p10phs

How to Really Take Up the Blasphemy Challenge

By John Taylor; 2008 Jan 22, 4 Sultan, 164 BE

I have been going over the pro and contra of theism versus atheism, much of it as expressed in the videotaped Internet forum that is YouTube. One of the surprises I stumbled on was the so-called "Blasphemy Challenge." Having cut off my father's television feed from our part of the house we are safer from mind viruses, but one bad result is that I have not been following broadcast news, and I missed this event completely, which apparently arrived with great publicity around the past Christmas and New Years season. The following advertisement for the Blasphemy Challenge has been very controversial; the YouTube hitbot records a staggering 600,000 odd viewings.

 http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=i7QVbJnSPQE&NR=1

 The accompanying explanation goes, "Do you dare accept the Blasphemy Challenge? Show the world how sure you are that the Christian God doesn't exist!" The host of a television show called "Heartland" in the following snippet interviews the atheist who laid down the gauntlet by offering a free copy of his film "The God Who Was Not There" to any young Christian who will blaspheme the holy spirit by reading a short statement the atheists had prepared.

 <http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=zDB3rHOHu4E&NR=1>

 Although the television personality is brusque and very anxious to show his disapproval for what he regards as a baseless grab for publicity, he does allow the atheist to have his say, if only barely. For those who cannot see the video, the atheist claims that he offered this challenge out of sympathy. He considers many Christian youth to be innocent victims of systematic brainwashing by their parents, and by cursing the Holy Spirit they are liberating themselves from oppressive, forced conversion to what an atheist considers false, spurious belief.

 Now I have a feeling, call me a Nervous Nelly if you wish, that by even mentioning the phrase "blasphemy challenge" on this blog I will immediately be inundated by waves of polarized opinion from both sides. God Himself is being made into a political hotbutton. One thing I learned from recent flaming attacks from the camp of M*a*r*k S*t*e*y*n is how many people believe in their bones that anybody who disagrees with their precious position is ipso facto morally suspect, not to say evil.

 Oh no, man oh man, I just tipped my hand.

 I had a mountain of material here to answer the question, "How in fact do you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit?" "Can you blaspheme against God just by reading a statement of disbelief, or by denying His existence?" And here I just out and answered these questions before asking them: you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit by hating your brother or sister, the image of God Himself, for whatever reason. If the atmosphere is politicized, there is blasphemy going on. If you contribute to or, worse, foment that discord, you, my friend, are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit.

 Let me backtrack a little. The blasphemy challenge is based on a statement that occurs in all four Gospels, but since the challengers point to the one in Mark (Mark 3:22-35, WEB), let us look at that mention of what is, for Christians, the only unforgivable sin. To know what is going on here you have to take in the full context in which this statement was made. So let us cite it in full.

 "The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, `He has Beelzebul,' and, `By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons.' He called them to him, and said to them in parables, `How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house. Most assuredly I tell you, all their sins will be forgiven to the sons of men, and their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme; but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin' -- because they said, `He has an unclean spirit.'"

 That is, the scribes were blaspheming against the holy spirit when they appropriated religious language for their own political ends by accusing Jesus of having an "unclean spirit." Lest there be any mistake about what "spirit" meant for Jesus, just then somebody calls in saying that His family are outside waiting for Him. Jesus refuses to leave, asking instead,

 "`Who are my mother and my brothers?' Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, `Behold, my mother and my brothers! For whoever may do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.'"

 The spirit, then, is what is done according to and in the spirit of God's will. "...the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us." (II Cor 4:7) The scribes had been doing the reverse, using God for their own ends, politicizing the One Being totally above politics. They stood for my favorite definition of a corrupt religious leader: "A theologian is somebody who tells God what to do." They proved their blasphemy when they claimed that Jesus' miracles were sorcery, from the devil. Jesus points out that a divided house falls, and those who divide fall with it; in other words, this is not faith. Somebody who follows Jesus, on the other hand, is someone who lets God rule, who really does the Will of God, qua Superior, not as a mere implement of what they deem expedient in a given situation. This is the definition of belief in God,

 "How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?" (John 5:44)

 The Holy Spirit is more than just light. It is the light of light, the light that came before the sun. It is, as it were, the Big Bang. Recall that the Book of Genesis starts off with God creating light, and "seeing" that it is good. In other words, this is the light by which God Himself sees, and by which He sees goodness. This light's light comes into being long before a sun is created. The sun's light is of a lower, more derivative order, and it was not created until day three.

