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day committed the unpardonable sin by accusing Jesus Christ (in person, on earth) of being demon-possessed. They had no excuse for such an action. They were not speaking out of ignorance or misunderstanding. The Pharisees knew that Jesus was the Messiah sent by God to save Israel. They knew the prophecies were being fulfilled. They saw Jesus’ wonderful works, and they heard His clear presentation of truth. Yet they deliberately chose to deny the truth and slander the Holy Spirit. Standing before the Light of the World, bathed in His glory, they defiantly closed their eyes and became willfully blind. Jesus pronounced that sin to be unforgivable.
The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, specific as it was to the Pharisees’ situation, cannot be duplicated today. Jesus Christ is not on earth, and no one can personally see Jesus perform a miracle and then attribute that power to Satan instead of the Spirit. The only unpardonable sin today is that of continued unbelief. There is no pardon for a person who dies in his rejection of Christ. The Holy Spirit is at work in the world, convicting the unsaved of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). If a person resists that conviction and remains unrepentant, then he is choosing hell over heaven. “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6), and the object of faith is Jesus (Acts 16:31). There is no forgiveness for someone who dies without faith in Christ.
God has provided for our salvation in His Son (John 3:16). Forgiveness is found exclusively in Jesus (John 14:6). To reject the only Savior is to be left with no means of salvation; to reject the only pardon is, obviously, unpardonable.
Many people fear they have committed some sin that God cannot or will not forgive, and they feel there is no hope for them, no matter what they do. Satan would like nothing more than to keep people laboring under that misconception. God gives encouragement to the sinner who is convicted of his sin: “Come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4:8). “Where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). And the testimony of Paul is proof positive that God can and will save anyone who comes to Him in faith (1 Timothy 1:12-17). If you are suffering under a load of guilt today, rest assured that you have not committed the unpardonable sin. God is waiting with open arms. Jesus’ promise is that “he is able to save completely those who come to God through him” (Hebrews 7:25). Our Lord will never fail. “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2).
Thank you for this explanation. God bless you so much ❤
Thank you for the references and the clear explanation
I agree, however I believe it can be reproduced today as well. The story of Simon the sorcerer is an example where the power of God was sought for the use of personal gain. Using the power of God, through the Holy Spirit, for one’s personal gain and fame seems to me, to be a blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Thoughts?
@@benjamindemblowski4716 wrong. Read the article again, it cannot be reproduced today. You end your comment with "thoughts?" There are no thoughts. Only truth. No "thoughts" to discuss.
@@finc4164wrong…,it’s flat out denial of the deity of Christ. Who Christ is and what He has done. Many carry with them false gospels and worship false images of Jesus.
Matthew 24:5 (NKJV): 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
Be careful with that one. There’s a reason why Jesus spoke many warnings about false teachers and false brethren throughout scripture.
Saying a person "could care less" is an unforgivable sin.
I also include the spelling "should of" among those. Argh.
Lol, I must admit there have been times I said I could care less. Only later did I realize I couldn't😂
After watching the entire video, I realized why this was mentioned.
It's the ye old zero farks to give
He meant "couldn't" care less. People often mistake this phrase
Isn't that just how Americans say the phrase? Is the real sin, then, simply being American?
As Alex mentioned, the hard part to grasp is that there is a distinction made between an unforgiven sin and an unforgivable sin. Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit was by their explanation when someone refuses to ask for forgiveness (at least in a true and honest regard). Alex is wondering why this is unforgivable and not just unforgiven, and they say it is just because it is a lifestyle, not an individual sin... but when Alex goes on to say "imagine a person who by definition lives according to the lifestyle you say is unforgivable, but then they change their lifestyle and begin asking for forgiveness, according to that idea they have committed the blaspheme of the holy spirit, so they should not be possibly forgiven" but they just go on to say that if you ever change the lifestyle you never actually committed the blaspheme of the holy spirit. Am I missing something here? Because it sounds like they are saying it isn't blaspheme as long as you eventually ask for forgiveness... so the distinction between unforgiven sins and the unforgivable sin is actually nothing... it's just an additional thing to ask for forgiveness about having not asked for forgiveness before.
Was thinking the exact same thing throughout. If blaspheme of the holy spirit is a matter of a person's lifestyle, then, as I understand it, it is an unforgivable sin if a person is literally unable to change their lifestyle. Honestly, that's a philosophical question more than anything, although it can certainly be answered religiously, but I wouldn't believe those answers very much.
if you at some point decide hey i was doing wrong that means your hearth wasnt fully hardened. thats how i understand it. could be wrong. The one that reaches point of no return will never even think of repenting etc...
Exactly- I don't see how you can call it a sin if it's a 'lifestyle'? And in what way does that match with the description translate to 'blasphemy of the spirit'? This interpretation seems like a very convenient way for a christian to kill two birds with one stone (Pascal's wager and reconciling an unforgivable sin).
@ivans8713 Yep, basically if you never in your life come to grips with your sin and repent then you've committed blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
If a person has even the slightest desire, no matter how small, to be saved, then that person will be forgiven, it is a matter of what the person wants, if they DO NOT want to be forgiven by God, then God cannot simply force them to repent, he does the only thing possible that still respects free will, he leaves them to their own desires.
Alex, have you ever considered giving courses on how to keep a straight face?
😂
It’s called maturity. I’m not sure many of his fans have such a thing, judging by the average content in his comments section, but I appreciate that he at the very least does. He has outgrown the persona of “new atheism,” unlike some of you.
No face with that moustache can be considered "straight"
@@unoriginalclips9923 Well said.
okay, budyy @@unoriginalclips9923
Great conversation. Thank you for posting this.
@@davelips they are liars! Do not listen to them! You blasphemy the holy spirit when you call a living breathing Son of God who deliverers the truth to you a liar! He has the holy spirit inside of him, so when you call him a liar without letting him prove his truth, you call the holy Spirit inside of His a liar! Like calling God a liar to his face. The the man. He is inly the Lord of Host and is only a man. God is one but lords are many. God can be LORD but lords can not be God
This is like talking about the rules of Magic the Gathering. 🧙🏻♂️🪄🔮
MTG actually has clearer instructions.
LMAO 🤣
@@chottstuffstraight cap
The Holy Spirit aka Air is the Latin Juno. Juno is the one who hoovers/broods over the waters (Neptune) in Genesis one. Nothing moves or comes into existence without Juno..
Lovely calm and decent conversation without interruptions. Love to see it
Incredible that so many are interested in this kind of content❤makes me happy
Thank you for this.
Alex is such a fantastic listener.
Except when it comes to veganism
I like Alex, but here it seemed like he was trying his best not to listen to the explanation. The explanation itself was relatively simple but better questions would have been how it’s derived from the original passage or the purpose of stating that God hardened Pharos heart.
Nicely said
@@ArizonaD-cu8in Yeah I picked up on that too. I don't believe in God but I was sitting here like "C'mon mate, it's not complicated - they're saying that if you ever regret what you did, then it didn't count as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit."
@@Caiyde Doesn't that water down the definition of "blasphemy"? If blasphemy is like any other sin, (i.e. if you regret your actions and ask for forgiveness, you will be forgiven) why separate it out as "unforgiveable"?
To my ear, Alex was saying "Here is this defined 'thing' (blasphemy) that if produced will result in this action (no forgiveness)." The responses sounded along the lines of "Well what it *really* means is this!" Tap dancing then ensues.
So, the response to the original question comes out as "A sin is only unforgivable until it is forgivable." Which doesn't address the original question. Unless they want to say, "All sins are unforgiveable until they are forgivable." They would at least then be consistent.
For years I was terrified of the unpardonable sin, under the impression it was a one-off thing a person could do and be damned. As a kid I watched Rod Parsley, a televangelist, tell a story about three men who told a street preacher "damn you and damn your Holy Spirit" - blasphemy. Two of the men died sudden and horrific deaths soon after. The third, realizing with horror that he was next, shut himself in his office at work. His coworkers forced their way in to find him in a fetal position grasping his hair, proclaiming he knows what's going to happen and where he's going. Rod's story warned of fatal consequences for uttering those words, and that's all I can remember from that broadcast. I may have never let this story scare me away from Christ, but too many people have.
People often say, “I’m not hurting anyone so it’s ok to sin (lying, stealing, sexual sins, disrespecting parents etc)” The same God who said to love your neighbour first said to love Him to the best of your ability. If you carry on sinning, then you do not love God but are selfish like the devil so you will be joined to your father in hell or repent of your sins and believe in Jesus as God so Jesus adopts you as His child and you will join Him in Heaven forever.
Looking at the context of the biblical passage, the Pharisees had just called Jesus’ casting out of a demon “demonic”. They had called the clear work of God “demonic”. They were rejecting who Christ was, rejecting the work of the Spirit. They were doing this knowingly. They were calling God, Jesus, the Spirit “demonic.” Unforgivable. And yes, it ties in with the hardened heart that the Knectle’s discuss.
Okay. Don’t think that was even close to one of the main gripes Alex had in the video. And it also doesn’t do anything to solve the huge problems with the unforgivable sin and many other bits of Christian dogma
The Angel of the Lord encamps near those who are righteous. Praise Jesus Christ in his precious and holy name our true Lord and saviour, Amen✝️
I had to struggle with this for a long time until I watched cliff at a university talking about it and he said something along the lines of “if you are worried that you’ve blasphemed the Holy Spirit, you haven’t” and it was a huge relief because I finally got what it meant. Also I just LOVE how respectful the two parties are conversing! we need more of this in the modern age.
