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Dear Catholic Exchange:
In one of Mark Shea's articles he states this teaching: There is only one sin God cannot forgive: refusal to receive his grace (also known as “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit”). The Church teaches this because Jesus did. What other sins did you think the Church said could not be forgiven? Now that’s a little bit scary. How do you know if you commit this sin? I'd like some further clarification on what this is so I don't stay up worrying all night about it until the day I die.
Thanks,
Ben Riester
Dear Ben:
I'm afraid you've misunderstood me. There are no other sins the Church says cannot be forgiven. The only unforgivable sin is the one Jesus warns of in Mark 3:22-30:
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And 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. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house. “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin,” for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”Note the context of the warning: Jesus is speaking to people who have seen that he does good and that he is good — yet who deliberately and perversely call good “evil” and who deliberately and knowingly choose to reject the healing, deliverance, and forgiveness he offers as “satanic.” The reason they cannot be forgiven is not that Jesus doesn't want to forgive them, but because forgiveness requires acceptance in order to do us any good. It's like a man at the bottom of a well cursing the people who are lowering him a rope. If he takes out a knife and cuts off the rope so that he can't even take hold of it, he can't be saved. But that's not because his rescuers don't want to save him. A good rule of thumb is this: if you are worried you may have committed the unpardonable sin, chances are very high that you haven't. A man who is worrying that he has offended Jesus is generally not a man who is cursing Jesus as satanic and deliberately spitting on everything that is true, good, and beautiful.
There is no sin — no sin at all — that we bring to Jesus with contrition that he is not willing and able to forgive. Indeed, our very willingness to repent is itself a gift from him who loves us before we are even aware of him. But the nature of the unpardonable sin is that we refuse to bring it for forgiveness. Instead, we spit on repentance and forgiveness and on the One who offers it. If we choose to do that, we (as always) get what we most deeply desire. If our deepest desire is that God leave us alone, we shall have it. And that Cosmic Loneliness is what the Church refers to as “Hell.” But nobody goes there by accident. It takes rather a lot of concentrated effort in resisting the grace and love of God.
Happily, we do not have to go there, however. That is why Jesus came. He means to save us.
Mark Shea
Senior Content Editor
Catholic Exchange
