Feb 23, 2017
Who Are The Sons Of Perdition?
Many are curious about the fate of those who commit the unpardonable sin mentioned by Jesus:
“Wherefore 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 a 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.” Matt 12:31-32
The LDS in particular take interest in this sin because it is expanded upon in their scriptures in such a way that causes one to shutter and desire to avoid it at all costs. It is written:
“Wherefore, he saves all except them–they shall go away into everlasting punishment, which is endless punishment, which is eternal punishment, to reign with the devil and his angels in eternity, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, which is their torment–
“And the end thereof, neither the place thereof, nor their torment, no man knows; Neither was it revealed, neither is, neither will be revealed unto man, except to them who are made partakers thereof;
“Nevertheless, I, the Lord, show it by vision unto many, but straightway shut it up again; Wherefore, the end, the width, the height, the depth, and the misery thereof, they understand not, neither any man except those who are ordained unto this condemnation.” D&C 76:44-48
Those who commit the unpardonable sin and have to endure this punishment are called the sons of perdition and church members seriously speculate as to what one must do to accomplish this, as they want to avoid such a destiny at all costs.
The general idea in the church is that the sin against the Holy Ghost is to receive a witness through the Spirit and then deny that witness which you know to be true. It is said to be like denying the sun exists when you are outside looking at it in the noonday.
The authorities in the church have never clarified exactly how far one has to go to commit this sin and many speculate that merely offending the church authorities enough to get excommunicated will do the job. Hence, the fear of this punishment is enough to keep most members in line and do whatever is necessary to keep their name on church records.
A second mystery in the church revolves around whether or not these sons of perdition will ever be forgiven. It sounds like they will not, but other scriptures seem to indicate differently.
A third mystery is where this great place of punishment will be. I haven’t even seen any speculation on this.
First, let us deal with what one has to do to warrant such punishment.
There are two things the seeker must understand.
First, “God is love” as the scriptures say and He is called our Father by Jesus because He loves us and will work with us as His children. Jesus said this about God:
“Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Matt 7:9-11
Any sincere person who is a parent knows that he will do most anything possible to help a child when he is in a bad situation. Jesus points out that God is a much better parent than we are, and he will try harder and go further to help us than we will for our own children.
This teaching directly contradicts the view of many standard religious people about God. Many view Him as a tyrant who is easily offended and will send people to hell for a wrong belief, offense or minor sin.
Instead, Jesus tells us that God will go to much greater lengths to help us than we will our own children. He is like the shepherd with a hundred sheep who will go out of his way to find and save the one that wandered off and was lost.
When we consider this we will realize that no one will become a son of perdition unless he will completely and consciously reject all of God’s efforts to reach him through his spirit.
The second thing that needs understanding is that punishments are not meted out by some angry god on a throne, but are the result of natural cause and effect. Correspondingly, all the problems our own children have are natural effects from natural causes. We as parents can help them if they will invite us in, but as long as they reject us there is nothing we can do. Because our Father God allows us free will He is in the same situation.
In considering what one must do to commit this grave sin, these two points must be considered. When doing so we must conclude that he who receives such punishment only does so after resisting every possible effort from God to save him. Secondly, the punishment will be a natural result of his choices and not something imposed by a Heavenly Father upon his child.
That said, I am going to give you my conclusions about this sin.
A person cannot even commit this sin until he has made reasonable progress through many lifetimes upon the path of return. Then when he achieves various types higher contact through the Spirit he enters in to a realm of new choices. Will he follow in the direction of Spirit or will he follow the selfish path of lower desire?
Many revert to the lower path for a period of lifetimes and commit great errors, but through self-inflicted pain come to the realization that the path of the Spirit is the more desirable, even though much sacrifice seems to be involved.
To commit the unpardonable sin one must reject the overtures of the spirit, not once, or twice, but time and time again until the entity builds up and impenetrable wall between himself and his loving Father.
When the wall is dense enough nothing from the spiritual realm can reach him and he becomes a lost soul, that is, he has lost all chance of higher contact and is on his own. He has now placed full attention on the lower self and its satisfaction is all he desires.
You have not committed the unpardonable sin if:
- You have any desire for spiritual contact and guidance.
- If you have love for other human beings and are willing to help them.
- If you have at least some desire to do good in the world.
- Being an atheist is a phase we all go through and is not related to the unpardonable sin.
Next: What is the fate of the Sons of Perdition and will they get another chance?
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