I read somewhere that in the Christian bible, there is one unforgivable sin. I believe the writer said it was denying the divinity of the holy spirit or something. Can anyone tell me if this is right, and if so, give me the chapter and verse?
Jesus’ words were “He who blasphemes against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”
Now, people may interpret that different ways. I choose to interpret it as a VERY merciful doctrine. I take it to mean that, even the people who cursed and mocked Jesus of Nazareth were not necessarily damned, because many of them didn’t really understand who He was or what his mission was. Many, perhaps MOST of those people were condemning what they honestly THOUGHT was a charlatan, a heretic or a madman. St. Paul is a good example. He castigated Jesus and his followers out of ignorance- he was forgiven, because he changed his ways once he saw what Jesus and his teachings were REALLY all about.
In short, people who reject or slander Jesus because they don’t understand who and what He is can be forgiven. Only people who recognize divinity and holiness and STILL reject it (there can’t be very many of those!) are beyond salvation.
While not stated as so in the Bible, Catholic doctrine has held for centuries that suicide is an automatic ticket to Hell, since it’s a sin that by definition you don’t have time to repent.
From the Catechism, Part 3, Section 2, Chapter Two, Article 5: I
So basically NOT unforgivable, more or less contradicting what my highly Catholic Dad used to tell me. Which was that suicide was the worst of all possible sins because it requires despair, a complete and utter denial of hope, and therefore faith in God. Personally I really appreciate the “grave psychological disturbances” clause. Sorry this was so long!
The unforgivable sin is attributing the works of God To satan.
The only statement we have on the subject is that rather cryptic quote from scripture, above. The traditional explanation for that (although there are other “non-traditional” interpretations) is that the sin against the Holy Spirit is despair–the belief that not even God can save you. This was the basis of the suicide=quick-trip-to-hell belief. True, one would not have time to repent if one put a bullet in the brian or fell on one’s own spear, but more importantly, the impetus for the act was the total abandonment of hope in God.
I’ve seen some other interpretations over on LBMB, (some of them rather odd), but to put forth a definition of the “unforgivable” sin, one needs to explain how and why it is against the Holy Spirit.
I’m with Astorian on this. If you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you are, by definition, mocking something that you know is sacred. In this case, you’re hopeless. OTOH, if you don’t believe that Jesus is the Son of God, then you’re blaspheming something that you don’t believe is sacred. You can be forgiven for this, like Paul was.
According to some, salting watermelon.
I thought it was wearing plaid pants if you’re under 60. 
I’m going to Hell.
The current Catholic position on the “unforgiveable sin” is along the lines above mentioned, of consciously and deliberately refusing or denying the Saving Grace of the Holy Spirit, and thus going into “final impenitence.”
Many other Christians refer to the biblical passage wherefrom comes the quote, to take it to mean the knowing attribution of the acts of God to Satan.
In both cases, what it takes is the sinner recognizing God and the Holy Spirit as such, and deliberately declaring them worthless or evil. This is not the same thing as coming to believe that God’s up to no good, but having full knowledge and awareness of His goodness and still maliciously insisting otherwise.