" had to struggle with this for a long time until I watched cliff at a university talking about it and he said something along the lines of “if you are worried that you’ve blasphemed the Holy Spirit, you haven’t” and it was a huge relief because I finally got what it meant"
But isn't it odd that Jesus would say something in a way that led you and a host of others to struggle for a long time until Cliff solves it with one succinct phrase? I've read through this discussion and everyone explaining it away does so with ease and always with essentially the same words. But Jesus, on the times he said it that are recorded, couldn't explain it clearly. He apparently said this on more than one occasion because they are in different settings. Some say he was speaking to people of the law so meant THEY had hardened their hearts. But in Mark, he's speaking to his friends, disciples and even his family and he lists it with other sins for which folks can be forgiven. Who should we believe, Cliff or Jesus?
OTOH It's nice when someone can salve their fears by listening to someone else besides Jesus.
@@rizdekd3912 Which part of Mark? In Mark 3, he's speaking to the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem, same as Matthew 12. His point is really that, if they can't see that his miracles are God's doing, but rather see them as the Devil's doing, then how can they be saved, how can they be at peace in righteousness, for they see right as wrong and wrong as right?
@ I see what you mean. It is still an odd way to put it...ie to identify specific sins and then say that there is one sin for which one for which they will never be forgiven.
Deceived by men
@bike4aday exactly
As a disciple of Christ, I really appreciate and respect Alex and his curious conversation on this wonderful faith.
Im a Christian, Im still in the process of watching this, but Id like to say thank you Alex for having a respectful and honest conversation about Christianity (as usual). I find people like you a blessing because it challenges me to look deeper in my faith, and bring me closer to God.
And thank you to the Knetchles as well. Wishing you all good health and a purposeful future. God bless 🕊
Amen 🙏
These conversations only strengthen my faith ❤
@@Bec_loves_Jesus Before any of the plagues
Exodus 7:2-5 - You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. *But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you.* Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”
God hardened Pharaoh's heart right from the start
This almost happened to me. I gave my life to Christ when I was very young. Then slowly grew away and consciously decided to live my own life, still believed, just didn't live my life as if I did. Then in my late 20's I woke up one morning and something made me go to a church (prompting from God). I remember walking in and crying uncontrollably, realising what I have done, and God asking me if I want to continue to walk away, and if so that will be it, he will no longer pursue me.
I had no idea about unforgivable sins or anything. Only what God was placing on my heart that day. I said I will stop walking away and pursue Him. It was the best decision I ever made!
The problem is here that Alex is still looking at this like a transaction, a list even, "technicallities" not a relationship, and this is the difference.
Hallelujah! Amen brother 🙏
That's great for you, but Alex has explained in many of his videos that he would absolutely welcome some kind of divine intervention that you experienced. So, what is god waiting for?
It's not really fair for you to claim that Alex is hung up on technicalities if all god needs to do is make believe.
@@jordanbtucker And he can say that all he wants, but until he actually welcomes it in, it won't happen.
What do you think is his ratio of spiritual practice to thinking, talking, and philosophizing? I can't know for certain, but I would suspect it's currently 0 to 1. How then can he hear God speaking when all he hears are his own thoughts? If Alex is serious about wanting to have spiritual experiences, I would recommend he go where they happen most frequently - practice-based retreats. Take one month off from thinking, talking, and philosophizing, to sit in quiet stillness, with the guide of a teacher, to meditate and pray.
@@bike4aday Ah yes. Turn your brain off so you can become Christian. Bravo!
Playing the game of redefining and reinterpreting what every word means until the Abrahamic theology makes some kind of defensible sense, because the alternative would be so dramatically inconvenient, socially and psychologically, to be virtually unthinkable...
Is it just me or nobody in the comments knows what Exegesis and Hermeneutics are?.
@@chad7070it’s almost like large words don’t invalidate the common sense argument that the inspired word of God should not need exegisis to be made sense of
100%!
To those who ask me why I no longer believe. A maximally great being with the power and benevolent incentive to communicate unambiguously, personally, and instantaneously to each individual on earth has, instead, decided to communicate the most important message his creatures will ever hear through a book so prone to error, contradiction, and ambiguity that there is still no unified consensus on what that message is or how to faithfully interpret it.
Nailed it. It’s such an exhausting little game
@@bassplayerbyrne Why it wouldn't need it?.You don't even know what are you talking about.
1 John 1:9 -- the hardened heart won't likely confess their sins. Just saying sorry isn't enough. Recognizing it as a sin is required.
Sin is doing things that harm people intentionally?
@@Streamofsourcesin is the transgression of the Law of God 1 John 3:4
It’s crazy that it’s even possible to see the glory of God and then shun Him! Dear lord please never let this happen to me!
WHOEVER COMES TO ME I WILL NEVER TURN AWAY , JESUS
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, I HAVE COME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, THE MESSAGE THAT I AM PREACHING IS INFLUENCED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND COMES FROM JESUS AND GOD. THIS IS THE TIME TO GET SAVED. FOR GOD LOVES YOU AND WANTS TO BE WITH YOU, JESUS IS GOD, PRAISE THE LORD ALL DAY EVERYDAY. FOR HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS. JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOU SINS AND CRUSHED SATANS HEAD ON CALVARY. YOU CAN BE REDEEMED THROUGH CHRIST. FOR HE WILL BAPTIZE YOU IN THE SPIRIT, HELL IS REAL FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE, A ENDLESS CONSUMING FIRE OF WRATH AND DESPAIR AND SEPARATION FROM GOD THAT BURNS FOREVER FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNREPENTANT. CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR AND REPENT OF YOUR SINS SO THAT JESUS CAN SAVE YOU FROM ETERNAL DAMNATION WHICH IS HELL. JESUS IS THE ONLY TRUE GOD.
Ephesians 2:8-9: "FOR BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST" John 14:6
Jesus said to him. “I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME."
JESUS CAN TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN, YOUR ADDICTIONS, YOUR DEPRESSION, YOUR SORROWS, AND ANYTHING THAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK FROM A TRUE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST IF ONLY YOU CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS LORD AND THAT YOU HAVE FAITH AND TRUST IN HIM, OUR ONE TRUE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. JESUS CHRIST CAN SAVE YOU WHEN YOU PUT YOUR TRUST IN HIM AND HAVE FAITH IN HIM SO THAT YOU CAN GO TO HEAVEN TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR ETERNITY WITH THE SON, THE FATHER, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. JESUS LOVE ALL OF YOU AND BRINGS GREAT JOY TO THOSE THAT COME TO HIM, IN JESUS NAME I PRAISE HIS NAME, THE LORD'S HOLY NAME, JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. HALLELUJAH.
Jesus Christ loves you❤
JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, I HAVE COME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, THE MESSAGE THAT I AM PREACHING IS INFLUENCED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AND COMES FROM JESUS AND GOD. THIS IS THE TIME TO GET SAVED. FOR GOD LOVES YOU AND WANTS TO BE WITH YOU. JESUS IS GOD. PRAISE THE LORD ALL DAY EVERYDAY. FOR HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS. JESUS DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOU SINS AND CRUSHED SATANS HEAD ON CALVARY. YOU CAN BE REDEEMED THROUGH CHRIST. FOR HE WILL BAPTIZE YOU IN THE SPIRIT, HELL IS REAL FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE, A ENDLESS CONSUMING FIRE OF WRATH AND DESPAIR AND SEPARATION FROM GOD THAT BURNS FOREVER FOR THOSE WHO ARE UNREPENTANT. CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS OUR LORD AND SAVIOR AND REPENT OF YOUR SINS SO THAT JESUS CAN SAVE YOU FROM ETERNAL DAMNATION WHICH IS HELL. JESUS IS THE ONLY TRUE GOD.
Ephesians 2:8-9: "FOR BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED THROUGH FAITH AND THIS IS NOT YOUR OWN DOING; IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD, NOT A RESULT OF WORKS, SO THAT NO ONE MAY BOAST" John 14:6
Jesus said to him. “I AM THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME."
JESUS CAN TAKE AWAY YOUR PAIN, YOUR ADDICTIONS, YOUR DEPRESSION, YOUR SORROWS, AND ANYTHING THAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK FROM A TRUE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST IF ONLY YOU CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THAT JESUS IS LORD AND THAT YOU HAVE FAITH AND TRUST IN HIM, OUR ONE TRUE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. JESUS CHRIST CAN SAVE YOU WHEN YOU PUT YOUR TRUST IN HIM AND HAVE FAITH IN HIM SO THAT YOU CAN GO TO HEAVEN TO SPEND THE REST OF YOUR ETERNITY WITH THE SON, THE FATHER, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. JESUS LOVE ALL OF YOU AND BRINGS GREAT JOY TO THOSE THAT COME TO HIM, IN JESUS NAME I PRAISE HIS NAME, THE LORD'S HOLY NAME, JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH. HALLELUJAH.
Unless you insult his uncle then he'll turn away from you forever.
Matthew 7:21
Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers
I went to a Christian high school and devoutly read the Bible on my own everyday. In 7th grade, I came across this passage and it scared the hell out of me. The next day, I asked to talk to my 21 year old Bible class teacher after class to get clarification and make SURE I had never accidentally done this. He explained very similarly that it was like a hardening of the heart.
The problem is this is clearly an ad hoc justification of what Jesus is actually saying. It feels like Scripture is being twisted to plant the issue on a person who himself chooses to repeatedly turn away from God rather than God’s unwillingness in a particular case to forgive a sin, which would throw a large wrench in the centerpiece gospel message taught by Evangelicals like Cliff.
Really? I feel like that verse in context of what's going on in the story and the fact that hes talking about the Pharisees is fairly clear from a straight narrative sense whether you believe it's religious or atheist.
@ Yes, in Matt. 12:32 Jesus drills down further from the initial statement in the prior verse. He says it can still be forgiven to speak a word against the Son of Man, but can never be forgiven in this life or the next to speak against the Holy Ghost. The explicit text and context doesn’t give a very convincing basis for the loose “hardened heart” explanation. Jesus clarifies this is about speaking words against the Holy Spirit.
