A Response to "Blasphemy Challenge"
by Maria Seferou
I was utterly shocked when by chance I came across the "Blasphemy Challenge" in "YouTube", a few days ago. Seeing and hearing hundreds of young embittered ex-"Christians" to vehemently and indignantly blaspheme God, believing that this is clever, notable, liberating and heroic, grieved my spirit as no other experience had done before. I strongly felt that I should write something about this unprecedented irrational human behavior, in an attempt to outline the most negative effects of such an antisocial and uncivilized adventure.
For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, let me tell you a few introductory words. The "Blasphemy Challenge" is the ill-conceived project of "Rational Response Squad", a group of atheists who have taken up the mission of irreverently confronting Christians by insulting what is most sacred to them. Little do they know that by doing this they utterly discredit atheism, the very "ism" they want to promote, while they fanaticize even more those whom they attempt to bring to their senses, i.e. Christian fundamentalists. The "Blasphemy Challenge" is a savage phenomenon that has been going on in the cyberspace during the last couple of months, having made even national television news in the USA. Where else?
What is the "Blasphemy Challenge"? It is the making of a "YouTube" video by an atheist, whereby he/she verbally denies the power and the existence of the Holy Spirit. As a "reward" for this, the lured into the trap participants receive a free DVD of "The God Who Wasn't There", the work of a deluded ex-"Christian", namely Brian Flemming, who tries to prove that Jesus of Nazareth never existed! What a cheap "reward" for such an ignorant, indignant and self-destructive denouncement!
For this social predicament I primarily hold responsible "Christian" Fundamentalism, i.e. the organized, militant Evangelical movement that originated in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century, and passionately propagated the big lie that the Bible, all of it, commas and dots included, is the infallible "Word of God", plus the ridiculous ear-caressing and of pagan origin belief in the instant "salvation" by faith in the blood of Jesus! Before them, I equally hold responsible all the so called Christian Fathers, who, instead of concentrating and expanding on the actual teachings of the great prophet called Jesus Christ, they made him "God", inventing the irrational doctrine of the "Holy Trinity", and promoting the idea of an eternal hell, where all infidels would be tortured for ever and ever! It is all the above that honest young atheists are revolting against, although in the aforementioned videos they do it in an indignant and unintelligent manner.
As regards the organizers of the outrageous "Blasphemy Challenge", i.e. the "Rational Response Squad", oh, well, they are just after publicity and converts to atheism, while deluded Brian Flemming is obviously after fame and money. Just another atheist Jesus monger; that's all! Please don't be deceived that the only Jesus mongers are the clergy, "Christian" theologians, professors of Divinity in Universities and Colleges, Evangelists and Televangelists, Bible scholars, publishers of Bible stuff and "Christian" books, etc. Oh, NO! There are also many aggressive atheists who are Jesus mongers. Writing about Jesus, whether in favor or against him, and making films about this poor guy, is extremely profitable, especially in the great land of the USA, where all the "isms" flourish.
Before I proceed to explaining why I consider the denial of the Holy Spirit as a self destructive act, let me tell you in a nutshell what I currently believe, although I don't like the word 'believe' as it sounds rigid; In any case, the last thing I would want to happen is to create yet another religious cult with my beliefs. On the contrary, I am a life-long seeker of Truth and always endeavor for fresh knowledge and evolution of my perception of Ultimate Reality. For this reason, wherever I need more revelation, I shall enclose the word 'believe' in single quotation marks, and please do not consider it as false humility, or lack of courage to strongly defend what I believe. It is simply the awareness that I don't know it all, and perhaps finite human mind is incapable of ever containing, comprehending and expressing with words the infinity of Ultimate Reality. I consider as tragedy the fact that the so-called monotheistic religions have propagated a model of a separate personal "God" out there, unmoved by humanity's pains and sufferings, or unable to intervene, thus pushing millions of rational individuals to atheism.
I personally have come to 'believe' in an ever evolving and impersonal God, Creative, Intelligent, Spiritual Energy, neither good nor evil, a Causeless Cause of everything that exists, that is not separate from its creation but one with it. I 'believe' that human beings consist of three components: body, soul (mind, will, emotions) and Spirit, the latter being a part of the Great immaterial Consciousness that permeates all matter. The human spirit, i.e. the divine essence of man, is the link between man and the harmonious whole called Cosmos, whereby it gets illuminated and empowered.
