Unforgivable Sin

Today's post is just a venue to work out some thoughts; I still do not have full understanding of this. Last evening, I was reading some of the Gospel of Thomas, and I came upon the section regarding the "unforgivable sin" (blaspheming the Holy Spirit). This is also found in the Gospels according to Matthew and Mark. I spent some time pondering, praying and trying to listen. What exactly does blaspheming the Holy Spirit mean?

Here's where it becomes more gnostic than the cookie-cutter Christian concepts. I was given that it was something that happens to all people; and something that the spirits/souls of all people cannot commit.

Essentially, to the best of my current understanding, it is when we deliberately refuse / deny / go-against the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is - in essence - our ego. Pride is not synonymous with our ego, it is the result of associating with and perceiving through our ego.

We all have an ego.

Yet, the ego is not something God created, but something humanity created in its attempt to separate from God. When Christ speaks of separating the chaff from the grain, He speaks of separating the ego (chaff) from what we truly are - what God made - the spirit/soul (grain). I tried to speak of this before in my other blog.

If we are all truly the grain, why is there a Heaven and hell? Why is there threats of eternal punishment?

We - each and every one of us - has a responsibility to place and keep our mind in one of two places. We either associate with the ego, or with the spirit/soul. If we cling to the spirit/soul, we perceive ourselves as what God created, and we will have this world's temptations, sadness, loss and mistakes stripped way - we will experience full forgiveness. If we cling to the teachings and ideals of this world: greed, self-service, self-centeredness... to the ego, we will perceive ourselves as where the ego is. When the ego has been torn from the soul/spirit, we would perceive ourselves torn from God - completely.

Hell is not the medieval concept of a pit/cavern with fire, brimstone and devils with pitchforks torturing souls. Hell is far, far worse than that; it is the complete separation from God. While earthly existence is nothing like Heaven, it is nothing like hell either. In Heaven, we are completely in God's Presence, where it fills us with warmth, joy, light, love and flows through us unendingly. Here we still retain some connection with God. Hell is so cold it burns, excruciatingly sad, so dark there is no speck of light in which to see, so loveless one feels sliced from being. Yet there is still existence, for what God creates with such love never ceases to exist.

Can we change our mind? Certainly. Yet, as I understand, it is far easier to change our minds in this existence. For we are not severed from God, we only perceive ourselves separate. Here, both the ego and spirit/soul have possibilities for us. Here, we can choose that we are connected to God, that we are what God made. Or we can continue to believe we are separate from God and are what we made ourselves - the ego. This - in essence - is the totality of our Free Will. When they are torn apart, we have to decide what we perceive ourselves to be. That is where our "self" will reside. It is far, FAR more difficult to find and reconnect with God in hell, as we will perceive ourselves as completely cut from God. It is impossible for us to do so.

So, in sum, the unforgivable sin is when we associate ourselves with the ego, rather than the Spirit. Can we change? Yes. Are we forgiven then? Yes. But when we do change our "minds" we become aligned to the soul/spirit which IS forgiven. At the end, the ego will be drawn from us and we will perceive it no more. Yet, if we continue to associate ourselves with the ego... it will be a long journey in the dark.

:*(