The "Unforgivable Sin" in Mark's Account: Studies in Mark, Pt. 11
When I was a teenager, I used to curse a lot. Though my mother was totally unaware of it (she would have kicked my butt if she knew), there was a point when I had a filthy mouth. Once I became a Christian, though, that all had to change; I had to quit cursing. But I soon realized that there was one curse word that Christians really got uptight about: GD. To say this, people remarked, was to “take God’s name in vain,” “to commit blasphemy.” Not really understanding what either of those phrases meant, I just went with the consensus; they sounded wrong to say, so, I didn’t say them. After all, I didn’t want to put myself beyond the limits of God’s forgiveness. But as I grew in the faith and as I studied the Scriptures, my understanding of blasphemy changed a bit. While studying Mark’s account of the Gospel, I realized that there were two types of blasphemies. In Mark 3.28-30, Jesus is recorded as saying, “‘Truly, I tell you, people will be forgiven all their sins and all the blasphemies t...