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I've already watched the DVD. I didn't think it was all that great... :)

The passage from which this whole effort is drawn is Matt. 12: 24 – 32, and has admittedly been grievously misinterpreted and misapplied over the years – as also by the Rational Response Squad. Here it is:

24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub,[f] the ruler of the demons.”
25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Just making a simple statement, out of context, that you deny the Holy Spirit is not what Jesus is referring to here. Scripture MUST be interpreted in the historical and cultural setting (Sitz im Leben) in which it occurred. It cannot just be transported into 21st century America without careful study and right application.

To begin with, these are Pharisees of the first century, and they were in big time conflict with Jesus on a number of issues. They DID believe in God and the Spirit of God, and performed exorcisms themselves; but had made their decision to reject this upstart carpenter rabbi. Their tactic in this instance was to undermine his authority by linking him with the enemy – Satan (Beelzebub), the great angelic spirit power that opposes all that God is and does – high treason, if you will. In the process they were attributing to demons what was actually being done by the Holy Spirit through the Person of their Messiah; thereby burning the bridge of faith behind them by setting themselves against God and His Anointed. In this particular context, Jesus warns them:

31 “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks (mine: i.e. knowingly attributing to Satan what is done by God) against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Theologically, it is the Spirit (not the “Son of Man” – John 16: 8-10) that brings conviction of sin and generates faith in people’s hearts; so if the Pharisees thwart this process by ACTUALLY and KNOWINGLY attributing to the Spirit Satanic motives and actions, they are cutting themselves off from God by hardening their hearts, thus making it impossible to respond in repentant faith to saving grace, thereby securing their damnation.

Unscrupulous, manipulative or ignorant teachers (or anyone) today who insinuate that their hearers are sinning against the Holy Spirit in any way other than in the manner and circumstances of this passage, are doing them a great injustice. I know this happens; but with the tremendous numbers of Christians in the world and nation there are BOUND to be eccentric and/or uneducated teachings – as in any other movement or ideology. But atheists and company like to distort and magnify such phenomena all out of proportion for their own deceptive purposes; as in this case. Telling biblically uninformed young people to blaspheme the Spirit of God by simply making little statements online, or out-loud, does not cut these kids off from God’s mercy and love; but it most likely IS sealing their OWN eternal doom. But they are so confirmed in their unbelief and intellectualized hatred of God they can’t see it. “Let God be true, but every man a liar.”

"But they are so confirmed in their unbelief and intellectualized hatred of God they can’t see it."

I bet you didn't realize that few if any of these people "hate" god, nikos. You have to believe in something before you have a chance of feeling hatred of it. The whole point of this exercise is to poke fun at people like you who have no ability to see a joke even when it crawls up your leg and bites you on a certain part of your anatomy.

I'll pray to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that it will reveal to you a clue some time soon. :}

Of course, when I say "hate" I don't mean like someone hates spaghetti or a nasty neighbor; but that their beliefs and attitudes towards Christ and His Church are totally irreverent and blasphemous. And it is NO joke to even say and promote the vicious things they are disseminating, as satire, hyperbole or any other form of jest.

I have to say, Nikos, if there are radical rationalists being "vicious", I do agree with you, it isn't very funny, and they aren't helping their "cause". Certainly, the young people hopping online to deny some being (or non-being's) existence make no significant dent in the ongoing debate. It's just publicity. I don't see it as blasphemy, whether it's biblically inaccurate or whether they went ahead and ascribed the tsunami of 2004 or the Holocaust to some god's twisted idea of fate. Would blaming such an entity for such acts qualify as blasphemy? Or were those not lousy enough to be "evil" in the world? I guess the one might be plain chance and the other human disease of mind and power gone mad. So what would qualify as an evil purported to a devil, which could be blasphemed upon a god?

"I have to say, Nikos, if there are radical rationalists being "vicious", I do agree with you, it isn't very funny, and they aren't helping their "cause"."

I think of the whole thing as attention-grabbing and juvenile. That's the main reason I wouldn't participate even if I had the technology available to me to do so.

But an important point that this does hilight is that "blasphemy" is the ultimate victimless "crime." Oh, it might hurt some folks' feelings, but hey -- hardly anyone ever seems to worry about hurting atheist feelings.

Freddy: "hardly anyone ever seems to worry about hurting atheist feelings."

Well, the blog is nowhere for folks who have their feelings hurt easily –which I know you do not. But then we're all sensitive about certain things. In the end, it's not really about feelings, but truth and reality, about which we disagree.

I understand your arguments, intellectually, but the inner revelation of the Holy Spirit trumps human unbelief and skepticism. The unbelieving mind not only cannot see the things of God, but as it becomes more and more antagonistic and hostile toward God, begins to “blaspheme” God; i.e. speak things that directly and publicly attack His divine Person and ridicule His Word and acts (Dawkins, et al.) St. Paul was opposed to the Faith and violently and “viciously” attacked it – until the Spirit of God revealed Christ to him. As Paul puts it in Romans 8:

“14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.”

These folks (and others today) perpetrating this open attack upon God and His Word are therefore truly and unequivocally blaspheming Him. The reason it’s such a serious thing is that it openly sets the perpetrator against God – and thereby undermines God’s Kingdom (trying to institute immoral and ungodly behavior and policies) and the work of the Gospel (undermining people’s faith and trust). Because of this, the blasphemer comes directly under the opposition and judgment of God. He may THINK he is getting away with it; like the guy who shakes his fist at the sky, uttering a lengthy blasphemous tirade against God, after which he sighs smugly, saying, “Well, I guess that proves He’s not real.” But in fact, God’s judgments are not so superficial and unmerciful, but are usually a kind of delayed action process; the unfortunate repercussions only evident further along, or at the end (Hitler, Nietzsche, Howard Hughes, et al.)

I agree that the word and concept are tossed about rather carelessly by many, to the detriment of people- and to God. But the term has a rather specific meaning and should be reserved for those who speak, intentionally, directly and openly against God. People can deny and berate Him, but they cannot make Him go away, and they WILL face Him on that day. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:31) Should we have a healthy fear of God – by all means!

Y'know Nikos, the saddest thing about all this is when we die, all us atheists won't be able to say "I told you so".

Nikos, are you maintaining that every single atheist who has ever denied the existence of a monotheistic ceity (or any of the polytheistic ones) has, in the course of the end of their lives, suffered some awful tragic death or madness? Cherry-picking a few prominent names (not all of whom are atheists) doesn't prove your "wrath of god" thesis. I am sure there have been many, many atheists who have died from the same less-traumatic causes as many devout Christians: instant death by accident, hidden heart disease leading to sudden cardiac arrest, asphyxiation while asleep, etc. They do not all "convert" on their deathbeds. They don't die any less happy than Christians in these unanticipated deaths. Thus, your contention of an angry god's retribution must rely upon the "further along" of the after-death hypothesis: hell and damnation, not just the apparent vicissitudes of life. Jobean suffering comes to all, with or without a god. As for blasphemy, I have always thought if a jealous god was so good, too, it was darn weird that it would damn the best and most compassionate non-believers, who had sacrificed much for their fellow men and women and children. I guess that means I am blaspheming that god by questioning the goodness of such callousness.