(Part 1: https://christianforums.net/threads/understanding-blasphemy.101380/)
A quick recap of blasphemy, it's th the utter comtempt, hatred, and irreverance for God inwardly, shown outwardly in verbal or action form. Blasphemy begins with the lack of fear of the LORD, and lack of awe-inspired reverance for His Name. That's why we must beware if we are growing weary of the things of the Lord, becoming nonchalant about God or are approaching God from a manner of equality and informality. While it is better to be informal and not fake with the LORD, as the Pharisees had all the formalities, but lacked true reverance (Matthew 23:27). But lacking both allows a breach in your faith to open up the room to blasphemy.
Blasphemy is not always flamboyant, it can be also hidden and unexpected (which I will get into later).
But the second way we can blaspheme the Lord, is through claiming what is only divinely His to claim.
That can range from claims of deity, (The Jews answered Him, “We are not going to stone You for a good work, but for blasphemy, because You, a mere man, make Yourself out to be God.” - John 10:33) to claims to certain abilities or privileges prescribed/exclusive only to Deity (The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Luke 5:21)
Now this is heavy. Starting with point: A. Claiming of deity.
We talked about this in our last post, whether through self-glorification, or through idolatry, anything, whether its money, power, sex, a person, an ideology, our personal preferences and feelings that we put before God, is indeed us calling that thing or person, God. Which is a form of blasphemy through idolatry or blasphemous idolatry.
But there is another form, which in my opinion, is the sneakiest, most prevalent, and most deceptive form yet: Blasphemy by claiming the privilege or ability, exclusive to God.
In Scripture specifically, we find three direct examples through Scripture of defined things that God has exclusive rights over, forgiving of sins (Luke 5:19-22), marriage (Matthew 19:4-6, Mark 10:6-9), and condemn souls (James 4:12, Revelation 21-22).
Forgiving of sins: This is strictly prohibited to Christ alone. As the Pharisees did in Luke 5, condemn Jesus as claiming to be aligned with God, when he forgave sins. Anyone who claims to be able to forgive sins is not in line with the will of God (which covers certain previous acts by the Catholic church, and even still now, but won't get into that much).
Marriage: Marriage is one of the most sought after (or rather the special privilege that comes with it), in the world. Many seek marriage as a covering to contain their passions, others just want to entertainment rather than the covenant. In short, God is the only one who can define what marriage is, (Matthew 19:4-6, which is based on Genesis 2). So since God defines marriage, not man, He has the only exclusive rights to dictate what it is, not man. So when man tries to defy the Divinely Defined or redefine, the Divinely Defined, it is putting itself in the position of Ultimat Authority, thus blaspheming the deity of Christ, when it introduces foreign concepts to creation, as it has no rights to.
(I won't dive deeper at this time as I will make a different thread about sexuality, exploring the true meaning of it, the corruption of it, and the navigation through it)
Condemnation of Souls: This one is probably the most manipulated form possible, as one side uses this to illegitimately pose as a spiritual authority over others, and others use this as an excuse to remain in sin. The first form is as Matthew 7:1 goes, "Judge not, lest ye be judged". The only legitimate judge is Christ (Isaiah 33:22). However we must distinguish between judgement & condemnation.
In Matthew 7:1, the Hebrew for "judge" is krinō, which means: "of those who act the part of judges or arbiters in matters of common life, or pass judgment on the deeds and words of others, (OR) to be judged, i.e. summoned to trial that one's case may be examined and judgment passed upon it". Overall meaning is to look upon a person or situation, and then taking the position of authority over that person or situation, then passing a sentence over it.
We technically do this all the time, whether someone lies to us, and we judge them to be untrustworthy, or we judge a murderer as deserving the capital punishment. There is a difference though, between legitimate judgement (John 7:24), and illegitimate judgement (Matthew 7:1-3, Romans 2:1-3). One is taking the authority over someones life and pronouncing a sentence or judgement on them or their life (i.e. condemnation) regardless on how you act (hypocrisy), and the other is using wisdom & discernment to see the actions and then formulate your life based on that action. Someone lied to you, so now you take note, and then adjust your trust levels, pray for them, and move forward living a life of truth vs someone lied to you, you tell them their going to hell, gossip about them to everyone about how bad they are, meanwhile you made 21 lies just yesterday morning and are living a lie in your everyday life.
Condemnation vs Discernment. One follows the will of God, in living free from sin and praying for those in sin, and the other lives as if their the perfect and can point out the flaws in everybody else but themselves. God never prohibits judgment, just know you will have the same done unto you. But if you sit from the seat of the Judger and authority over someone's life, as if your say brings em heaven or hell, you are a blasphemer.
Marriage, Forgiveness of sins, or Condemnation of Souls, is like a copyright, it is copyrighted under the deity of Christ, and no man has the right to manipulate it, sell it, reproduce it, use it for their benefit, change it, or edit it in any form or fashion, they cannot even add onto or take away from it. Hence doing so is committing copyright fraud to Christ, aka, knowingly or unknowingly, ascending yourself to the position of God.
