Did you know that Jesus said all sins are forgivable… except one?
“And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12:31-32)
These words are enough to send a shiver down the spine of this atheist. What exactly is “blaspheming the Holy Spirit”? Why is it unforgivable — even for a God famed as, well, fairly forgiving?
It’s November, and soon I will be celebrating a secular Christmas and inevitably (at some point) reaching for a tipple while making some quip about putting the “holy spirit” back into the holiday. Am I doomed?
I decided to sit down with father-and-son Christian superstars Cliffe and Stuart Knechtle with this question in mind. They operate an extremely popular ministry and YouTube channel called “Give Me An Answer”, which, as luck would have it, is exactly what I was after.
They hosted us for a nearly three-hour conversation, in which I also expressed my concerns about—among other things—slavery and genocide in the Old Testament, the discussion of women in the New Testament, the trials of Job, the authorship of Paul’s epistles, the moral problems with Christian repentance, and the nature of forgiveness.
They were gracious both in hosting us and in their willingness to tackle these issues head-on. We got on well, and I hope that comes across in the episode.
Thank you, as always, for being here. Next week I will be bringing you a conversation with Ayaan Hirsi Ali about her conversion to Christianity. The week after that will be on a different topic (I promise). The timestamps for today’s episode are below:
