The ulitmate sin: blasphemy against the Holy Ghost

Please define healthy as it applies to the family.Is there another topic concerning this?

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Remember; your enemy rarely thinks he is evil. Knowing this can help you find a means of compromising and finding peace...or, in failing that, you can kill him without wasting precious energy on hate.

I read that "study" and found that is doesn't address homosexual marriage at all. Nor does it address relationships (ala Goldie Hawn & Kurt Russell) where the couple is not married at all. In reality, most of it covers single parent homes....FINANCIALLY DISADVANTAGED single parent families.Well...no duh...poorer families fare less well.Again...not on topic but I couldn't help myself.

We have one definition of blaspheming the Holy Spirit as attributing It's works to Satan or Satan's works to the Holy SpiritWhat about the Baptist stance on the Gift of Tongues? They say it is from Satan and the sects that use it are deceived. The sects that use Tongues say it is from the Holy Spirit directly.So...which group is going to hell because they can't be forgiven by the above definition?Maybe we need a better definition....

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Remember; your enemy rarely thinks he is evil. Knowing this can help you find a means of compromising and finding peace...or, in failing that, you can kill him without wasting precious energy on hate.

No...actually those are examples of discrimination or cruelty.This is poorly disguised try by the Christian Right to utilize the U.S. Constitution to put pressure on those who don't subscribe to their rules of behavior. I understand why you are upset by this. However, it is turning into a session of "Is so!" and "Is not".Commiemike is so focused on your comments that he is ignoring Asgara's request to support his "Family Health" assertion, unless he thinks that the research paper (cough-cough) he referred to is any kind of support for those statements. Just a quick glance at it has assured me it is no support at all...same old retoric.

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Having fun in the South....Ross Ice Shelf at McMurdo, Antarctica

What you are presenting is an example (as you see it) of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (BATHS for shorthand). I don't agree that it is BATHS.If it is BATHS then BATHS can't be unforgivable. Paul claimed God's authority to kill early Christians. Paul was forgiven and even asked by Christ to be a follower.Since Christ stated that BATHS was the unforgivable sin then your example does not apply.Personnally, I believe that BATHS is actually ignoring the urging of the Holy Spirit and refusing to acknowledge Christ as your Lord and Savior.Explanation from a you-must-be-saved-to-get-to-heaven Christian perpective:1. If you sin, even after you are saved, you should ask for fogiveness for that sin from Christ and from the person that you hurt.2. The possibility exists that many of us die having failed to ask forgiveness for a sin we have commited. This could be from holding a grudge or sinning just before dying..etc.3. Since the only thing required to get to heaven is to be saved, those sins for which you have failed to ask forgiveness will still be forgiven or overlooked.4. It is only the sin of failing to accept Christ that blasphemes the Holy Spirit and is unforgivable.Unless I am wrong....

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Having fun in the South....Ross Ice Shelf at McMurdo, Antarctica

But the report doesn't EVER address unmarried couples with children or homosexual couples raising children. It only looks at single parenting. In fact it seems to allude that being poor and single with a child is not good for the child. Again...no duh!! I don't see how requiring marriage to only be between a man and a woman is going to help these unfortunate statistics quoted in this report. quote from the article: "They are less likely than singles, divorcees or widowed adults to be in fair or poor health, and are less likely to suffer from headaches or serious psychological distress."Seems to me that this indicates that sharing the burdens in life make life easier. Can't this be done with someone of the same sex?quote from the article "People living together but not married are more likely to have health problems than married adults, the survey found, and the findings hold firmest for the youngest adults."I would think we would want that for homosexuals to help them be healthier. I would think we want that for children raised by them to have a better chance in life. But you want to deny that for them.Is this because you don't like what they do?Neither of these reports addressed homosexual marriage. How can we draw conclusions about homosexual marriage from these reports? I think you need something else to support your assertions.

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Having fun in the South....Ross Ice Shelf at McMurdo, Antarctica

No, I can't. I was presenting a possibility from a prevailing Christian context. A large percentage of Christians profess to believing that the "Roman Road" method of salvation is the one that gets you to heaven. Since you don't seem to subscribe to the confess-you-are-a-sinner-and-make-Christ-your-Lord method of getting to heaven, I did not expect you to accept this as truth.Ameobas are not involved in the salvation ritual since they have no soul...only humans have souls. Predominant Christian perspective.