A quick recap of blasphemy, it's th the utter comtempt, hatred, and irreverance for God inwardly, shown outwardly in verbal or action form. Blasphemy begins with the lack of fear of the LORD, and lack of awe-inspired reverance for His Name. That's why we must beware if we are growing weary of the things of the Lord, becoming nonchalant about God or are approaching God from a manner of equality and informality. While it is better to be informal and not fake with the LORD, as the Pharisees had all the formalities, but lacked true reverance (Matthew 23:27). But lacking both allows a breach in your faith to open up the room to blasphemy.
Blasphemy is not always flamboyant, it can be also hidden and unexpected (which I will get into later).
But the second way we can blaspheme the Lord, is through claiming what is only divinely His to claim.
That can range from claims of deity, (The Jews answered Him, “We are not going to stone You for a good work, but for blasphemy, because You, a mere man, make Yourself out to be God.” - John 10:33) to claims to certain abilities or privileges prescribed/exclusive only to Deity (The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” Luke 5:21)
Now this is heavy. Starting with point: A. Claiming of deity.
We talked about this in our last post, whether through self-glorification, or through idolatry, anything, whether its money, power, sex, a person, an ideology, our personal preferences and feelings that we put before God, is indeed us calling that thing or person, God. Which is a form of blasphemy through idolatry or blasphemous idolatry.
But there is another form, which in my opinion, is the sneakiest, most prevalent, and most deceptive form yet: Blasphemy by claiming the privilege or ability, exclusive to God.
In Scripture specifically, we find three direct examples through Scripture of defined things that God has exclusive rights over, forgiving of sins (Luke 5:19-22), marriage (Matthew 19:4-6, Mark 10:6-9), and condemn souls (James 4:12, Revelation 21-22).
Forgiving of sins: This is strictly prohibited to Christ alone. As the Pharisees did in Luke 5, condemn Jesus as claiming to be aligned with God, when he forgave sins. Anyone who claims to be able to forgive sins is not in line with the will of God (which covers certain previous acts by the Catholic church, and even still now, but won't get into that much).
Marriage: Marriage is one of the most sought after (or rather the special privilege that comes with it), in the world. Many seek marriage as a covering to contain their passions, others just want to entertainment rather than the covenant. In short, God is the only one who can define what marriage is, (Matthew 19:4-6, which is based on Genesis 2). So since God defines marriage, not man, He has the only exclusive rights to dictate what it is, not man. So when man tries to defy the Divinely Defined or redefine, the Divinely Defined, it is putting itself in the position of Ultimat Authority, thus blaspheming the deity of Christ, when it introduces foreign concepts to creation, as it has no rights to.
(I won't dive deeper at this time as I will make a different thread about sexuality, exploring the true meaning of it, the corruption of it, and the navigation through it)
Condemnation of Souls: This one is probably the most manipulated form possible, as one side uses this to illegitimately pose as a spiritual authority over others, and others use this as an excuse to remain in sin. The first form is as Matthew 7:1 goes, "Judge not, lest ye be judged". The only legitimate judge is Christ (Isaiah 33:22). However we must distinguish between judgement & condemnation.
In Matthew 7:1, the Hebrew for "judge" is krinō, which means: "of those who act the part of judges or arbiters in matters of common life, or pass judgment on the deeds and words of others, (OR) to be judged, i.e. summoned to trial that one's case may be examined and judgment passed upon it". Overall meaning is to look upon a person or situation, and then taking the position of authority over that person or situation, then passing a sentence over it.
We technically do this all the time, whether someone lies to us, and we judge them to be untrustworthy, or we judge a murderer as deserving the capital punishment. There is a difference though, between legitimate judgement (John 7:24), and illegitimate judgement (Matthew 7:1-3, Romans 2:1-3). One is taking the authority over someones life and pronouncing a sentence or judgement on them or their life (i.e. condemnation) regardless on how you act (hypocrisy), and the other is using wisdom & discernment to see the actions and then formulate your life based on that action. Someone lied to you, so now you take note, and then adjust your trust levels, pray for them, and move forward living a life of truth vs someone lied to you, you tell them their going to hell, gossip about them to everyone about how bad they are, meanwhile you made 21 lies just yesterday morning and are living a lie in your everyday life.
Condemnation vs Discernment. One follows the will of God, in living free from sin and praying for those in sin, and the other lives as if their the perfect and can point out the flaws in everybody else but themselves. God never prohibits judgment, just know you will have the same done unto you. But if you sit from the seat of the Judger and authority over someone's life, as if your say brings em heaven or hell, you are a blasphemer.
Marriage, Forgiveness of sins, or Condemnation of Souls, is like a copyright, it is copyrighted under the deity of Christ, and no man has the right to manipulate it, sell it, reproduce it, use it for their benefit, change it, or edit it in any form or fashion, they cannot even add onto or take away from it. Hence doing so is committing copyright fraud to Christ, aka, knowingly or unknowingly, ascending yourself to the position of God.