Asking the Clergy: Is there such a thing as unforgivable sin?

Mass shootings, war crimes and other deeds that shock the conscience seem to be transgressions against divine law, or sins, that are hard to forgive. This week’s clergy discuss how forgiveness can flow from God as well as from the transgressed.

The Rev. Omotayo Cole Cineus

Pastor, Salem African Methodist Episcopal Church, Roslyn Heights

When we think of intentional acts of genocide, enslavement, murder and other crimes against humanity, personal forgiveness of the perpetrators seems far off. We may seek an eye for an eye. But in the New Testament Jesus Christ teaches us to turn the other cheek.

In the African Methodist Episcopal Church, we saw one of the recent models of forgiveness in the aftermath of the mass murder in 2015 at Charleston, South Carolina’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. In open court the surviving family members said, “I forgive you,” to the murderer. This is the model we are given.

In our faith, there is no unforgivable sin. God expects that we live this life in love, kindness, care and contrition. Instead of measuring the levels of sin, I encourage you as Jesus did and seek to sin no more. It is God’s forgiveness that the Scriptures offer: In 1 John 1:8-9, the Bible says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Rabbi Susan Elkodsi

Malverne Jewish Center

In my understanding of Judaism and Jewish theology, there’s no such thing as an unforgivable sin; we have the opportunity until the moment of death to ask for God’s forgiveness. Obtaining forgiveness from other people, well, that’s another story. We need to seek forgiveness from people we’ve hurt, and then God will forgive us. And if the person we’ve wronged refuses (after being asked a maximum of three times), claiming the sin is “unforgivable,” it’s on their head.

We’ve just finished Passover, when the Holy One took the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to be free to worship God. In the wilderness, the people committed two grave sins: idol worship (the Golden Calf), and the despair and hopelessness that came from the 10 scouts who — out of fear — spread negativity throughout the community. God threatened to destroy the people (again) but when Moses appealed to Divine compassion, God said, "Salakhti kid-varekha" (“I have forgiven according to your word,” Numbers 14:20). Neither of these sins went completely unpunished, but the people were forgiven, and it’s important to remember that forgiveness doesn’t mean forgetting, or condoning, the harmful behavior. HaRachaman, the Compassionate One, will wait for us for as long as it takes us to return.  

The Rev. Msgr. Francis J. Maniscalco

Retired pastor, St. Thomas the Apostle Roman Catholic Church, West Hempstead

In seminary, we debated whether God can create a rock he can’t lift. Answering “yes" or "no" seemed to prove either way that God is not all powerful. It proved God is above our human notions about him.

The question of unforgivable sin reminds me of that debate. The simple answer is that no sin is beyond God’s forgiveness. This may be personally consoling but hard for our sense of justice to accept with terrible crimes against human dignity such as genocide or rape.

Aren’t these sins like the rock that even God can’t lift? But our minds are as limited when it comes to God's justice as to his omnipotence. Human justice is intended to be impartial; God’s is entirely partial in our favor. He is ready to forgive the most terrible sins at a sign of repentance. Jesus does speak of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as unforgivable. But the context is his opponents’ claim that he casts out demons by Satan’s power, not God’s, so hard are their hearts. Today this sin is often considered a hardness of heart that refuses to acknowledge that we are sinners in need of forgiveness. Asking whether any sin is unforgivable is good evidence that we are not guilty of such a sin.