rainerann
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- Joined
- Mar 18, 2017
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The Bible says that anyone who commits blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be able to repent of this.
"but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—"(Mark 3:29).
We know that there was sin that could lead to death at the time of the early church (1 John 5:17).
This is similar to the way taking the mark of the beast is described. The prophecy says that if you take the mark of the beast, you will not be able to repent of this and receive forgiveness.
"And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”(Revelation 14:11).
Is there a connection to all of these verses? I have been considering a connection between them because of a teaching within Islam that says that Muhammad is the comforter that is described in the Gospel.
First, it is important to note that the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not a sin that is collective. You cannot even convert to Islam and be considered guilty of this. I don't even know how far one would have to go in believing that Muhammad is the comforter that was sent after Jesus before it would become blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. I just know it does become blasphemy because Muhammad is being called the Holy Spirit in defense of this teaching at some point.
If you really believe this is true, this is something that can't be forgiven in the same way as taking the mark. This would be a predecessor of the mark that will be imposed or a sin that leads to death like John was talking about.
However, the reality of this does not prove that Islam will be the one implementing the mark referred to in the prophecy. Jesus himself was warning the people to avoid this when he was still alive which is demonstrated by people replacing the Holy Spirit with Muhammad. Therefore, this doesn't mean that Islam will increase or be the one to implement the mark.
Recently, blaspheming the Holy Spirit was trending among atheists. There was something called "The Blasphemy Challenge" and people were posting videos to YouTube where they would literally blaspheme the Holy Spirit for everyone to see.
Here is a news report on it. I truly find most of the videos too offensive to post.
Therefore, I think it is possible to consider that taking the mark requires blaspheming the Holy Spirit and this is why is it will not be forgiven according to the warning given by Christ to avoid this. I do not feel dogmatic about it. I don't know how this would be integrated into a requirement to buy or sell, but we can see demonstrations of this sin taking place, and the two are given the same consequence according to scripture.
I have been considering this possibility for a little while now because I feel that most prophetic interpretations need to be simplified. We live in an age of technology that would have been foreign to the writers of prophecy and it is easy to get carried away with excessive conclusions in our attempt to reconcile the differences.
Although, maybe none of it is as extravagant as we think. It is usually more challenging to understand something simple than something complex. Just like the history of understanding the atom. I have always found it fascinating how many different ideas people had for what the structure of an atom looked like.
No one automatically considered whether an atom might look like a smaller version of the universe itself. It had to be different because we tend to make things more complicated than they need to be. Anyways, that is the end of my metaphor and the end of my reflection for the moment. I truly am not trying to cause anyone to be offended. I am just trying to simplify the discussion on the subject of the mark of the beast.
"but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—"(Mark 3:29).
We know that there was sin that could lead to death at the time of the early church (1 John 5:17).
This is similar to the way taking the mark of the beast is described. The prophecy says that if you take the mark of the beast, you will not be able to repent of this and receive forgiveness.
"And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”(Revelation 14:11).
Is there a connection to all of these verses? I have been considering a connection between them because of a teaching within Islam that says that Muhammad is the comforter that is described in the Gospel.
First, it is important to note that the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is not a sin that is collective. You cannot even convert to Islam and be considered guilty of this. I don't even know how far one would have to go in believing that Muhammad is the comforter that was sent after Jesus before it would become blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. I just know it does become blasphemy because Muhammad is being called the Holy Spirit in defense of this teaching at some point.
If you really believe this is true, this is something that can't be forgiven in the same way as taking the mark. This would be a predecessor of the mark that will be imposed or a sin that leads to death like John was talking about.
However, the reality of this does not prove that Islam will be the one implementing the mark referred to in the prophecy. Jesus himself was warning the people to avoid this when he was still alive which is demonstrated by people replacing the Holy Spirit with Muhammad. Therefore, this doesn't mean that Islam will increase or be the one to implement the mark.
Recently, blaspheming the Holy Spirit was trending among atheists. There was something called "The Blasphemy Challenge" and people were posting videos to YouTube where they would literally blaspheme the Holy Spirit for everyone to see.
Here is a news report on it. I truly find most of the videos too offensive to post.
Therefore, I think it is possible to consider that taking the mark requires blaspheming the Holy Spirit and this is why is it will not be forgiven according to the warning given by Christ to avoid this. I do not feel dogmatic about it. I don't know how this would be integrated into a requirement to buy or sell, but we can see demonstrations of this sin taking place, and the two are given the same consequence according to scripture.
I have been considering this possibility for a little while now because I feel that most prophetic interpretations need to be simplified. We live in an age of technology that would have been foreign to the writers of prophecy and it is easy to get carried away with excessive conclusions in our attempt to reconcile the differences.
Although, maybe none of it is as extravagant as we think. It is usually more challenging to understand something simple than something complex. Just like the history of understanding the atom. I have always found it fascinating how many different ideas people had for what the structure of an atom looked like.
No one automatically considered whether an atom might look like a smaller version of the universe itself. It had to be different because we tend to make things more complicated than they need to be. Anyways, that is the end of my metaphor and the end of my reflection for the moment. I truly am not trying to cause anyone to be offended. I am just trying to simplify the discussion on the subject of the mark of the beast.