@@trex1448yes same here. Cliff’s cite to the thief on the cross is a good example of context and defining what it means to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The thief is granted eternal life by accepting Christ in his last moments. Thus, it is not a blind rejection to say that to blaspheme the Holy Spirit must mean something else than the what the interviewer is intimating.
@coanwilliams context is that he's talking to Pharisees at a very particular point in the narrative and referencing hardening of hearts which is a heavily, heavily contexted term. It's pretty insane to say there's no context in the texts being discussed here.
Read the Quran.
Entertaining, the pretzels they’re willing to bend themselves into to try and make it make sense
You should read the upanishads. There is a master class in gymnastics.
It's really not that complicated
@ cool story
@@bruhcow315 yes, yes it is
The New Age Atheists (Antitheists in disguise) in this comment section are still chained down by their irrational hatred towards God.
These conversations are so interesting. Alex is a very intelligent young man
Talking about a complete insane cult, where seemingly rational adults believe in a fairytale, actually a bloody sadistic horrific fairytale, is interesting.
How can these guys believe this stuff? I just don’t understand.
@@joecheffo5942look in to it your yourself with an open mind and truly think on it most likely, you’ll be able to understand something
watch Chris Langans talk about CTMU (Cognitive theoretical model of the Universe) and the fact that God is logically and metaphysically real and you’ll understand. You don’t need to believe in Jesus to be a believer in God. God = energy. You and everybody and everything on this earth is a part of God. God is the first mover. It’s not a superstitions thing, it’s just a way of saying there is something bigger that you are a part of. The people who follow christ do it not necessarily because they literally believe what he did. But that they were metaphors of an ideal person that you should strive to be like for the world to be a better place. Hope you understand that way of seeing God.
@@kriskaayne This God also sounds like the "Consciousness = God" that Ekchart Tolle talks about. But I'm not sure what the purpose of such a God is. Does he care whether people believe in him or not? What is his purpose?
Romans 7:12-14 literally described the law as the holy Spirit. Just an FYI, preachers are ridiculous. Plus Dueteronomy 4:2 don't add or diminish from the Torah/ law. Jesus adding to the law would qualify him as a sinner.
this video has taught me alot, thank you so much
Circular logic has prevailed!!!!!!!!
How so?
@@Viod753
why is blaspheming the holy spirit unforgivable?
because the person committing the sin cannot be forgiven
why can they not be forgiven?
because they do not ask for forgiveness
can they ask for forgiveness
no
so why is it unforgivable
because they cannot ask for forgiveness
@@Viod753 the guy under you eloquently provided the reason for you
@@user-ql4ti9hm5c Yes.
@@Allothersweretakenn Thx.
This is quite interesting since there's a temporal tension in saying something is unforgivable. If someone does x, it is unforgivable, which implies that after a specific time, x is unforgivable no matter what happens. The sin is the primary unforgiving parameter - time is secondary.
But Cliffe and Stuart make x the act of never asking forgiveness. The word never here is strange since it shifts the primary unforgiving parameter from the sin to the "time." It seems like saying, "This is unforgivable until something happens" (to repent or feel remorse). But if that is the case, the word unforgivable seems to lose practical merit, since it isn't the action of not asking for forgiveness, or whatever sin, it's "never asking for it". Time here is the parameter that leads to unforgiveness. And to us humans with our limited perception, it's ironic, almost paradoxical, to say that something is unforgiving until something down the timeline occurs. How can something be unforgivable if it could be forgiven later?
Because humans could act in a way, behave in a way, never ask for forgiveness, and be on the trajectory to commit "the unforgivable sin" until we don't. And when we don't, when we change our minds, we are forgiven. There's almost no point for Jesus to say unforgiving. That switch from unforgiven to forgiven sounds really volatile, which makes those two binary states nearly indistinct like they're separated only by a thin, porous line rather than a rigid boundary.
I feel and have written the same thing. They are spewing some nonsense. Unforgivable looks like:
"God, forgive me" - Person
"No" - God
Unforgivable doesn't make much sense when it is reframed simply as:
An indifferent human just goes about his whole life doing evil things and dies without repenting.
Don't waste your energy. Once ensnared by religion, even the most intelligent of minds will defend the most atrocious and abhorrent things done in the bible.
@@cashgenenator There are Christians capable of being critical of what's written on the Bible and having doubts
Sir if your looking at it threw gods eyes he has already seen your entire life and know if you will ever ask for forgivens or accept God's mercy. If you reject God's mercy you can't be forgiven because you won't accept the forgiveness. In plain terms unforgivable. Another interpretation to this is attributing God's work as demonic would be the unforgiveable sin. As the pharisees just did.
Thing is Pharaoh was going to change his mind and then God actively hardened his heart so that his glory would be shown.
For context “And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.”
Exodus 4:21 NRSV
How do you know Pharaoh was going to change his mind?
@@Misticarp
Why would God have needed to harden his heart if he was just going to do what He wanted anyway?
@iamdanielmonroe, That "glory" of which you speak, led to the death of all the 1st born of an empire. Thus countless dead bodies of the 1st born children. So you may what to think showing the Lords glory being worth the murder of Egyptian children. If this happened in today an you saw/heard the families grieving this would hit home more. But the story from the Bible is detached an wrought with the stuff of myth.
the question you have to ask yourself how is God hardening pharoah heart. Well the answer to that is that God is harderning his heart by withdrawing himself from him. God knows that withdrawing his presence will harden Pharoah heart but that is what Pharoah wants
@@pgpython That is not what the text says. It is a complete ad hoc explanation based on wishes.
It’s so refreshing to witness discussions on a high level note on both ends. To me, the clearest example on the hardened relationship with God is by becoming so hypocritical that your whole essence as a human changes to a cynic. I think of criminals, m*rderers, r4pists, child m0lesters who will say anything from the lips out in order to convince someone they’ve changed but they know they will continue to live their lives unchanged. Thank you for posting this, Alex!
This sounds like a P-hacking situation. You can’t say they’ve blasphemed if there’s any future left for them, because they might repent, in which case “they didn’t blaspheme since blaspheming means you never would have done that,” but if they’ve died without repenting you can say “see they blasphemed.” It’s a nice self-confirming maze they have on their hands
I think the difference is knowing God and choosing to rebel. Like the Devil will not be forgiven because not only does he refuse to apologize, but he knows intimately the level of love and power yet decides to actively reject this to make himself his own ruler. Just as some humans do. But personally I think this sin is attributed to demons or people that have "sold their soul"
P-hacking, or simple begging the question.
I think Alex did his best to get them to say when exactly that window of opportunity to still be forgiven would close.
It sounded like they couldn't give any example of someone who had actually committed blasphemy.
@@Christian-xv5hb in that case, it's better never to know God. You can't rebel against what you don't know.
It's arguable if you can rebel against what you don't believe exists. Me rebelling against my parents is different from me rebelling against Thor.
But there’s also reality.. if you tell someone “I never want to be with you” and then never do it’s reality. They can play games and say “well what do you mean, what you mean by never”. But it’s just games… same is true w God
@oscargr_ it's nearly impossible. If there's a God you will be forced to encounter him after your life ends. If not, then you're safe. But if he's real, then you'll have to explain this conversation to him as to why you didn't take this as an opportunity to learn of him
It's fun to hear the finer rules of the magic system!
It is a magic system and yes im nerdy enough i know what you mean .Doesnt make it not real
@@joshuascott3428 It is real, as real as a Woman living in the woods with 7 dwarfs.
@@joshuascott3428 "Just because it's a magic system doesn't make it not real" is such a funny thing to see an adult human say. If I believed that, you wouldn't be able to waterboard it out of me, and yet here you are saying it for free.
@@JD-wu5pf xdd ikr, "its magic but its real" is the funniest shit ive heard
@@JD-wu5pfI don't understand why cannot an adult say that? Seems like great theologans of christianity were all children?
doesnt unforgivable just definitionally mean that even if forgiveness is asked for, it wont be granted. Why then does he make it seem like the blasphemer is definitionally someone who wont even ask for forgiveness ?
because it lets Christians feel morally superior.
Well put
It all does seem a bit arbitrary to me, but maybe I’m just not getting it
B'c then the onus is switched from god to blaspheme to achieve forgiveness. The way cliffe painted the picture is: god is always ready to forgive but the blasphemer will never and would never ask for forgiveness anyway. The Bible says nothing of the sort.
If you have remorse or seek forgiveness you have not blasphemed.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 1:7
AMEN AMEN AMEN!!! 🙏🙌🔥🕊️
@@ereynacarde-borre6803 Make sure as a you are a repentant Christian. Read the Bible daily and pray often throughout the day, the devil is trying to make lukewarm Christians everywhere (Rev 3:16). Join us in spreading the good news of Jesus Christ.
If you tell everyone that you are a mechanic but day in and out, you do the work of an accountant are you truly a mechanic? No, you are an accountant. Likewise, a Christian by name who lives contrary to Jesus’ teachings by living sinful/worldly is not a real Christian.
@@thereisnonegoodbutgodjohn363 You're right and I try my best to do the will of my Father. I fall short all the time, just like everyone else, but it's doesn't mean that I don't love my LORD JESUS ❤️🙏😭 or that I don't want to be counted as a daughter of the Most High God. No one is righteous, no not one. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. QUESTION❓ Why did you feel you needed to tell me all that? My comment was simply Amen in response to the scripture. Just curious 🤔
The mental gymnastics here is just amazing.
I’m no genius but I’m sure Alex is the one doing mental gymnastics
please argue..and explain what is the mental gymnastics?
@travionwaiters4135 how so ??
@@travionwaiters4135 how could you possibly make that argument?