I believe that the Bible is the work of men, a historical account full of contradictions, atrocities, and inaccuracies, blended with pagan myths, where, however, the sincere and unbiased seeker of Truth may also find passages and verses with spiritual value, profitable for soul edification and wise guidance in everyday life. Such spiritual "germs" are common to all major religions of the World.
I believe that Jesus was a great anointed prophet and he spoke mostly in parables and allegories. Some of the words attributed to him (I haven't heard him speaking) have esoteric meaning but they have been deliberately misinterpreted or ignorantly misunderstood, and hence the irrationality of the Christian religion. Further, I know nothing for sure about afterlife, nor does it seriously concern me, and I definitely don't believe in the nonsense of an eternal Hell with lakes of fire.
Now, having briefly outlined what I believe, it is easy to guess why I consider the "Blasphemy Challenge" as utterly self-destructive, apart from ridiculous and self-humiliating, of course. When one denies the existence and power of the Holy Spirit, the same in effect denies his/her own spiritual essence. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is in fact blasphemy against oneself! It is as simple as that! In my opinion, this is why Jesus said, "Whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit has never forgiveness" (Mark 3:29). Naturally, if one denies the existence and power of the Spirit within, i.e. one's own Higher Self, there is nobody there to convict one of sin and "forgive" his/her transgressions, i.e. to wipe away the guilt from the violation of unwritten and sovereign moral principles, after repentance. When the inner Spirit has been deliberately denied and "locked" away, then communication with the soul has been severed, and the result is negative for the wholeness of man, regardless of any punishment or absolution from the external laws that society has established.
It is worth mentioning here the context in which the above words were attributed to Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus had been accused by the scribes and Pharisees that he was casting out "demons" - negativities, destructive habits, addictions, passions, etc. - with the help of "Satan", the so-called "prince of the demons". By his answer above, Jesus was in fact saying that he was doing it by the power of his Higher Self, the Spirit within, the very essence of the Holy Spirit abiding in every human being. In another passage of the Bible this is confirmed even further: "But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." (Mat. 12:28) Jesus was referring to his spirit, i.e. the spiritual component of man, his inner Higher Self, which is present in everyone of us, manifesting as conscience, intuition, Higher Consciousness, love, wisdom and power.
Elsewhere in the New Testament it is even clearer that Jesus considered the inner Higher Self as being the "Kingdom of God" within man. Here are the relevant verses:
May I take this opportunity to say that this profound and simple truth is never preached in the "Christian" Churches by the present-day Pharisees. Why? Because if the sheep discover that the Holy Spirit is inherent in them, and that when the soul consciously yields to the gentle guidance of its Higher Self, then the miracle of regeneration - "new birth" - happens and the person is self-enlightened and transformed, often beyond recognition, they will run out of business! They will have no longer a Creed to defend, a "Trinity" to speculate upon, a "God" who supposedly gave his blood to save sinners; they will no longer need to invite people from the pulpit, through the TV or radio to "receive" Jesus as their savior - as if Jesus were a pill - and boast as to how many they "led to Christ"; last and more important, they will not be able to further milk their "sheep", making fortunes out of terrorizing people with an eternal hell described in the New Testament by deluded writers and, supposedly, kept for those who deny Jesus!
The reaction to outrageous "Blasphemy Challenge" by Christian fundamentalists was equally childish and ineffective, as one would imagine. They launched a "Praise the Lord Challenge" also on "YouTube", confessing faith in the "Holy Trinity" and thanking Jesus who saved them from hell, securing a seat in heaven for them! Naturally, since Christian fundamentalists are deaf to reason, no one would expect them to "hear" the cry of their brothers and sisters, the atheists, through their blasphemous proclamation, and come up with something clever and effective. What an irrational world we live in!
About the Author
Maria Seferou was born in an agricultural family of Dendron, a small village of Peloponnese, Greece. She studied Civil/Structural Engineering at National Technical University of Athens and had a successful 20-year professional career both in Greece and in England. For the last 21 years she has been a writer of non-fiction books and articles on religious, philosophical, political and social issues.
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