There have been many interpretations on the topic of unforgivable sin that have confused and put under the test by the white heat of imaginations of many true thinkers. Sin is a rebellion and challenge against our Creator who handcrafted us in His image and likeness. How can we sin against God, an imaginary figure that we have never seen and heard His voice? We can’t see God with our naked eyes, just as we can’t see our inner man or spirit, again a fantasy of our imagination. Though we can’t see our face, does it mean that our own face is only a matter of an abstract concept? There are seen and unseen truths. “We live by faith, not by sight”, says st.Paul.

But at times we feel and experience an inner force that impel us to listen to certain involuntary vibrations, so also we feel the interference of an outside or intrinsic power that guide our thinking and mobility. There are two worlds, one is material, and the other is the ethereal worlds of the spirits. Thus man is a spirit, but is covered with an outer garment of flesh and blood which is transparent and perishable, whereas the inner one is imperishable and ever vibrant and active. While the world of the flesh is ephemeral and transitory, the unseen celestial world is eternal. There is always an invisible interaction between the seen and unseen spheres, as in the case of our body and spirit that govern the destiny of man.

While a remote-controlled upper layer of the cosmos harness our fate by giving advance electronic signals, it is imperative that we dance in tune with the Spirit of the top layer of this gigantic ocean, an inevitability that we cannot alter by our command, nor is to be lamented upon and frustrate. In order to facilitate this relationship with the Creator and the created ones, God has bestowed man with certain commandments before and after the fall of the first man. While the first commandment dictated terms that could avoid the fall, the ensuing commandments are the methods of regaining the Paradise that we lost by our degradation. These commandments are the ways and means of defeating God’s enemy who use his weapons of mass destruction, so that he can come back from his underground shelter and defeat our Creator and His handcrafted ones and rule this earth that was once his dominion. The constant war between these archenemies that takes place in our heart for conquering God’s creations is a naked reality that none can deny or escape from. God has given some guidelines or commandments by which we can besiege our foes of darkness.

Divine Laws:
Most of Psalm 119 deals with the commandments and laws of God. “The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple…, Ps.19: 7; 12: 6. “If you would desire life, keep the commandments”, says Jesus to the young lawyer. Worship of the Lord includes: sacramental worship that abides in the apostolic faith, righteousness that includes the right of justice, almsgiving, and the basic electric current that runs through all these is angelic love which lead a person to successfully pass through the vicissitudes of this sunny and rainy seasons of life. The love that likes justice and chastisement and rebuke correct a person is the lifeblood of Christian pastoral work. Observing the commandments given through His anointed ones and prophets and apostles are sacred and to be followed without questioning and challenging. “Obedience is better than sacrifice”.

Even if we walk over His commandments by our momentary weaknesses of the flesh, God forgives them by the tears of contrition of our heart. As the mankind continued sinning against the Most Holy One of the OT period, the Incarnate Son died on the cross and rescued us by His ransom. Not only that, He sent the Comforter, the third person of the Triune Godhead, to be with us and care and nurture all through our life. The Counselor abide within and without us and within and without the church that instill the Spirit of God through the sacrament of baptism, and brooding over the body of the Christ and nurture us with the seven holy sacraments that cleanse and position us to serve the flock as a whole. Serving man, not the modern club socialization, is a part of Christian ministry because Christianity is a social religion. We are in the direct counseling of the era of the Holy Spirit, and the sin against Him is a blatant contravention against the will of God. There are two types of sins: sin of commission and sin of omission, the former one obviously finger point to the religion of the Pharisees, the latter one that of the Sadducees, despite both are the amalgam of all types of sins.

Sins of death:
The death of the spirit is to be taken fearfully and seriously, not the physical death that, notwithstanding, has to take place one day because the spirit of man is eternal that is sheltered temporarily in the flimsy frame. There is nothing equal to mortifying our spirit that cannot be revived after its exit from this plane of mortality. “If anyone sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. There is a sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin which is not mortal”, 1.Jn.5: 16-17. Just as the society survives by the help and continuing work of every individual of the global community lately, every soul that doesn’t commit mortal sins makes the spiritual progress by the prayers of other people and self-penitence. Praying and living for others is the true religion that preaches love and concord among the communities. The mortal sins that are prone to kill our soul may be absolved by contrition and tearful repentance by the person himself; the prayers of a third party cannot blot out the stains of such sins. The sin against the Holy Spirit may not always get a chance for repentance as in the case of Judas. The church has listed same- sex relationship and secondly, depriving the privileges of hired people who toil and moil under the scorching sun and under the dark hours of day and night as mortal sins. Those who commit mortal sins will have to be get absolved primarily by his own penitential tears and potential almsgiving life; the prayers of others also may be helpful for one’s absolution to an extent in human terms.

