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Entry: Hitchens' Hubris Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/hitchens_hubris#2690 Post contents: About being an "enemy of God", Jesus said the only unforgivable sin is a sin "against the Holy Spirit." That's worth thinking about more. The Christian God consists of three persons, and Jesus said only the rejection of one of those persons (the Holy Spirit) is unforgivable, while on the cross he said of the insults to his own person, "forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do." For mortal men to deny the divinity of Christ is quite understandable, as in this temporal life we "see through a glass darkly." Similarly, an intellectual denial of God the Father - the Creator - might be forgivable, considering how rational minds might disagree on the definition and nature of the Creator. (Man's fallen state OUGHT to provoke doubts in reasonable minds, about the nature or even the existence of the Creator, and the "Dark Night of the Soul" is arguably an essential step on the way of the cross - because how can anyone fully share in the way of Christ without experiencing some kind of personal Gethsamane of struggling against despair?) But as the Holy Spirit transcends reason and is written in men's hearts, there is no RATIONAL excuse for hostility to the Holy Spirit. And Christ often reminded us that the Holy Spirit is no respecter of outward forms of religion. An atheist who strives through his personal darkness toward the Holy Spirit, is closer to Christ than a professed Christian who is an enemy of the Holy Spirit in his heart. Sent at: 2008 07 06