Welcome to all of you who are visiting this blog due to the discussion of the Blasphemy Challenge. Several of you left comments in the previous post, and rather than respond there, I would like to do so here.
My friends, let me be clear. My heart breaks over the thought that you are attempting to do something as grave as blaspheming the Holy Spirit of God. That you are attempting this in the hopes of winning a DVD movie raises the level of silliness by an order of magnitude. God is real, and he is just. It is appointed to every man once to die and then face judgment. Please keep that in mind.
Now, as to the matter of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, your attempts to do so by reciting the silly phrase given to you on the Blasphemy Challenge website do not constitute the unpardonable sin that Jesus warns against in the Gospel According to Mark. In this passage of scripture, Jesus is referring to the Pharisees, who have declared that the miracles he works are due to the power of Satan, rather than to the power of the Holy Spirit. Declaring the Holy Spirit to be demonic, rather than divine, is blaspheming the Holy Spirit. It is this action which constitutes the unpardonable sin, not simply reciting that empty phrase from the website.
You are being exploited as microbes in a viral marketing campaign for a movie. It is that simple. It is foolishness, however, because in your hearts, you are attempting to insult God for such a trivial purpose.
God loves you. He sent His son Jesus to pay the price for your sins, so that you can be reconciled to Him. It is heartbreaking to think that in return, thousands of you are willing to invoke the name of the Holy Spirit as the punchline of a bad joke.
I will leave you with this:
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.While we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us. Let Him heal your hearts. You will be happier for it.
Also, consider this - you might not believe that God is real, but you don't know. This is not one that you can afford to get wrong.
God bless you all.
8 comments:
How can I believe the holy spirit is demonic if I don't believe in spirits or demons? I fully deny their existence. There is no god to strike me down, let alone one to be offended by my statements. It's true - we're both atheists, I just believe in one fewer god than you.
Also, regarding your appeal to Paschal's Wager in your last sentence - how are we to know which god to believe in?
While there is certainly an element of viral marketing at work here, Brian's overall goal is not to rake in the cash off this movie, per se. He obviously has a much bigger goal, and that is to persuade believers of mythological and supernatural beings that doing so is just plain wrong. His war on Christmas group gives away DVDs to anyone who will bring them to church, as well. The movie was designed not as a marketable product (could you think of a less marketable subject?), but as a persuasive argument as part of a bigger goal.
If you're willing to deny the holy spirit, tape yourself doing it, and put it on the internet, chances are you aren't just doing it for a $10 disc you could get for free through other means. These people mean it, and feel strongly about making their rationality heard. You've missed the point--this isn't for the giveaway, it's to make this group of people heard.
And by the way, Paschal's Wager is an embarrassingly shameful and hypocritical reason for believing in anything.
again with the fear...
Paschal's Wager leads to people saying "I don't think there's a man with an axe in my closet, but there might be, so I better not open the door"
fear
fear
fear
why would a loving god need to instill fear?
Fear seems mostly a human trait.
which implies...
"Also, consider this - you might not believe that God is real, but you don't know. This is not one that you can afford to get wrong."
You don't know that god doesn't hate morons like you. You don't know that god doesn't love the people to make these videos, for showing that they are free of superstition, for showing that they've grown up and no longer believe children's tales written by ignorant nomads thousands of years ago.
You are being exploited as microbes in a viral marketing campaign for a movie.
Since you're helping to spread the word, then surely you are being exploited.
It is that simple.
Since there is no evidence that you have more intelligence than a turnip, why do you have so much confidence in your, um, analysis?
It is foolishness, however, because in your hearts, you are attempting to insult God for such a trivial purpose.
If they don't believe in God, then they aren't attempting to insult God, turniphead.
I wish a Merry Christmas to each and every one of you.
God bless you and yours.
Your liberal interpretation of "blasphemy" is incorrect, but typical of good meaning people warped by an illogical belief system.
Just to be clear, if the Holy Spirit exists, which I do not believe it does, then it is an evil malicious force that should be reviled and cast out from the presence of any good human being.
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