Is metal gymnastics the height of all your vocabulary??? I swear I've seen this word thrown around in every athiest crowded comment section
Bible: god hardens Pharaoh’s heart
Apologist: Pharaoh hardens his own heart
If you read it in the original Hebrew, this is the meaning of the word "harden" means "strengthen resolve". So Pharaoh had already made a decision (resolved) not to obey God. God merely sped up or intensified the process to see it through to the end.
Think of it like a catalyst in a chemical reaction. If you mix substance A with B, we know it turns into C in 60 seconds. But if you add substance D (a catalyst), then the conversion happens in 30 seconds.... because you "strengthened" the reaction. It was going to happen either way. The chemist didn't change the outcome.
Think about a time you made a decision to do something a week from now, but then something happened and you decided to do it sooner. The result is the same either way.
@@sidwhiting665 So if someone would eventually agree to sleep with me in a year, it's okay for me to mind control them into doing it tonight?
That sounds morally good to you?
@@kieranharwood7186makes no sense... 2 diferent cases....
@@kieranharwood7186 Brodie what ? Pharaoh stopped listening to God since he hardened his heart and continued to do evil by being a tyrant and oppressing and abusing the Israelites, are you saying it would've been better for pharaoh to keep doing what he was doing? of course not, therefore God used him so that he'd free the Israelites from slavery and so his power would be shown.
@@EmilianoQuezada-w5n I think he's talking about the morality of taking away someone's free will to make them more evil rather than the utilitarian outcome of the decision
This is like saying "I have an unbreakable cup" then it falls and breaks then he says "Well it was unbreakable until it broke" Its Unforgivable but also it can be forgiven. What nonsense.
If someone offers you a gift and you firmly and voluntarily go out of your way to ensure you don’t get the gift and reject it, by definition the gift giver can’t give you anything. Blaspheming of the spirit is unforgivable because the individual willfully does not want to receive forgiveness. God will not force you to receive him if you don’t want to
@@Khalid-kz3mdDoes that not apply to every sin? You have to repent for it to be forgiven, otherwise every sin that you don't repent for is unforgivable because you are not accepting the fact that you committed such sin in the first place.
You just did not understand. Please listen to the first explanation by Stuart again. It's the first time in my life when I hear him saying something coherent, but this time he explained it very well.
@@Khalid-kz3md There is a big problem with your analogy, let me fix it for you: If someone offers you a gift and you firmly and voluntarily go out of your way to ensure you don’t get the gift and reject it. Now, that someone who offered you a gift declares that you are now forever someone un-gift-able, and is not deserving of gifts FOREVER. It doesn't matter if you had murdered someone, or raped someone. They would've still gifted you if you ask for it later. But, willfully not wanting to receive a gift for one time, nope, that's it!
@@pl5994 That's not right either, because that person can at ANY time decide they now want that gift, and shall be granted it? So the unforgiveable is only that person that continues to refuse this gift for their entire life. What's so difficult to understand here?
Stuart really is the spitting image of Cliff, and following in his footsteps really well! Very well spoken, and researched.
Ok let's make this easy. ... Forgiveness cannot and will not be forced upon you. It's that simple
It's forced upon God, though. If you repent, he promised heaven... unless he's deceptive and lied, like the Devil, that is.
@@AudunWangen forgiveness is not forced upon God.
Typical athiest mentality @@AudunWangen
@@justinsmith6766 then God lied.
but haven't you noticed that its self determined? you have to forgive yourself for what you have done
great video man! 2 of my favourite preachers and my favourite atheist having a conversation is awesome, can't wait to see more
who do you feel had the better take on things marley?
@@bonnie43uk (I have to send these comments in seperate messages since YT isn't letting me post it all together)
The Knechtle's struggled to give Alex a satisfying answer, but I don't think this is by the fault of them and more the unsatisfying fact that Christ can not forgive blasphemy of the Holy Spirit even if he wanted to.
Mark 3:28-30: "Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin-for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit.""
Jesus keeps the description ambiguious and unsatisfying. Even if I wanted to commit this sin, I wouldn't even know where to start. It's in the same way that heaven and hell aren't described in full but left as a glooming mystery by Christ. It's not for us to know, we will have an eternity to be exposed to it afterall. All we need to hear is the sound of the alarm, not exactly why the alarm is being sounded in the first place.
Back to the Holy Spirit, it demands faith. If you lack faith, then you lack food to feed it. How is it meant to save you if you have stocked all of your faith in other finite things, (things that Jesus warns us of)? Do you see why Jesus described it as an 'eternal' sin? Good deeds are good for the finite, but unfortunately your finite goods won't save you. Faith is the governor of all good actions, faith is what allows us to step out. How do you expect to meet God if you don't have enough faith to walk out to him? God can not forgive this, since you haven't given him any material to work with. This is why Jesus's blood can't cover for that sin, because you don't even believe that the blood will heal you.
This wasn't the kind of discussion that warrants us to bet on any side. Alex respectfully listened while Cliffe and Stuart tried to appease Alex in the best of their abilities, this left them in a cycle. I just wish that Alex could have moved on from the idea that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a sin that can be tracked down to specific time and place. It's an eternal sin, so why does he think it can be pinned down in a vacuum? All 3 were good sports and all of them played fair. Thanks for asking me!
"if you dont want to repent, you can't repent" so enlightening
"people die when they are killed" level of wisdom
The floor is made of floor
Mahn *I love SO MUCH the mature character* that Alex has developed over the years ♥
"Anyone can be forgiven at anytime so long as they repent." "God hardens peoples hearts so they cannot repent and cannot be forgiven."
So which is it?
Definitely not the best I've heard Cliff and Stewart do on this topic, but I think Alex doesn't really understand what the unforgivable sin is and so they're trying to take a different approach that he misunderstands.
The original Hebrew word hazaq used in the passages about Pharaoh means hardening in the sense of "strengthening". Pharaoh's heart was already hard. He wasn't going to let the Israelites go. God didn't force him to disobey. Think of how chemists add catalysts to speed up reactions. The result is the same with or without the catalyst, but it's stronger with the catalyst.
@@sidwhiting665 Interesting analogy, but your last sentence is contradictory. If a catalyst makes a reaction stronger, then the result has indeed been changed. It's like the difference between putting one mentos in a coke vs an entire pack of mentos. Sure, the end result, coke spurting out, is the same, but the quantity and quality of the spurting is much greater.
They made a similar analogy to yours in the video but both analogies fail to answer the question, "which is it?" Can people change their minds and repent at anytime in their lives or does God sometimes interfere with their free will and prevent them from doing so? The latter option is what the Bible explicitly states God did with Pharoah.
@@vmolin2162 Let me answer your question with a question. Why do you think God “interfered with pharaoh’s free will”?
It might seem silly to ask, but I want to know
@@vmolin2162 I'm an atheist, but I think the analogy is perfect. It doesn't matter how much coke spurts out, you're still making a mess. It's the same with god's lack of forgiveness. It doesn't matter how much or little you sin, you're going to hell anyway, unless you repent of course. Then the holy spirit sweeps in with a mop and cleans it all up.
The morale of the story is: If you're not going to repent anyway, make sure you sin big. Work your way through as many of the 7 deadly sins as you can, and break all the commandments you desire. A fun bucket list to run through. An eternity in hell doesn't get any shorter if you don't 😈
He only hardened his heart after his own constant rejection of Gods commands (pharaoh that is)
They can never be pinned down on a position since they just make up a new definition to distract from the point.
Jesus was a Jew and spoke Aramaic. Jesus did not speak Greek, Latin or English.
Jesus did not say ''GOD'' Jesus said ALAHA-ELOHIM. Jesus' name is YESHUA.
You have everything wrong. You do not even know the name of Jesus. You do not even know that the name of Jesus' God is ALAHA-ELOHIM.
There is not even a word called ALAHA-ELOHIM in the bible you read. There is not even the name of Jesus and you still say that your bible is true.
It is clearly written in the Bible that Jesus was a prophet.
“When Jesus had entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, ‘Who is this?’ The crowds replied, ‘This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.’” Matthew 21:10-11
“They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.” NIV Matthew 21:46
Jesus said “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.” Luke 4:24
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. Acts 3:13
“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God.” Luke 6:12
“And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.’” Matthew 26:39
“They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’” Mark 14:32
Jesus is referred to as "Son of Man" 82 times in the New Testament (NIV and ESV). Even Jesus says I am a man and you still say no he is God. How can you be so stupid?
Yup, you can aaaalllwaayyss just change the interpretation. It's so sad that 21st century humans literally have barbaric ancient beliefs stuck in their minds. They're not reachable by logic and reason, which honestly frightens me. They're literally brainwashed.
@@worldfacts1977who are you talking to????
@@worldfacts1977 So your saying that Allah is the Most High and Yeshua is a prophet of Allah. But doesn't yeshua mean yahweh is salvation. Is yahweh the Name of Allah?
Pind point for sure.
I like Stuart and Cliff, but I think their response missed the mark a little bit.
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is often misunderstood as a specific act, but it’s more about a persistent rejection of God’s offer of forgiveness through Christ. When Jesus mentions this unforgivable sin, He’s responding to the Pharisees, who accuse Him of using demonic power to cast out demons. He explains that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, pointing out that someone aligned with God cannot work against God, just as someone aligned with evil cannot work for God.
This rejection of the Holy Spirit means a heart that remains unrepentant, refusing to accept Christ’s salvation. In Acts 2, Peter tells the crowd to “repent and be baptized” to receive forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit. Rejecting this is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit because it’s a refusal to acknowledge sin, turn from it, and seek forgiveness. In essence, the only unforgivable sin is a hardened heart that continually rejects God, as it closes the door to receiving His grace.
Demonstrate this to be true
Exactly 👍🏼. I can’t believe they all missed this explanation.
@@jsmall10671 Which aspect? Do you mean my entire interpretation?
