Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

Sassanian (sassanian@shell.liberty.com)
Fri, 4 Oct 1996 12:36:14 -0700 (PDT)

About four years ago, I had a talk with my "father in the faith" when I
was doubting Christianity and, out of frustration from his
incapability/unwillingness to look at other possibilities when he didn't
even acknowledge the possibility that Apolonnius of Tyana could have
actually performed the miracles ascribed to him without a Satanic source,
said that Jesus performed his miracles from Satan's power, and in fact
was Satan himself. Now, I'm not as worried about this as I once was,
since I no longer believe in Jesus, but I'd like to ask those on this
list a question. Jesus is portrayed as saying that those who deny him
before men he would deny before his father, those who didn't forgive
wouldn't be forgiven, etc. Is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit portrayed
as a continual event or a singular? And what exactly is such blasphemy?
The NT speaks of the Holy Spirit being the actual one who is speaking
through Christians, so if someone calls a Christian's thoughts
ridiculous, does that mean that one is personally blaspheming the Holy
Spirit? Jesus isn't portrayed as directly accusing the Pharisees of
blasphemy, but warning them about it. The Didache says anyone who
examines or questions someone speaking under inspiration won't be
forgiven. Just how did other early Christians interpret the variant
passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke?

Thanks in advance for the response.

Mike