(April 19, 2015 at 3:19 am)Alex K Wrote: That's a very cheap cop out.No, it's not.
Quote:So you're claiming the above is not really saying that denying the holy spirit gets you punished,No, I didn't say that at all.
Quote:it's just a general symptom of sinfulness and not by itself a deadly sin?No, I didn't say that either.
Quote:Man, the lengths you Christians go to twist the words of your God's until they suit you...Says the person twisting my words until they suit him.
Quote:Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.
This is the error. We were talking about judgment. Now you bring in forgiveness. They're two different things, but you conflate them.
Judgment is based on all your sins. The greatest commandment is to love god, but the second greatest is to love your neighbor as yourself. If you haven't loved your neighbor as yourself, then don't pretend you're going to hell just for unbelief.
Forgiveness is a function of mercy. God can grant mercy on any condition he chooses. He chooses belief (and as noted, not mere belief in his existence, but rather faith in Christ's work on the cross).
That mercy is based only on faith does not mean that the judgment for which you need mercy was based only on lack of faith.