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Having fun in the South....Ross Ice Shelf at McMurdo, Antarctica

The town name is my way of saying that I live in rural Eastern Shore Maryland.

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Having fun in the South....Ross Ice Shelf at McMurdo, Antarctica

Agreed, so the study doesn't say anything against homosexual marriage. Therefore, it doesn't support your reasoning behind the Defense of Marriage Act.

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Having fun in the South....Ross Ice Shelf at McMurdo, Antarctica

Please define sanctity as it applies to marriage.In what way is a heterosexual marriage more sanctified than a homosexual marriage?

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Having fun in the South....Ross Ice Shelf at McMurdo, Antarctica

Does this mean that as long as we ask forgiveness before we die, any sin will be forgiven? (Assuming we have been "born again")Then that really means that there is no sin that will not be forgiven as long as you ask before you die. Kinda makes those words of JC a little close to worthless. Besides, Paul wrote that there is a sin that won't be forgiven too. Is he also referring to not asking forgiveness before death?

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If faith is "...evidence of things hoped for and the substance of things not seen..." from what material do you build your faith?

Just so I don't miss or misinterpret the encounter, what are the characteristics of this encounter that make it undeniable? What makes this encounter distinguishable from...say...an hallucination? What are the indicators of these changes that the Holy Spirit causes? If I meet the Holy Spirit, then He will make Himself real enough to me that I have no choice but to believe in Him? Like I believe in something I can touch? Does this mean that I haven't met Him yet, since I don't believe in Him?Since it seems to require conviction by this Holy Spirit in order for conversion to take place, and God wants everyone to be converted...then Everyone must have an encounter with the Holy Spirit sometime in their life. So before death, everyone believes in the Holy Spirit; though most reject Him. Is this a proper conclusion from your belief? OR am I missing something?

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If faith is "...evidence of things hoped for and the substance of things not seen..." from what material do you build your faith?

Not trying to be too personal but what specifically about the encounter made you understand that it was not a "weird aberration"?What verifications?....Let's get real here...I have no idea how to tell if any encounter I may have in the future is real or a chink in my sanity. Externally verifiable would be nice. However, I'm guessing that HS doesn't like to appear to crowds or provide detectible parameters to confirm His presence.It would be great to know if I am in the presence of the HS so I don't go insulting or blaspheming Him through my ignorance.BTW: Have we established, biblically, what He would consider as blasphemy to Him?

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If faith is "...evidence of things hoped for and the substance of things not seen..." from what material do you build your faith?

I would quote you but what's the point? I have read many of your posts and believed most to be very thoughtful and reasonable. However, in this case, you seem to spout as many key words and tricky phrases from the fundy handbook as you can remember while you are writing."God is beyond human logic". Then how can we ever determine if we are worshiping the right one?"You can't prove there is no God". Well, no one can prove that something doesn't exist.And on and on....Frankly, I don't know who G.K. Chesterton is but he appears to know little of observation and nothing of determining causal relationships. To be fair to him, though, I will look for some writings by him. (those about him would probably be prejudiced, one way or the other). Heck, I gave Lee Strobel ("Case for a Creator") a chance for a whilePlease don't be offended. I have been through the fundy mill before. I made a number of friends in my church and they don't understand why I question their beliefs. I still want to keep them as friends but I am slowly being shut out. Seems odd for a group that wants to bring people to the Kingdom.

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If faith is "...evidence of things hoped for and the substance of things not seen..." from what material do you build your faith?

Indeed?Who's definition did we agree on?What were the bible passages that were used to provide support for this definition? I am, of course, assuming that the Bible is the source of that definition since the Bible is the only place where this ultimate sin is mentioned.edited because I forgot how to do quotes.This message has been edited by LinearAq, 03-04-2005 09:43 AM

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If faith is "...evidence of things hoped for and the substance of things not seen..." from what material do you build your faith?