Here's Origen in the 3rd Century on this: “For it is called blasphemy, to assign to the impure spirit, that which is of the Holy Spirit; and this is what he who blasphemes does. But I think that this blasphemy of the Holy Spirit consists in the man’s not receiving the Spirit in such a way as to turn to the grace of God.”
Here is St. John Chrysostom in the 4th: “For even if a man shall have believed rightly in the Father, and in the Son, but shall speak anything blasphemous of the Spirit, his faith shall not avail him, nor his becoming a son. And if he shall mock any work of the Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him. ... But they who after this course remain incorrigible, and are against their own salvation, shall no more receive the means of healing. ... That which was done had been manifest, and it was easy to distinguish it from the deception of the demons.”
There are others, including Augustine, Tertullian and more who associate this with a rejection of the Holy Spirit and attribution of the work of God with evil (which would result in resisting salvation).
@@JacobTheStrangeOfficialno. It is in fact a specific act. Jesus even tells us what it is. I'll say it again for the 50th time. 😑
Blasphemy of the Holy Ghost is witnessing God's UNDENIABLE SUPERNATURAL WORKS OF POWER and then WILLFULLY, MALICIOUSLY, and INTENTIONALLY choosing to attribute those works you KNOW are FROM GOD to Satan and demons INSTEAD.
@@kooldudematt1 --- How can you KNOW they're from god and not satan?
When Jesus "says" something that may threaten our afterlife, isn't it convenient that we can simply interpret his words into a convenient favorable loophole.
Such a wonderful dialogue, Alex is always so insightful and unrelenting.
In every interview with Cliff Knechtle it feels like he's making up the rules on the spot to suit each question.
Not really. Cliff's explaining a hard truth to a person who is hostile to his position. Each person is different and will respond differently, so a different approach is sometimes required. Alex could have God's forgiveness, but to date he has hardened his heart and tried to say that God doesn't even exist. Cliff's just trying whatever approach might work. We can't say if Alex has or hasn't blasphemed the Holy Spirit yet. God alone knows. I pray, for Alex's sake, that he earnestly seeks God and repents.
@@sidwhiting665 What is the 'hard truth' you are referring to?
@@sidwhiting665 But we're here to discuss theology and the meaning of texts, not try to save poor Alex's soul. They talked all this time and still couldn't define a moment when this unforgivable sin is committed.
@@sidwhiting665that doesn't make sense
👋 Hiya Folks - amateur theologen here! Let me start off by saying I appreciate this conversation! I’ll go on to say as a Christian, I think this can be answered a little more effectively.
Firstly - when talking about The Bible, if you’re genuinely interested in discerning it, you must understand it is a book of guidance that each person has a right to interpret. I personally believe The Bible is both literal and metaphorical in practically everything it says - sometimes it’s 50/50 between the metaphorical/literal, most of the time it’s a sliding scale. This is true because language and communication generally works this way - and The Bible is ultimately a book communicating God’s intent to humanity.
Okay, so based on that - every biblical passage has at least two interpretations. Likely more in fact, as The Bible is also intended to be historical, so you can have referential interpretations too that speak to a greater trend/context. If you’re still with me (good on you btw!) we shall proceed to the point…
The passage is:
--
Mark 3:28-30
“Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”
--
This quote is also recorded in Matthew 12:31 and Luke 12:10.
Generally speaking, I believe Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is a bit of a chicken and egg situation - do you blaspheme and are thus unforgiven or are you unforgiven and thus you blaspheme? In my personal opinion, there are two main ways to interpret the meaning of this - as in, there are two cases of “blasphem[ing] against the Holy Spirit” that a person can be guilty of: Blaspheming in life, and Blaspheming at point of death.
BLASPHEMING AT POINT OF DEATH is best explained with an analogy. If you and your Parent had an argument that was your fault, but you died before you could apologise, would your Parent be able to forgive you posthumously? Strictly technically speaking, no, because YOU never asked for forgiveness to be forgiven. In christian theology, you can only be forgiven if you ask for forgiveness - so if you die without repenting, you literally can not be forgiven. This is essentially how those who do not believe in salvation through Jesus get to ‘Hell’. Which, Biblically speaking, since ‘Heaven’ is being with God, ‘Hell’ literally means being without God (AKA permanent death/de-creation).
BLASPHEMING IN LIFE is closer to what they were speaking of in the video. Basically, since God is the root of life and goodness, straying from God means death and perversion of goodness (bad). If you are in rebellion (disconnected from God) for prolonged periods of time - things start to happen to you. The bible essentially says, in so many words and passages, that you lose your conscience and the ability to tell good from evil. You’re handed over to your worst desires. “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” Jeremiah 17:9.
Furthermore, if it gets REALLY bad, you can end up demonically oppressed, possessed, and even teaming up with demonic entities to spread evil (whether you’re cognisant of it or not). The Pharaoh of the Exodus was an example of a ‘spiritually dead’ person (Ephesians 2:1-2), who was aligned with demonic entities/idols (Exodus 12:12). Despite being alive, he was so intertwined with sin (hardened heart) that he may as well have been dead (continuous sin is likened to death in Christian theology).
In my opinion, these sorts of people are a rarity… we’re talking Emperor Nero, Leopold II of Belgium, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, the kinds of people that kill millions, traffic humans and felt they were in the right for most of it. They think evil, is good. THESE people are so unrepentant, so actively against God’s purpose in their lifetime, that they are spiritually dead (have hardened hearts) long before they die. And of course God, being the most intelligent being in existence with ALL the facts loaded like a supercomputer, is well aware that’s the case.
Anyway, thanks for reading this long reply - hope that helps! Feel free to reply if you have any more questions and I’ll do my best to respond!
Been waiting for these guests
Oh boy, a couple of financially dependent religion deludeds!
Matt Dillahunty exposed Knechtle for the sad and misguided little person he is.
Some day it will be quite funny that a human, not having enough information, would choose to believe in religious poop. Many believers are believers because 'Mama said so.'.
Mama was wrong.
So on point! 🙏🔥☮️❤️🔥
So the Blasphemy in question is basically to die an atheist lmao.
lol kinda. It’s really to harden your heart so much that you make it impossible for yourself and to ever repent or accept God. This means that you pushed the Holy Spirit away which is who comes to you and give you Godly thoughts of repenting and sin preventance. So if you block out the Holy Spirit because you never want to accept God then by that you are committing the unforgivable sin because you have hardened your heart so that God knows you will never accept him. However if you still have even slightest consideration in God’s existence that means there is still a possibility of you accepting God which means the Holy Spirit is within you still. And even if you don’t have that consideration now and you have it later that means you never fully hardened your heart to God so you never committed the unforgivable sin.
I would hope God has no problem with a moral atheist
It says "they are guilty of an eternal sin.” in Mark 3:29. Its an unforgivable sin because you enter a perpetual state of rejection. As a result, God stops reaching out to you and you're left with no means by which to be forgiven.
@@arnavrawat9864 If you're morally perfect sure. He has no complaints.
@@LinkDethroned What even is moral perfectness. I thought it wasn't a clear cut thing like that.
Second why would God not excuse imperfection?
It seems pretty clear that the Gospel writers intended that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is attributing the works of God to demons. That's the context of the story. Otherwise Jesus is just kind of bringing something up to the Pharisees appropo of nothing.
The idea that it's just not wanting to be forgiven seems to come from the Church Fathers, probably Augustine
Agreed!
I did 6 months in jail during college due to some poor choices and bad behavior, but I became very interested in how Christianity was so prolethic in that setting of “sinners.” I asked one guy that had been in and out of jail for the last 20 years “why do you get on your knees every night and pray” and he said “because all will be forgiven, you just have to pray for forgiveness” and it dawned on me how eerily convenient the idea of forgiveness can be and why Christianity remains so appealing even to those incarcerated
Almost like a coping mechanism for those who can’t cope with bad decisions they made, not having the answers to why things happen and being scared of death. Religion is the answer to the questions people want, it’s comforting.
@@walshmabob2Your loud and wrong.
Someone who prays for forgiveness yet does not repent(attempt to live without the sin to the best of their abilities) is not getting salvation. The bible makes it clear that the ability to be forgiven is not a sin pass, and if you see it that way you are not saved.
If he was going in and out of jail then he didn’t actually regret his actions.
@@walshmabob2is it bad wanting to change your life but you don’t know how or where to begin?
No such thing as a dead athiest.
Every knee shall bow
Every tongue will confess
Jesus is Lord!
Amen 🙏
I'm kind of like the cases Stuart was talking about. For 10 years I was basically dead emotionally and spiritually. I was very depressed because I thought I had committed the unforgivable sin. The child I was at the time never understood the grace and theology behind the topic, so I suffered for a long time until the pandemic hit. One day I felt so frustrated and depressed toward God that I basically prayed, "Lord, I've given you everything I have, I don't know what else you want from me." Of course, I was in a deep search for forgiveness. The next day, the problem was resolved. I felt forgiven, and I will never go back, Jesus is Lord, come to him, be saved, it is never too late. Jesus healed me, and He can do the same for you, there is always hope.
Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household. ~ Acts 16:31
I remember growing up as a independent fundamentalist baptist, the preachers I sat under tried explaining this as "not accepting Jesus into your heart" basically rejecting salvation the IFB way. Because of the way they interpret the amalgamation of versus concerning the method and pathway to be saved which they believed it to be a singular event and also teach that you cannot lose your salvation afterwards, and that there is no such thing as an unforgivable sin, they are forced into pulling an interpretation out of their butts that doesn't contradict their doctrine of salvation even though this has nothing to do with what the word blasphemy even has to do with. And I ended up finding this pretty consistent with other denominations where they will interpret this in a proprietary way as to not contradict their other doctrines. And funny enough most of them will not interpret it as "talking against" or "misusing" the Holy Spirit which would be consistent with how the word blasphemy is used. Funny how that works right. If you catch one of them off guard and ask them how something should be interpreted, they will never ever interpret anything in a way that will contradict anything else they believe already.
