Stick with me as I attempt to link the one unpardonable sin, mentioned by Christ, with the NARAL tweet responding to the Doritos Ultrasound Super Bowl ad.
First, what do we mean by the one unpardonable sin?
Saint Matthew records Jesus teaching the following: “Therefore I say to you: Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but he that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come” (Matt 12:31-32, Dhouay Rheims, emphasis added).
So, Christ says it is possible to sin, blaspheme, and speak against the Holy Spirit. Anyone guilty of any of these cannot be forgiven—and consequently, will spend eternity in hell.
WHAT IS THE ONE UNPARDONABLE SIN?
What does it mean to sin against the Holy Spirit? How does one commit blasphemy against the third member of the Holy Trinity? And what constitutes speech against Him?
Historical Christianity has largely understood the one unpardonable sin to be a total lack of contrition, as Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin writes. As Akin points out, Saint Thomas Aquinas gives a nice compilation of Saint Augustine’s teaching on this matter:
“Augustine says… (Enchiridion lxxxiii) that ‘he who dies in a state of obstinacy is guilty of the sin against the Holy Ghost,’ and (De Verb. Dom., Serm. lxxi) that ‘impenitence is a sin against the Holy Ghost,’ and (De Serm. Dom. in Monte xxii), that ‘to resist fraternal goodness with the brands of envy is to sin against the Holy Ghost,’ and in his book De unico Baptismo (De Bap. contra Donat. vi, 35) he says that ‘a man who spurns the truth, is either envious of his brethren to whom the truth is revealed, or ungrateful to God, by Whose inspiration the Church is taught,’ and therefore, seemingly, sins against the Holy Ghost” (ST 2b:14:2, Sed Contra, emphasis added).
Notice that St. Augustine, Doctor of the Church, concurs with historical Christian teaching that the one unpardonable sin remains “a state of obstinacy” and “impenitence.” Those who would rather revel in immoral behavior than accept the forgiveness of the Lord will perish eternally.
SPURNING THE KNOWN TRUTH
I wish to highlight, as well, that last quote from the late, great Archbishop of Hippo. He says a man who “spurns the truth” is also guilty of the one unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit.
St. Augustine is not the only one to link scorning the known truth with the one unpardonable sin. The commentary on the passage in Matthew 12 in the Dhouay Rhiems makes the same connection:
“The blasphemy of the Spirit: The sin here spoken of is that blasphemy, by which the Pharisees attributed the miracles of Christ, wrought by the Spirit of God, to Beelzebub the prince of devils. Now this kind of sin is usually accompanied with so much obstinacy, and such wilful opposing the Spirit of God, and the known truth, that men who are guilty of it, are seldom or never converted: and therefore are never forgiven, because they will not repent. Otherwise there is no sin, which God cannot or will not forgive to such as sincerely repent, and have recourse to the keys of the church” (emphasis added).
So that was a brief introduction to the teaching on the one unpardonable sin according to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. As the Holy Spirit would see to it, we have yet another source to tell us the meaning of the one unpardonable sin. That is, an additional Bible passage:
“For if we sin wilfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries.” (Hebrews 10:26-27, Dhouay Rheims, emphasis added).
So, here again the Bible identifies a sin so grievous “no sacrifice for sins” can atone for it. In other words, not even the forgiveness offered from the Cross by Jesus Christ can absolve this offense. And the grave sin is identified as sinning willfully after knowing the truth.
Seems pretty settled to me.
WHAT’S THIS HAVE TO DO WITH NARAL?
The National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws (NARAL) made a lot of headlines in the pro-life blogosphere with a recent tweet of theirs on Twitter in response to a Super Bowl ad by Doritos.
The ad shows a mother getting an ultrasound done while the father eats a bag of Doritos. The father soon realizes the baby is reaching for his chip from inside the womb and a funny sequence follows.
When I watched the Super Bowl, this stood out to me as my favorite ad of them all. Yet, NARAL was not impressed. Here was their commentary on the ad from their radical Feminist perspective:
#NotBuyingIt – that @Doritos ad using #antichoice tactic of humanizing fetuses & sexist tropes of dads as clueless & moms as uptight. #SB50
— NARAL (@NARAL) February 8, 2016
How can Doritos be guilty of “humanizing” a human? The lunacy boggles the mind.
NARAL, you see, lives in this alternate universe with their pro-abortion cohorts. They refuse to acknowledge the implications of the humanity of the unborn.
Ultrasound technology these days is so advanced we can watch three-dimensional images of an unborn baby moving in the womb. I know, because I have watched my eldest daughter in this way.
Besides, human beings do not become pregnant with baby porpoises, iguanas, or tortoises. We know the unborn in a human mother’s womb is alive because it is growing, and we “have knowledge” it is human because it came from human parents.
We all should know by now where human life comes from and when it begins. We also know by way of reason that abortion violates the Natural Law. ((PRIOR POST))
Such truth about the humanity of the unborn can be denied by abortion supporters. But I don’t think it is something they can any longer claim not to know. And that has enormous ramifications.
For, as we just reviewed, the consequences for denying the known truth last for eternity.
YOUR TURN
I would like to hear your thoughts on the NARAL tweet.
Do you agree with the connection with the one unpardonable sin?
Please weigh in below with your comment.
