Unbelief.

I believe the 'Unforgivable Sin' refers to blasphemes against The Holy Spirit.

If you look at http://robertwells.tripod.com/unforgivable.html

It says:
LUKE 12:10, "And everyone that says a word against the Son of Man, that will be forgiven; But he that blasphemes against The Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
MARK 3:29, "Whoever blasphemes against The Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of everlasting sin."
MATTHEW 12: 31-32 "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come".

I think I was taught in catechism that suicide was the unforgivable sin. I don't agree, but that's what I remember.

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Originally Posted by Catsysue

I think I was taught in catechism that suicide was the unforgiveable sin. I don't agree, but that's what I remember.

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The Catholic church does indeed teach this, but there's no biblical basis for it.

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Originally Posted by dwashbur

The Catholic church does indeed teach this, but there's no biblical basis for it.

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The Catholic Church does not teach this. (Suicide being unforgivable)

The unforgivable sin is not clear in the Gospels as to what it literally is. There are plenty of theories, but nothing definitive. Augustine struggled with it as did Aquinas but they didn't agree.

One of the theological problems with a sin being unforgivable is that it limits God's power to forgive. Perhaps refusing God's forgiveness may come close to what Jesus meant.

In any case, no phrase in the Bible has caused more distress than this one. As someone once said, if you're worried about it, you probably haven't committed it.

As a follow-up, I was not referring to Catholic catechism, but Lutheran (LCMS). I believe that the reason I was given was that we cannot ask for God's forgiveness once we have committed the sin of suicide. I also remember that it was about the "love" commandments -- love our neighbor as ourselves, love God, etc. -- and that suicide violated those commandments.

It is called the Blaspheme of the Holy Spirit and there are six categories of this sin:

1. Despair of salvation
2. Presumption of salvation
3. Impugn the truth
4. Spiritual envy
5. Obstinacy in sin
6. Final impenitence
http://www.catholicdoors.com/faq/qu42.htm

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Originally Posted by Catsysue

As a follow-up, I was not referring to Catholic catechism, but Lutheran (LCMS). I believe that the reason I was given was that we cannot ask for God's forgiveness once we have committed the sin of suicide. I also remember that it was about the "love" commandments -- love our neighbor as ourselves, love God, etc. -- and that suicide violated those commandments.

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That would imply that there was no communication with God except from this life form on earth. Sounds pretty limited. Spirits aren't limited to verbal exchanges.

OKay I was raised Lutheran LCMS and it is taught that suicide is forgivable that is what Martin Luther taught but I personally believe that he was wrong and that's exactly what happens when a person is truly unforgivable like for example when Ahithophel betrays David and the way that Saul treated david those both seemed really unforgivable to me and they both killed themselves then when Judas Iscariot Betrayed Jesus Christ I believe because God killed their souls then threw their bodies into hell and that is why they killed themsleves because they were like all three traitors to the truth and everything they claimed to be or thought themsleves to be they truly weren't but flattered themsleves then went down roads to destruction... I know that Luther was a compassionate and righteous man but I think think he was uncertain about this and calling suicide just another sin I think is a little not exactly right.

Oh and I believe that to reject God's mercy is really to blaspheme the Holy Spirt because to reject his mercy is like to wage war against him or to deny his existence since his mercy is in Christ and he did die for our sins and should trust in him wholeheartedly.

Suicide is forgivable, because you don't know what the person's final thoughts are before they succumbed to death. It could be Jesus, Forgive me.. . etc. God will find any loophole to get his children into heaven.

The unforgivable sin is what those above said, is Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What I believe that is, is basically you believing that the holy spirit does not exist. HOWEVER there is, again, a loop hole to the unforgivable sin. If you accept Jesus into your heart, and ask for forgiveness for your sins, than you are forgiven. God overlooks all the other tiny sins to try and get you in heaven, but if you say he doesn't exist, than it's a sin that unless you ask for forgiveness (thus believing he does exist) it is unforgivable.. . Kind of make sense?

To break the first commandment...

1. though shall not have no other G_D but Me.

If you break rule number one, and don't regret and seek forgiveness, you are an unbeliever and that is worse than any other rule after this first one.

gjdulian has given the correct Bible references that answer the question. I only want to follow up by stating that Matthew 12 verse 24 gives the detail needed to understand exactly what Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is. The Pharisees believed and said that Jesus was casting out devils by the power of Beelzebub (another name for Satan). In other words they did not want Him as their Messiah (savior). That, in a nutshell, is the Bible definition of Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

I think we have got caught up in symantics here. When in doubt refer to the scripture in this case Matthew 12
30 “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
if you look carefully here you see that the passage speaks about a sin that will not be forgiven, as distinct from those sins which might be forgiven. So the Lord made it plain that there is a particular category of sin which God has already judged, and there is no reprieve from that judgement. This isn't about our intellectual ability to make judgements as to how bad sin is, but to yield to God and his wisdom. To blaspheme the Holy Spirit is to ascribe evil to the Holy Spirit, to willfully and knowingly reject the Spirit of God.