Perhaps you were explained wrong or in a difficult way, but that doesn't contradict once saved, always saved. If you ever commit blast me against the holy spirit, then you were never safe to begin with. God knows the future and your heart.If your heart was never in it for god in the first place, but you try to put on this badge of "oh, i'm a christian" god will know that you aren't actually in it. A fake christian is the exact same as a "good" atheist, they just say they believe different things. And then they have a moment in their life where they decide to change.But god knew that was gonna happen a long time ago. If a christian's heart "changes" it was never truly there in the first place, that's the best I think I can explain it.
@@RemingtonTrippillogical
@@RemingtonTripp well that's how I was indoctrinated growing up. I also have a problem with Christians who call each other fake Christians. That is also something I heard our preachers accuse other Christians of. They were so full of themselves that they said a person probably isn't saved and it's definitely not a true Christian if they are not an independent fundamental Baptist with the claims that because we or the only ones that interpreted scripture correctly that there would be no way the Holy Spirit would be influencing any other preachers so all other so-called Christians were being misguided by the devil.
So I have a big problem with anybody committing this hypocritical no true Scotsman fallacy. It absolutely is not anybody else's place to say whether or not someone else is a "real "Christian or not. Adding the "ian" turn the end of any word means you are "a follower of the work of", so anybody who believes that they are following the teachings of Jesus as they interpret the scriptures would qualify as Christians definitionally. And even though I am a non-believer in the supernatural, I do still admire many of the teachings of Jesus as portrayed in the gospels alone. I just absolutely hate the religions that have been created from this Jesus character whether there is any historicity to him at all or not. I hate any ideology that teaches it's subjects to hate, fear, harm, or look down upon others 4 arbitrary reasons and as far as I can tell all religions are guilty of this and I don't believe for one second that any one of them were influenced by any kind of benevolent spirits, rather just a bunch of self-serving self-righteous malevolent pricks.
@@RemingtonTripp which is an idea that leads to existential terror of whether one is "really" saved or not. You can't ever know if you're "really saved" or just think you are, which undermines the whole point of the teaching to begin with. Ironically, now that I don't believe in assurance of salvation I have much more hope that I will be saved.
@@jsmall10671 how?
Kudos to Alex for trudging through these conversations. Theists give the most long winded non-answer answers to questions. They dance around it with their utter nonsense. It’s amazing people even listen to them.
It’s amazing you can’t just listen for a bit and pay attention. Unless you have ADHD it’s really not too hard to listen to an actual answer. It’s not “long winded” and “dancing around.” They give answers and reference why they think what they think
He has the patience of a saint. There are no reasonable answers because it is all made up. He asks the best questions.
Atheists are not perfect and you all should stop acting as such.
If you want a really simple answer, then the unforgivable sin is ignoring all promptings from God to consider personal sin and/or the claims of the Bible. Eventually God stops bothering your conscience, and lets you do whatever you want. I'm sure that's a positive outcome to an atheist when they're no longer bothered by the possibility that God exists and an afterlife is real.
To see them talk like they are SO SURE about this, gives me chills… they are taking a text and adding their own interpretation but yet think they got it all figured out, like they control the outcome…
“You don’t have the worry about that”… wow, the audacity…
Thank "god" for Alex O'Connor!
😂
I thank "Spinozas God" 😎
So you admit that there is a god?!!! 😂
Bros make a whole case against God, but even so they still invoke his name even if it is to make fun, how ironic.
I think they need to stop saying morals are objective and just say its divine command theory. If morals are objective, then god has to follow the moral rules as well and if its a objective moral duty to save a drowning child if you can with no risk to yourself and you have a sound mind, then god is immoral if he does not do it. I have gotten a few to agree to this now and these are the questions I used.
#1 Are morals objective?
#2 Are there objective moral duties?
#3 Is it immoral not to do an objective moral duty?
#4 Does god do the objective moral duties?
#5 You see a child drowning in a shallow pool and notice a person just watching that is able to save the child with no risk to themselves but is not, is that persons non action moral?
#6 If you go to save the child, the man tells you to stop as he was told it was for the greater good, but he does not know what that is, do you continue to save the child?
#7 Is it an act of justice to punish innocent people for the crimes of others?
#8 If you were able to stop it and knew a person was about to grape a child would you stop it?
#9 Would you consider a parent who put their kids in a room with a poison fruit and told the kids not to eat it but then also put the best con artist in the room with the children knowing the con artist will get the kids to eat the fruit and the parent does nothing to stop it a good parent?
#10 Would math be objective if 2+2 did not equal 4 for god?
I agree that if morals are objective, then we can ascertain the morality of any being with agency by their behavior. The issue is that religious apologists have framed god as a being that exists outside the bounds of time and space which makes him/it exempt from the rules of literally everything. It's moving the goalpost so they never have to concede that their belief system and its central figure are flawed in any way.
I’m pretty sure they admit to divine command theory in all but name. (Actually some folks are honest enough to admit it completely)
@@stephenschaffenberger6765 That is the thing, I have gotten a couple to concede this now using the socratic method and very simple questions.
#1 Are morals objective?
#2 Are there objective moral duties?
#3 Is it immoral not to do an objective moral duty?
#4 Does god do the objective moral duties?
#5 You see a child drowning in a shallow pool and notice a person just watching that is able to save the child with no risk to themselves but is not, is that persons non action moral?
#6 If you go to save the child, the man tells you to stop as he was told it was for the greater good, but he does not know what that is, do you continue to save the child?
#7 Is it an act of justice to punish innocent people for the crimes of others?
#8 If you were able to stop it and knew a person was about to grape a child would you stop it?
#9 Would you consider a parent who put their kids in a room with a poison fruit and told the kids not to eat it but then also put the best con artist in the room with the children knowing the con artist will get the kids to eat the fruit and the parent does nothing to stop it a good parent?
@@Rudol_Zeppili I have found questions that work that sometimes get them to admit it. I posted them but YT sucks and ghosted it. might be able to see them if you sort the list by newest.
@@stephenschaffenberger6765Being outside time and space doesn’t exempt you from the responsibility of your actions, in fact it kind of compounds the issue further considering god could help anyone at anytime from accidents, diseases, and suffering inflicted upon them just because of the place they are born in, but he doesn’t stop any of those things even when they’re clearly not the fault of the sufferer, and yet he commands genocides in the bible and kills children of egyptians, who have done no wrong doing simply to punish their parents and the pharaoh.
It's incredible watching the mental gymnastics. To get around the idea of an unforgivable sin, they simply define an unforgivable person as a person who never asks for forgiveness... this is like saying there is a law banning some people from playing golf, but it only pertains to people that don't want to play golf....
Well, you have to define what blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is… It’s a vague topic that requires a definition, and you can’t throw out the one that makes the most sense because it’s kinda complicated. Also I agree with you, an unforgivable person is someone who doesn’t ask for forgiveness. For your analogy take out the law part and it makes complete sense, people who don’t like golf are “banned” from playing golf.
The Bible is full of complicated metaphors and sentences, and because of this you have to use so called “mental gymnastics “ to understand them. I believe that the entire Old Testament is metaphorical and didn’t actually happen.
...but it only pertains to people who will never, under any circumstances, want to play golf.
Entirely possibly it's less mental gymnastics and more willful misinterpretation, which some would call heretic, that in itself may be considered blasphemous.
I'm not sure if I'd even call it mental gymnastics. I imagine what Cliff and Stuart is doing is the kind of mental gymnastics if it was Raygun performing it
The reason it makes sense is that Jesus himself told these Pharisees that prostitutes and theives were going to enter the kingdom of heaven ahead of them. Sin in general, even great impurity or great greed, murder (as Jesus even forgave his tormentors) can be forgiven but the hardness and the complete hardness towards the Holy Spirit (the person of God who acts within us, and calls us out of our sin) will not be forgiven. Jesus said "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" about people who knew they were causing torment and killing. But they did not know they were killing the author of life, who had such love for them, so they were not committing an unforgiveable sin, or shutting their souls off to the need for God. Thats why demons cannot be forgiven, they have received revelation about God and rejected him in favor of their own pride. They knew they hated the author of life.
Huge respect both all three of these Guys. Alex aspects in the most good faith way some very dificult questions in which Cliffe answers without making Alex look bad. Need more discussions like these
As a Christian, I find reading the comments and watching this very interesting.
As an atheist, same.
Cliffe usually answers this in 10 seconds. It’s telling God “get lost, I don’t need you in my life” and then never changing your mind.
@@domcruise274 bingo. God won't force someone to trust him. If you don't want him, then his forgiveness cannot help you. It'd be like the judge in a murder trial saying, "Hey I'd like to pardon you for this offense" and you saying,. "No, I don't believe I need that and furthermore you don't exist."
People have a problem with God's sovereignty. Alex's mistake is he's trying to play word games with the lord of the universe. He's not even interested in God's existence or forgiveness.
It's interasting up to the point when you comment something and then get tortured with 15 different irrelevant od dumb responses to which you now have to respond to (I'm a Christian, but both Christians and Atheists send senseless responses)
@@domcruise274but you can commit atrocities abound, asked for forgiveness then you're fine& can be saved?... Seems legit lol
Where does it say that we cannot be forgiven without asking for forgiveness? I’ve forgiven plenty of people who have never apologized to me. Am I more forgiving than god?
Yes
Yes you are
All of us are morally superior to god
No, it means these people have a narrow and blinkered idea of "God".
My mom loved me exactly for who I am. Rip momma. If god can't do the same for me as my parents did is he really all loving, powerful, and forgiving? Murderers, thieves, and rapists can be forgiven but some cant? Doesn't make any sense.