Comforter:
“ …he will give you another Counselor, to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive…….If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him”, Jn.14: 13-23. This is a portion of the High Priest’s promise during the Last supper. This Counselor is none other than the Holy Spirit who brood over the body of Christ, the Holy church, of the Groom incessantly. As the Holy Trinity is inseparable, the acceptance of the Holy Spirit and observing the commandments is the real faith. The sin against men will be forgiven, but the sin against the Holy Spirit won’t be forgiven, Mt.12: 31-32, because the whole humanity is in charge of the Spirit of God after the ascension of the Mediator. The sin against the Father and the Son is blotted out by the sacrifice of the innocent blood, but there is no chance for the sin against the Holy Ghost to be forgiven, as the Son can’t die in the flesh again for mankind that is put in charge of the Counselor. The law is that the sin done in the flesh is to be killed and nullified by the unblemished flesh that is impossible now as God can’t come down again in the flesh. Here comes the true role of the Mediator who pleads for us for all other sins, possibly for the sins committed against the Holy Spirit. The sins done against the Father was forgiven by the crucifixion of Christ and the crucifiers of the Son were punished severely and dispersed them by the Father.

Since the Son of Man is sitting on the throne of the final Judgement, He says that the sin against Him, due to His love of humanity and the expression of humility, may be forgiven, but not against the Holy Spirit who flutters within and without the church of the NT period. The Father’s epoch of the OT period was over; the Mediator- the middle man between these two periods and between God and man- warns that the sin against the Spirit of God won’t be forgiven. As the Son can’t come again in mortal form, there is no chance, in human terms, for the crucifiers of the Holy Spirit to be forgiven. Yet there are provisions in God’s code of ethics to forgive the sinners, just as the Jews are given a safety valve of salvation that a remnant of them will be redeemed when they look at the pierced one. There are exceptions to every rule. That time is yet be bloomed.

If one of the persons of the Holy Trinity is working against one another, the Triune God becomes separable, and that is unimaginable. This is the argument that Jesus put forward against His accusers that if Satan’s kingdom is divided, it cannot stand as a superior power that tends to be in a breaking point. Just as the Triune God co-exists in one God head, Jn.17: 23, the members of the church should live together harmoniously without sinning one another, yet the acrimonious feuding may be forgiven by repentance due to the sin committed out of the weakness of the flesh. When a man does wrongs against another man, there is the presence of Messiah to plead for us; but disobeying the third Personae is as equivalent as challenging the whole Holy Trinity; thus there is no more chance for mankind to restore his fallen state because Son in flesh is not here to die and rescue us any more. “If a man sin against a man, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?, 1.Sam.2: 25. “God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth”, Jn.4: 22-25. I have proved in my book that Jesus is the Truth and spirit is the Holy Spirit. This verse that reveals the worship of the Triune God affirms the first Mosaic commandment that comes in force every where. Therefore, sinning against the Triune God is not forgiven; the third chance of the era of the Holy Ghost is a free chance given for repentance and contrition of heart.

Sacramental Life:
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The grave sins done against the church that is brooded over by the Spirit of God cannot be condoned easily. During the OT period God punished them mercilessly without giving more chances for repentance, but this era is noted for the expression of the love of God and the serious sins will be dealt with here mildly now and harshly hereafter during the judgement time. Despite Uzza tried to save the Ark of the Covenant, he died instantaneously, as the commandments of the God were strictly adhered to. If one violates the covenants of the Father in the OT, one has to ardently obey the commandments of the Comforter too; otherwise punishment is sure and certain. As all the commandments of the Mercy period have an outer coating of love and sympathy, it doesn’t mean that we have achieved the atonement of sins by presenting ourselves in the church for a Sunday club life. The sacraments are the outward sign of an inward grace. Strict sacramental life is the backbone of the Christian ministry. To challenge the body of Christ is as equal as mortifying our own soul.

Jesus gave this serious warning when He was accused of driving out the demons with the help of Beelzebub or Satan, the head of the dark army. Not only that the Pharisees hadn’t believed in His mission, but also saying that He was a friend of the dark angels was an abominable and punishable sin. The Pharisees who claims as the stewards of the faith accused Jesus that He did miracles by the name of Satan, Mt.12: 24, is a sin against the Spirit of God because it unearth the falsity of what they preached for, so also in this age that has produced thousands of duplicating, dysfunctional churches and cults that defy the true working conditions of the Trinitarian God is a blatant sin against the Most Holy One. Despite the miracle was done by Jesus, the immanent Spirit who gives comfort has been always been with the Trinitarian God. The evil forces that put Jesus to death by the unholy alliance of the Jewish religious sects are the death threats to the functioning of the Holy Ghost that was working together with the Father and the Son from timelessness; if it is done again to the Comforter at His own exclusive era, such a sin won’t be forgiven. Hence the Christian sects, 2300 denominations and a multitude of cults are doing the works of Satan that is in constant battle to defeat the works finished by the Lamb.

