alright guys so repentance and
forgiveness are huge themes in both the
Bible and the Book of Mormon and as
Jesus Christ who makes it possible for
us to repent and be forgiven of our sins
but the Scriptures also talk about one
sin in particular that is so serious
that there is simply no coming back from
it an unpardonable sin so let's talk
about it what the unpardonable sin is
what it is not and who's even eligible
to commit it
[Applause]
in Matthew 12 we read I say unto you all
manner of sin and blasphemy shall be
forgiven unto men but the blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost shall not be
forgiven unto men and whosoever speaketh
the word against the Son of Man it shall
be forgiven him but whosoever speaketh
against the Holy Ghost it shall not be
forgiven him neither in this world
neither in the world to come
Mark 3 says but he that shall blaspheme
against the Holy Ghost hath never
forgiveness but is in danger of eternal
damnation we read similar verses in Luke
12 Hebrews 6 Hebrews 10 and in the Book
of Mormon in Alma 39 3rd Nephi 29 and
Mosiah 16 so what does it mean to
blaspheme against or denied the holy
ghost well here's what Joseph Smith said
about it what must a man do to commit
the unpardonable sin he must receive the
Holy Ghost have the heavens opened unto
him and know God and then sinned against
him after a man has sinned against the
Holy Ghost there is no repentance for
him he's got to say that the Sun does
not shine while he sees it and he's got
to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens
have been opened unto him and to deny
the plan of salvation with his eyes open
to the truth of it President Spencer W
Kimball also added that the sin against
the Holy Ghost requires such knowledge
that it is manifestly impossible for the
rank-and-file to commit such a sin in
other words you really cannot commit
this sin by accident you can't be
tricked into it you have to have a
perfect knowledge of Christ and his
mission and then purposefully choose to
throw that knowledge in the trash now
what does it mean to have perfect
knowledge well in the case of the
brother of Jared from the Book of Mormon
he isn't described as having a perfect
knowledge until he literally saw Jesus
and because very few people have that
kind of witness of Jesus Christ very few
people could commit the unpardonable sin
even if they wanted to
in latter-day saint jargon Satan and his
angels along with those who commit the
unpardonable sin are known as sons of
perdition hailing back I think to John
17 12 I briefly mentioned the sons of
perdition back in an episode about life
after
there's also a tiny group of people who
will qualify as sons of perdition but it
doesn't apply to me you or most of
humanity so we're skipping that too and
now we've come full circle after the
final judgement the sons of perdition
are cast out into outer darkness forever
as far as we know they will never have
the opportunity to inherit a heavenly
kingdom of glory but we don't know what
outer darkness is where it is or what
it's like we just know that it's not
heaven and it's not a pleasant place to
be it's like Walmart on a Saturday
during a toddler convention now there
are some people who speculate on who
qualifies as a son of perdition and who
does not a lot of people say Cain is a
good example of a son of perdition many
people throw Judas in the pool as well
but ultimately God will be the judge
it's probably not a great idea to go
around calling people sons of perdition
if you wrote this and you're watching
just you're pretty close to going to
Hale that's kind of rude and probably
not anywhere close to the truth if
you're worried you've committed the
unpardonable sin remember this the fact
that you're worried you've committed the
unpardonable sin is a pretty good
indicator that you have not committed
the unpardonable sin I don't think those
individuals who have sinned against the
Holy Ghost are particularly remorseful
about it they preferred it anyway I know
that denying the Holy Ghost might still
seem like a pretty vague concept I wish
I could define it in more specific terms
for you I wish I could give you a whole
list of sins that qualify is denying the
Holy Ghost but I can't because we just
don't have that much information about
it just keep doing your best to follow
Christ and you'll have nothing to worry
about in fact you could probably do your
worst and you still wouldn't have to
worry about it but that's terrible
advice so do your best check out our
website for more info on this topic and
have a great day
[Music]