Either we are all going to heaven or basically no one is going to heaven. Either way nothing I can do but live my life how I want to.
Well you may be forgiving but you arent just. God is held to be both. Hes a judge and a judge doesnt let a criminal off on probation without him ever even have been tried in court or even arrested. You are tried and a defense is given. The defense in this scenario is the sacrifice of Jesus.
He is your advocate before the judge 1 John 2:1
He does love you as He created you :) God asks that we believe that He sent His son to die and pay for all the wrong we do in our own flawed human nature. Just to believe that we are forgiven by the sacrifice He made :) parents love for us is a perfect example of the kind of love God has for us but he's created a solution so we can be reunited after death also! Hope you have a lovely day :)
So a logical conclusion would be that blasphemy to the holy spirit is worse than r*pe,m*rder,etc.
Well, yes. Even in a secular sense, if you had 2 people who are rapists/murderers, one of them realizes that what he did was wrong, is truly sorry about it and tries to atone for it, while the other either denies it or tries to justify. Comparatively, who is worse?
@@KolgartExactly. Maria Goretti forgave the murderer who tried to rape her and she asked God's forgiveness on his behalf, and years later he repented and begged her mother's forgiveness and lived his life for God, never to rape or murder or to torment the image of God in humans again.
@@Kolgart --- I doubt the vast majority of those who were violated would agree with you.
@@gordon3186 I haven't been in that position nor do I know of any real life examples, so I can't comment on that, but objectively speaking I think the first one adds more value to the society.
@@Kolgart --- Blasphemy of _anything or anyone_ is not worse than robbing someone of their life or bodily autonomy. You religious cranks are just too much. There's nothing objective about your comments.
I can see there are many people commenting who did not understand the AMAZING GRACE that this conversation was discussing. The fact that the ONLY unforgivable sin is that we give up on ourselves is...overwhelmingly indicative of a God of love and grace, and yet many just won't see it. God calls us to be good, kind, loving, and respectful, EVERYONE falls short, but he only asks that we keep growing in that direction and TRYING. That's enough because he's covered us the rest of the time. WOW, what amazing grace! I'll repeat for effect: The ONLY unforgivable sin is that we give up on growing ourselves toward what is good...Amen, anyone??
Not a preacher and wouldn’t even consider myself of Christian. But if I just apply common sense here, this is what I get. Jesus forgives ALL sins, or his sacrifice would be pointless. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit simply means you refuse to repent and take up the cross, hence you can’t be forgiven. I say this is because in reality religious or not, we all have autonomy, every choice we make, although we may be heavily influenced is our own
that wording would actually make more sense though. you cannot ask for forgiveness due to your nature.
but it says blasphemy is unforgivable, which applying common sense means that regardless of IF someone asked for forgiveness, they would be denied it.
if jesus wanted to say the way you described it he could’ve, but he chose not to, why? why use contradicting language? unforgivable in all other contexts does not mean the lack of ability to ask for forgiveness, rather it means the lack of ability to be granted it.
I would assume it's a figure of speech
@ or it’s supposed to be taken how it is, which is that blaspheming the holy spirit is unforgivable even if you ask for forgiveness.
everything that’s good in the bible is never rewritten or reinterpreted the way bad things are.
it’s like a god saying “if u reply to me that is unforgivable”. and you say “really, that’s a bit over the top and harsh?” and his followers say “well no he doesn’t actually mean that he’s means that the act of you replying would make you incapable of asking for forgiveness due to the messed up nature of your soul.”
maybe he did mean that, but as a powerful being, he better have clearer ways to explain something rather than it being unintuitive. it seems infinitely more likely jesus message was the simpler version rather than one that cliffe speaks of.
Its the obvious interpretation, but of course Alex and his followers will play dumb so as not to give any way or benefit to those they disagree with. Alex is good at disguising opposition as innocent inquiry
@@m.d.sharpe8892 If you have to sanitize a commandment through multiple filters to come to a tolerable conclusion then you don't understand it not the other way around.
In normal English useage blasphemy is an act that you can do on an occasion. The only reason they are working so hard to modify its meaning to be “not asking for forgiveness” is to make the Bible agree with their theology.
I think an important thing to clear up, is how can God be surprised by someones actions? God made us all, and knows everything( or maybe not ) , so surely he makes people knowing they will blasphem or be gay, just to punish them?
He knowing has nothing to do with the fact that you still went ahead to do it. I knew you would steal the cookie, and you stole the cookie how does that make me bad?
Jesus knew Judas will betray him, and Judas betrayed him. How is that Jesus' fault?
Right, I remember reading a part of the Bible that talked about how god puts their intelligence for you. What the two Christians were arguing seems to show that there is free will but once you consider this it seems as if you don’t. Contradictions! Ahhhhhh!!!!!
@@thoughtsoutloud6685But it makes it impossible that god would be surprised that I stole the cooky.
And it's still true that he made us who we are?
In a universe with an all-knowing god, all that life is, is god's playback system.
It's like a flip book animation where god made all the drawings.
@thoughtsoutloud6685 He doesn't just "know". He made it ALL happen.
@@thoughtsoutloud6685its not just that he knows but he knew it was gonna happen and still chose to make it a sin and punish them for ever (and also being gay its not a choice)
I wonder if these Christians ever think they know who has a hardened heart. I suspect they do. Thank you for helping me to understand why Christians are so judgemental.
Love your content. You should invite Gavin Ortlund (Truth Unites) someday!
i can’t stop rolling my eyes
You should probably see a doctor about that😯
@ not praying to the Holy Spirit?
@@christiang4497lol
@@OtisFennThe Holy Spirit lives in the doctor, go seek help
@@anonymousalexander6005 Christianity is a death cult. Bless your heart
It's hilarious to watch them stumble around with their mental gymnastics trying to justify the passage by directly contradicting it 😂
How did they contradict the passage ?
It's like Republicans trying to explain that Trump did not mean what he actually said.
And the contradictions of their own statements of a few seconds ago... A couple of crooks.
I didn't understand this at all. I'm a Christian who enjoys watching Alex, but for lack of better words this was dumb. if you don't ask for forgiveness, you're not forgiven. it's not a one day thing or whatever. it's your lifestyle. Hitler committed the unforgivable sin, you think he cared about God...any God from any religion really 😂. this is simple, I was confused.
What contradiction?
@@BabyBoyBuchanan Have you really never been forgiven before without asking? How old are you, 5?
Mill.subs congrats
Unforgivable sin as the indeterminate point where one rejects God completely is a pointless distinction. Not believing in God at death is already not forgiven, a state of unforgiveness seems like a scare tactic. Its pretty clear in the Bible that the unforgivable sin is attributing the demonic to the holy spirit, or something to that effect.
What if you are tricked by a trickster demon?
@defenestratedalien1448 I'm not sure, the context is that the pharisees imply Jesus' powers are demonic or impure when he is doing healings. The actual witnessing of miracles seems to play a role in the sin, so without that you'd be fine.
@@defenestratedalien1448 Calvinists might say that if you fall under the devil's influence then you simply weren't predestined for salvation.
@RunawayYe so I guess their god created me so that I would be damned. Great guy he seems, fortunatley no good reason to believe he exists.
@@y5anger my point is how would they know Jesus is not a demon decieving them?
god, I HATE these ppl; whom pretend to "know", tell and preach what the bibles means. these are the kind of ppl who for centuries have put themselves on pedestals and subverted the ppl
I can't imagine ANY scenario in which I personally would be so deceptive and foolish as to speak with such certainty and authority on a subject which it is impossible - in principle - to actually KNOW anything about. Why pretend to know the mind of a god?
We can answer when we use his Word, because his Word by definition is part of his mind that has been revealed to us. For example, I can confidently say "God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life."
I can confidently say that, because God himself said it during Jesus' ministry on Earth in John 3:16. Those are his words.
What we can also say because God's Word says it is that there is such a thing as an unforgivable sin, because Jesus himself (the Second person of the Trinity) says it. We may not fully grasp all the implications of that, and we do have to be careful not to inject our own thoughts into God's thoughts. It's a hard topic because everyone wants to know the results now, today. God alone knows the heart, though, as he reveals to us in Proverbs 21:2. Only he knows who has or hasn't blasphemed the Holy Spirit. We humans will find out on the Last Day when all are judged either according to their own works, miserable things that those are in the sight of a holy God, or according to Christ's righteousness which he offers as a free gift to all. I'm here to tell you, that God wants all to be saved, but he won't force you, as he reveals to us in the Bible.
I like how they just interpret it anyway they want and in a way that's more acceptable.
I hit $113k today. Thank you for all the knowledge and nuggets you had thrown my way over the last months. Started last month 2024. Financial education is indeed required for more than 70% of the society in the country as very few are literate on the subject.
I would really love to know how much work you did put in to get to this stage.
It's essential for you to have a mentor to keep you accountable. Myself, I'm guided by Evelyn Vera. for years and highly recommend her I focus on him. To be honest, I almost didn't buy the idea of letting someone handle growing my finance, but so glad I did.
Wow! wow! please is there any way to reach her services?
Yes, I have her WhatsApp digits
Under this comment!! Combine the DIGITS!!!
I can’t believe that there are people that think these apologetic interpretationshave any validity
Cliffe and Stuart may want to read their Bible a little more closely.
In the story of the Exodus, God initiates the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, doing it twice before Pharaoh gets a chance to exercise his own free will. When Pharoah's will is finally his to control again, he voluntarily hardens his heart twice.
Then, Pharaoh starts to soften, but since God isn't done showing off for the Hebrew slaves, he hardens Pharaoh's heart three more times as a flex for his chosen people. The last instance of God's inference with Pharaoh's will resulted in the deaths of his army.
