Quote:
Originally Posted by Ohio
Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit precludes any repentance as you have indicated. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, as I understand it, is to condemn the Spirit of God for all the good He does, and then give all the credit and the glory to Satan.
Taking the "mark of the beast" is another matter. Unfortunately I think too many Christians will take this mark out of necessity or ignorance. I hope I am wrong. Revelations speak of "taking the mark and worshiping the beast and his image." That is a huge difference. I have always imagined Christians repenting ("coming to themselves, like the prodigal son") during this time, and removing the mark from their hand or forehead.
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I've heard all sorts of theories on the mark of the beast. All I can say is I would still by all means necessary not take the mark!
On the topic of God's forgiveness, did you know some bible scholars say that the fallen angels tried to repent but God wouldn't forgive them?
2 Peter 2:4 alludes to this
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
Peter was making a reference to the book of Enoch which was read by all the NT writers and Jews at that time. In the book of Enoch, the fallen angels who had sex with the women on earth gave birth to the Nephilim, or giants. These angels realize they have sinned and ask Enoch to petition God for forgiveness. Enoch brings the petition to God but Yahweh will have none of it and chooses not to forgive the fallen angels.
Jude also alludes to this and quotes Enoch in two places:
Jude 1:6
And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
Jude 1:14
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones,
The topic of the Nephilim is interesting because it would explain why God commanded the children of Israel to commit genocide on the Cannanites, even ordering that the infants would be killed. The theory is that the Canaanites were not fully human but had fallen angel DNA and thus were beyond redemption. And that's why there were giants like Goliath in David's time.