I don't agree. Rejecting the Holy Spirit is something you do very consciously. Those who have done it....know they've done it...because they did it intentionally. What kind of God would allow the possibility of someone going to hell by doing something they had no idea would send them to hell? No. We're educated. And we either accept or reject....with all that free will we were given.

I use to believe that God was a gentleman...in the sense that He would never force himself on someone and, that after repeated rejection, He would give up. But I have come across a few pieces of scripture in the last few months that allude to the possibility of God's plan being that not one be lost. I'm not sure if that really means that maybe, ultimately, God will not let anyone be lost forever. Will be interesting to find out. I do know that the God that I know does not want any to be lost and His love for us will not allow Him to ever ever EVER give up on even one of us...even those who reject Him. So....I don't believe He ever will. Now when the end comes (and only He knows when that will be)those who DO go to hell (if any)...won't be there because God gave up on them.

What the gospels of Mark and Matthew described as the unpardonable sin was the kind of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.....when the Pharisees saw the miracles Jesus performed and publicly credited the most ultimately evil being in the universe with these precious, Godly miracles. In other words, they called the precious and holy Spirit of God, the unclean spirit of Satan. In effect, they charged Jesus Christ with sorcery; one who is in league with Satan.

The 6 unpardonable sins I described earlier all were a part of what the Pharisees were guilty of doing and collectively was blasphemous to the Holy Spirit of God.

I don't know all the details. But I believe that the more you sin....the more you are "tuned out" to what is right and what is wrong....to the point that, ultimately, you will not think you are sinning.

Ok I gotta go now before I keep going.


Good thread!!

I am not a Christian either...but, rather a devote Buddhist/Taoist of sorts, even though my upbringing was that of strict Catholicism by my parents.

What human is to profess what is the ultimate "sin"? It all depends upon the sin and when it is being committed and against whom, right? It's all about pain and suffering...for the victim or the offender. This can easily be interchanged on a daily basis, based upon our "sins".

Example:

For instance, a Zen master may ask a student to meditate on an unanswerable riddle called a "koan". A well-known koan is "You know the sound of two hands clapping, but what is the sound made by one hand when it's clapping?" The purpose of a koan is to cultivate a "great doubt" in the student. From the position of a great doubt, the Zen student is then in a state of mind to look at reality from a new perspective, without interference from the ego.

In my current perspective, and teachings, that I have chosen to adopt as my own...it's all perspective: Mine, His, Theirs.

When I choose to balance the scales of equality of these perspectives, I find balance and peace.

As Buddha determined we suffer because we have a grasping desire and we are unable to accept change. He concluded that we could end our suffering by developing the correct understanding of life. Cultivating the correct understanding to relieve suffering is the main focus.

I personally found that Christianity waddled far against the grain of cultivating understanding, and it's pendulum swung rather far and wide to the side judgment.

We are human...we all sin. For me, the answer is not in judgment, but rather understanding.