 "There was evening and there was morning, a third day. God said, `Let there be lights in the expanse of sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of sky to give light on the earth,' and it was so." (Gen 1:13-15, WEB)

 This secondary light is also good, but unlike the first light, it is not goodness unalloyed by darkness. It is outside the Godhead, it occupies space and time; in fact, it creates time, days and seasons by dividing and separating light from dark, day from night.

 In the thirty-first query in Some Answered Questions, Abdu'l-Baha is presented with the same statement of Jesus as recorded in Matthew,

 "He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn't gather with me, scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come. (Matt 12:30-32, WEB)

 Briefly, Abdu'l-Baha points out (SAQ 128-129) that the Manifestation of God has two stations, one of "resplendence" and the other of "place." He defines the Holy Spirit as "the perfections of God;" the "divine bounties and lordly perfections, and these divine perfections are as the rays and heat of the sun." Without the sunlight, He goes on, there would effectively be no sun; were there no divine perfections, there would be no God, since the former constitutes His existence. To curse a lamp is different from cursing the light that emanates from the lamp. He mentions that many have started off hating a Manifestation, but when they realize Who it is, they become friends. But to deny the light is much more serious, it is a permanent kind of blindness.

 "If a soul remains far from the manifestation, he may yet be awakened; for he did not recognize the manifestation of the divine perfections. But if he loathe the divine perfections themselves -- in other words, the Holy Spirit -- it is evident that he is like a bat which hates the light. This detestation of the light has no remedy and cannot be forgiven -- that is to say, it is impossible for him to come near unto God. This lamp is a lamp because of its light; without the light it would not be a lamp. Now if a soul has an aversion for the light of the lamp, he is, as it were, blind, and cannot comprehend the light; and blindness is the cause of everlasting banishment from God."

 The Master defines Holy Spirit here in general terms, but the message of Jesus was specialized for the purposes of His age, and by extension to all ages. So intense was His concentration on Spirit that the Qur'an gives Him the title, "Ruhu'llah," the Spirit of God. `Abdu'l-Baha of course sees the holy spirit in Baha'i terms, as a force for unity, "Whatsoever is conducive to unity is merciful and from the divine bounty itself." (Promulgation, 202) The Christian understanding was concerned primarily with the Holy Spirit as force for love.

 "... God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given to us. (Romans 5:3-5, WEB)

 So, in answer to the question in the title of this Blog entry, the way you blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is, if you a Baha'i, by breaking up unity; and if you are a Christian, by breaking up love. It cannot be done by repeating a formula cursing the holy spirit, as these atheists (and Christians) seem to think.

 In fact -- if I may cast aside my Nervous Nelly fears and say something that may sound controversial to so-called fundamentalists -- a case could be made that parents who force religion, be it Christianity, atheism or whatever, on their children is already offending against the love that the Holy Spirit embodies. God looks at that and says, "It is not good." A case could be made that a parent who holds to a literalistic view of the Bible offends the Spirit of God, which is all about change and growth. "...we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." (Rom 7:6) A case could be made that a parent who interferes with the free opinions of their children offends the Holy Spirit, which is all about the free and independent search for truth.

 "The spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (I Cor 2:10)

 Thus, when kids feel they must go onto YouTube and publicly curse the Holy Spirit, it is a knee-jerk reaction to a blaspheming of the Spirit that preceded them. Their parents laid out a bad example of total misunderstanding of God, the Spirit and Jesus, and they only follow what is clearly laid out before them.