Thoughts on rejection of light

That which cannot be forgiven

by George MacDonald

“All manner of sin and blasphemy,” the Lord said, “shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”

God speaks, as it were, in this manner: “I forgive you everything,” he says. “Not a word more shall be said about your sins – only come out of them. Come out of the darkness of your exile. Come into the light of your home, of your birthright, and do evil no more. Lie no more, cheat no more, oppress no more, slander no more, envy no more, be neither greedy nor vain. Love your neighbor as I love you. Be my good child. Trust in your father. I am light – come to me and you shall see things as I see them, and hate the evil thing. I will make you love the thing which you now call good and love not. I forgive all the past.

“I thank thee, Lord, for forgiving me,” some say, “but I prefer staying in the darkness. Forgive me that too.”

“No,” replies God, “that I cannot do. That is the one thing that cannot be forgiven – the sin of choosing to be evil and refusing deliverance. It is impossible to forgive that sin. It would be to take part in it. To side with wrong against right, with murder against life, cannot be forgiven. The thing that is past I pass. But he who goes on doing the same, annihilates my forgiveness. He makes it of no effect. Let a man have committed any sin whatever, I forgive him. But to choose to go on sinning – how can I forgive that? it would be to nourish and cherish evil. It would be to let my creation go to ruin.

“Shall I keep you alive to do things hateful in the sight of all true men?” If a man refuse to come out of his sin, he must suffer the vengeance of a love that would be no love if it left him there. Shall I allow my creature to be the thing my soul hates?”

Selah.

George MacDonald, “Light,” The Truth in Jesus: The Nature of Truth and How We Come to Know It, edited by Michael Phillips (Bethany House: Minneapolis, MN), 127-28.