St.Paul says that even an angel who preaches against the apostolic faith is accursed. The chaste faith that the Counselor maintains with great sacrifice shouldn’t be questioned and perverted. “There is one body and one Spirit just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all..,…and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”. Ephe. 4. “The Holy Church is catholic, apostolic, one and holy”. The same apostle has devoted the epistles of Ephesians and Colossians to delineate how the Holy Spirit and the holy Church are intertwined together, so that how our redemption and salvation are carved out. The violation of the teachings and the sacraments of the church is gruesome and fierce, just as Jesus punished his betrayers by the desolation of the holy Spirit from the Jerusalem Temple, because of the rivalry between the sects that killed Jesus and of their leavened bread- teaching that drove the Spirit of God from their midst, so also our worship that is anointed by the evil angels will force the holy Spirit to flee away from our worshipping venues and personal lives. “Wherever the body (corpse) is, there the eagles will be gathered together”, Mt.24: 28. The absence of the Spirit of God means the presence of the seven legions of dark vultures for their diabolic acrobatics. If the churches preach the real Christ, His Counselor will not leave the true church of the apostles. Right faith and true repentance and righteousness are the shields and weapons of the faithful.

Just as the crucifiers of Christ are not forgiven, the crucifiers of the Spirit of God also will not be excused. Self-betrayal for the sake of earthly glory is a powerful dynamite that will shatter us into pieces, and that deny salvation and eternity. The denial and the betrayal of the Triune God is an unforgivable sin. Jesus as the Mediator pleased the Father by His sacrifice, He cannot die again to console the Comforter. “If a man sin against a man, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him? 1.Sam.2: 25.

We need further examination of this topic from the circumstantial connotations, Mt.12: 31-32. Jesus healed a dumb demoniac; his accusers charged Him, saying that He healed him in the name of Beelzebub, the head of the dark angels. They believed and preached that any sickness was due to the visitation or possessions of evil spirits. In order to befool the ordinary people they attributed Jesus as an evil man possessed by the dark angels. Their lack of faith drove them away from the vicinity of the Messiah. He realized their double-mindedness that pointing at defeating Jesus and gaining their power over the mob for living in their earthly glory. Knowing one thing and doing another thing is self-betrayal and suicidal. This was a sign of their hypocrisy because Jesus can’t cure a person by the help of demons, while He was preaching about and living for the living God. Their religion was the politics of defeating Jesus and establishing their authority over the shepherdless flock. Hence self-betrayal is a grievous sin against the Spirit of God, whether in religious life or in private or personal life.

St. paul didn’t betray his conscience, as he believed in annihilating anyone who didn’t believe in Jehovah was his gospel and ministry before his true conversion. Jesus caught him right there, because God knew that he would prove to be a worthy vessel of God once when he saw the true light. Whereas He left Judas to his own perdition, the betrayer of His Master at the expense of his own conscience. St.Paul belongs to a rare species that has only a handful of people that we know of. Therefore, he became a tool of Jesus for propagating His ministry to a wide area of the then known world. Even if the church propagates the true apostolic faith and its ministry, it becomes a self-conceit that solidifies stubbornness, because we don’t live a life of chaste life of sacramental Christian purity, disseminating the love and devotion of the Saviour who made His life as self-sacrifice.

History repeats itself. The Holy Spirit emptied Himself from the House of the hypocrites who were supposed themselves as the custodians of the covenants and promises, so also the stewards of the House of the Lord may face the same test now. We preach and confess that we are the real followers of the true faith, but self -deceit is our trade mark religion. Just as the harlots and tax gatherers and social outcasts experienced the luminous light of the Son of Man, the condemned and despised ones are likely to be proved as the banquet sharers with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the land of the living, whereas the self-proclaimed statute-holders may be thrown into the outer darkness for tasting the eternal fire and gnashing of teeth. Don’t judge the shepherdless flock that will be judged by the Super Shepherd who knows the ins and outs of each heart; accept that we live in the penumbra of truth. Try to practice the religion of the apostolic faith; at the same time realize that we are also only the customers of the retailers. The apostolic faith holders should have an inkling of thought that they have received more, resulting in paying back more dividends. Don’t allow the Holy Spirit to grieve for our leavened bread, Eph.4: 30, “in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption”. “Everyone to whom much is given, of him will be much required”, Lk.12: 48.

St.Vattasseril thirumeni has concluded in the book ‘Mathopasaram’ that even the sin against the Holy Spirit also is likely to be forgiven by one’s true penitential repentance and prayers and almsgiving.