This commandeering of Pharaoh's will is attested to in Romans 9:13-23, where Pharaoh is described as being raised up for the express purpose of being destroyed as a demonstration to those God was saving.
He never had a chance. He was predestined for destruction.
If this is an example of the 'unforgivable sin', it looks like God is the one committing it.
Honestly, I would have been more satisfied with that answer (partially). At least the first part, as I disagree that God was "showing off" or anything like that (just a bit simplistic in all fairness). Pharoah wasn't going to let the Israelites go, and when he had his chance he still refused. Regardless, scripture says that God "has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and hardens whom He will harden" (Romans 9:18). Instead of mental gymnastics, just own that God has the authority to do what He wants with His own creation. It wouldn't have been a popular answer, but it would have at least been an honest one. Christian or not, apologists like this do more harm than good. They insinuate that all Bible believers will dance around hard topics instead of giving straight up answers. Even categorizing Pharoah with Judas, being "destined for destruction" would have been better as you said. Christians and non Christians can have good and profitable dialogue, but it bugs me when either party refuses to give what I'd call honest answers. Just my opinion of course
What I find fascinating is how you're painting Pharaoh as the "good guy" in this scenario. He was using the Hebrews as slaves, punishing them mercilessly when they failed to meet his demands. God FREED the slaves. "Hardening" Pharaoh's heart was like taking iron and turning it into steel. Yeah, it's harder than it was, but it was already hard to begin with.
What's your take on the Union Army in the American Civil War? After all, they killed Confederate soldiers who were just trying to go about their business of protecting their way of life by enslaving people to help the Southern economy. Attacking the South surely "hardened" the resolve of the Confederate to fight to break away from the North.
@@bradleynowell96 I agree.
IMHO, the gate is narrow because God is not who we would prefer him to be. He is not likable. If you are lucky enough to have been spared from his wrath, shut up and be grateful.
Romans 9:19-20 is clear about this. Paul anticipates the question he will get from those who struggle with the idea that God has created some people as fuel for hell; "One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” The apostle responds, "Who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?"
The message is clear. God doesn't have to abide by our ideas of justice or morality. He gets to do what he wants because nobody is powerful enough to stop him.
Also, I don't think the idea that he wants to show off for those he saves is simplistic. As it says in that same chapter in Romans, "What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory- ".
Essentially, god waited for the right time to destroy the people he decided to destroy to demonstrate how awesome and scary he was to those he had chosen to save.
It's a straight-up tyrannical flex.
OK, but don't let's forget that the real Pharaoh of the time (whatever his other crimes may have been) had nothing whatsoever to do with the history of the "Israelite" people, who were never in reality "taken into captivity" in Egypt at all. It's all fantasy.
@@sidwhiting665 Agreed. You see this same type of thing with the Canaanites argument. The typical presentation seems to assume they were completely innocent. Which they were obviously not
It seems to me that this was the subject treated in Charles Dickens 'The Christmas Carol'.
Scrooge head harden his heart to the point of hyperbole.
And it took quite a bit of spiritual journeying for his heart to be warm and full.
And, his redemption was true happiness!
This video makes me want to revisit that Christmas classic
I genuinely don't believe they actually believe what they are saying. It's absolute nonsense.
Alex could you do episode on Palestine conflict? From an atheist view
Why would you take religion out of the biggest religious fight in history?
@@JC-jt3ug Isrealis say god gave us this land pritty religous for me my friend.
@@JC-jt3ug talk about a smooth brain lmao. Why do you think both the sides are fighting
who has more right to the land the nativ who lived there for thousand of years or the colony
@@xffdfgfgg1781both sides? one is fighting for survival the other is colonising
I believe that CS Lewis' The Great Divorce can shed light on this difficult topic. The book illustrates the unforgivable nature of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit by portraying souls who, given the chance to embrace heaven and let go of their self-centered attitudes, persistently refuse to do so. These souls reject the grace offered to them, clinging instead to pride, resentment, or self-pity, even when loved ones try to guide them toward repentance and healing. This self-imposed exile illuminates the nature of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit: it’s not unforgivable because God withholds mercy, but because the soul itself refuses the very means of forgiveness, hardening itself against the transformative power of grace. In this way, Lewis’s work vividly depicts how a person can become eternally closed to grace through obstinate rejection, mirroring Jesus’ warning.
That doesn't mean that's what the verse means
One, thats not what the word blasphemy means
Two, that just means "they wont be forgiven if they dont want to be forgiven"
Which applies to all sin, so it wouldnt make sense to make a distinction in the bible that blasphemy is unforgivable
Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is understood as a persistent, willful rejection of God’s grace. St. Thomas Aquinas and other theologians have emphasized that this sin is unforgivable not because of any limitation in God’s mercy but because the individual has closed themselves off from the very means by which forgiveness is offered-grace and repentance. The Catechism (CCC 1864) explains it as a refusal of the salvation offered by God through the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus refers to the “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 12:31-32, Mark 3:28-29), He’s using the term to describe a more profound offense-not merely in words, but in a willful, persistent rejection of God’s presence and power.
In biblical language, “blasphemy” doesn’t always mean just verbal insult; it can also mean any act of profound disrespect or rejection of God’s sanctity, authority, or work. In this case, to blaspheme the Holy Spirit means to resist the very Spirit who brings us into communion with God, offers us salvation, and works to transform our lives. Jesus is addressing those who not only fail to recognize God’s mercy and grace but actively attribute the Spirit’s work to something evil, as the Pharisees did when they accused Jesus of performing miracles by the power of Beelzebul.
The term “blasphemy” is therefore appropriate because it signifies a deep, rebellious contempt for the Spirit’s redemptive work. It’s not just a lapse or momentary doubt, but a hardened, obstinate attitude that opposes the very means of reconciliation with God. This is considered the ultimate “blasphemy” because it’s an offense that places a person beyond the reach of forgiveness-not due to any limit on God’s part but because they continually refuse the grace that forgives.
@catsareawesome8190 Except that just leads to the same issue of "they arent forgiven because they dont want to be forgiven."
If it just meant they consistently rejected god and the holy spirit, then it would say that, because its said it before.
Its obvious that rejecting god leads to god not forgiving you.
The author made the conscious choice to make this distinction, you cant wave it away like this
It’s the persistence and pure unwillingness to do it, long as you have the desire and will to change the door is open. Like a totally bad addiction that you just will not stop. You essentially become a beast
These are just opinions. That's the problem with Protestantism, it's relativism.
The Catholic and Orthodox Churches also just follow the opinions of their respective popes.
Lol arguing over which fan fiction you like more
Not an exclusively Protestant problem.
Catholics they follow sacred tradition from the apostles as well and scripture.
@zackmeaders6199 its not arguing over which fan fiction is it that one group of people (protestants) broke away from the first church where as the orthodox did not and hold on to the tradition of the church started by Jesus Christ
Another enormous stretch . The meaning is.....the action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; got nothing to do with hardening hearts. It doesn't say anything about a lifestyle. They are saying this because they have blasphemed so much and still do. Good on you Alex for staying on these fools. The bible is such a good adventure story.
Sounds like you could do with a little softening of the heart ❤️
They say the book is the word of god. Then they say it was written by man. Then they say some of it is hyperbole. Then they say "that's not what it said". If god wrote instructions for a bunch of knuckle-dragging desert folk, who are low on education, don't you think it'd be less airy and more direct? Or, ya know, it's a buncha bull.
It is a voluntary act of the Will if one decides to follow Christ. If one desires to be apart from God and reject his mercy, God will honor that.
Yea Cliff just came up with an ad hoc rationalization. Matthew 12:32 just talks about speaking words against the Holy Spirit , not about "hardening of the heart".
Desires to be apart from God? Who desires to go to hell?if hell is torture, by definition no one desires it@@Khalid-kz3md
i love alex and his questions are always so valid. in this case i think cliffe and stuart answer him in a way that makes sense and he just didn't want to agree so he kept trying to figure out why it was wrong but it really is quite simple.
I think an episode with Dr. Paul from Blogging Theology might be very interesting!
It is amazing how much humans are willing to invest time and efforts into taking religion seriously. It is truly astonishing so many would waste their lives in this manner.
@@YuelSea-sw2rpdelusion. That wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for your precious capitalism, created by the "godly"
@@YuelSea-sw2rpthat wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't for your precious capitalism created by the "godly"
"truly astonishing" sanctimonious cool guy gaylord.
You don’t believe in religions, so you must be an atheist. So then I ask you what is the point of living when you, everything you know and everything you love, everything human kind has achieved is just a bunch of random accidents. Doesn’t matter what you do, everything is eventually meaningless because your emotion and your thoughts is just a bunch of chemical reaction inside your body. Moral is relative so you just go around killing baby or raping people as long as it makes you “feel” happiness. And when you die, you return to nothingness. Living like that promises you nothing because you believe in nothing and that is a sad life. But having faith promises you eternal life, having faith gives you hope at the end of the road, that your life is not just an accident, your life is not meaningless.
I'm sure you will end up changing your opinion
I know it wasn’t emotional, but it’s tears to my eyes regardless. Our God is so merciful and for better or worse my life I’m thankful for his son! Father bless everyone in the comments section in your son’s name, AMEN!
Cliffe is the best modern apologist because he's the best manipulator out of all of them. He's really good at manipulating words and people to make it sound like awful things are okay.
So much of this video was Cliffe just asserting that things are the way he wants them to be. You don't get to decide that "Actually, pharaoh was hardening his own heart." No. It strictly says God did it to him. You don't get to act like that's not true because it doesn't line up with your agenda. But then again, that's his whole job. He has to defend something so clearly false, that the only method is to manipulate.
EDIT: And his definition of blasphemy is absolute bogus. Arguing that blasphemy means NOT WANTING to repent is crazy work. Again, I get it though. This was the only definition that could possibly justify it, so he has to go with it, no matter how false it is.