20 Sins Against The Holy Spirit

Sins can be committed against the Holy Spirit, also known as the Third Person of the Trinity. It will include a brief overview of who or what the Holy Spirit is, why it is essential to acknowledge Him and avoid committing any sins against Him, and a list of common sins committed against Him. 

The Holy Spirit is often referred to as Jesus’ unique manifestation from God because Jesus was able to do things like walk on water and cast out demons which He could not have done without His power from God. 

The Gospel accounts in Luke, for example, show numerous occasions when Satan tells Jesus he cannot cast him out because he does not have the power from his Father alone. 

Jesus, however, replies, “Be gone, Satan! It is written: “You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only you shall serve.” So then Satan leaves because Jesus has the power from God.

At this point, Jesus manifested His Father’s power from Himself. As a result, the Holy Spirit is often referred to as “The Third Person of the Trinity,” meaning that He is Jesus’ answer for all who His Father in heaven has left behind. 

He does not have a personality of His own but acts and works for us through Jesus. Therefore, it is essential to reaffirm the importance of recognizing the Holy Spirit and not sinning against Him because the spirit of Jesus can only operate in our lives through Him.

Turning away from God — The Major Sin

Because of Jesus, our sins against God can be fixed through a straightforward act. However, when sin enters our life, we turn away from Him and create distance between ourselves and God by having sinful thoughts and actions toward God. 

The Holy Spirit becomes like a starving spiritual being who can only have Himself into us if we allow Him in. However, once we allow or welcome His presence into us, He takes on a personality that helps guide us into doing the right things with Christ’s power behind us.

Hatred of the truth is a state in which one rejects the truth, incapable of accepting it and not wanting to be corrected. Unfortunately, the world and its modernism are in this state. Having rejected God, the source of truth, all that remains for them is to fight against God’s truth and His Church, which lives by this truth.

20 Signs Against the Holy Spirit

1. Envy of the truth means rejecting the truth in favor of falsehood out of jealousy over the success or authority belonging to those who share God’s word.
2. The despair of the truth, or despair of God’s mercy, is a state which is almost impossible to explain because it consists of a deep conviction that one will never be saved against which there is no hope. Even though this feeling can drive a person to do extraordinary things (like su*cides), it is impossible to raise any objection against God’s justice in this matter and His mercy. This feeling comes from Satan and must be overcome by prayer and trust in God, who does not abandon those who want to turn back to Him.
3. Envy of the divine gifts means that a person cannot endure seeing other people enjoy the gifts he doesn’t have or seeing them respected or admired because of their efforts to acquire them. This is a kind of satanic jealousy, which can also drive a person to immerse himself in receiving these divine gifts.
4. Anger with God. This is when you turn your back on God because of your sufferings or what happened to you.
5. Accusing God’s servants (e.g., priests). This is when a person blames the priest for his spiritual problems (e.g., “the priest will never get me back where I was before.”)
6. Anger at the cross. This is when a person remains angry and doesn’t want to think about the cross of Christ and about the way Christ died for our sins. That was so long ago. I don’t care about it anymore.”)
7. Hostility toward persons associated with salvation (e.g., in a hospital or public).
8. Jealousy. This is when you have a hidden or an open hatred for those who believe in God.
9. Disregard for virtue (e.g., self-control, endurance, and charity). This is when a person does not use his freedom to behave well and fulfill his duty (e.g., he abuses his freedom by stealing or with other immoral acts).
10.  Lying. This is when a person lies and judges others by lying instead of speaking the truth (e.g., “What they say about me doesn’t matter because they can’t tell the truth anyway”)
11. The love of money. This is when a person loves riches and the things that come from riches more than God, Jesus Christ, and His Church (e.g., “I want to be rich and famous.”).
12.  Showing excessive love for oneself or one’s family (e.g., egotism).
13.  Excessive loving/caring for relatives (rather than neighbors), showing excessive  concern for friends, showing excessive love for animals, plants, or inanimate objects (e.g., “Love your neighbor as yourself; honor your parents; obey the Church”).
14.  Excessive Speaking. This is when a person speaks at length and talks about themselves more than others, with excessive egotism (e.g., “Look at me! I’m so great!”)—excessive talking in church (more than is necessary) or being too talkative in general.
15.  Excessive Praying. This sin is when a person prays excessively, at length, and too much in public, to no avail (e.g., “That’s how I prayed for you this morning; now look what you made me do”).
16. Languishing for Sins against the Holy Spirit. This is when someone becomes obsessed with themselves and decides to be consumed with sin against the Holy Spirit (e.g., “I am a sinner who has many sins.”), finally being unable to live without sinning.
17. Being Scrupulous. This is when someone is overly scrupulous and constantly seethes over their sins; obsesses over sinfulness, and always looks for ways of not just avoiding but also distancing themselves from others (for instance, by repositioning chairs in the house for strangers).
18. Scoffing at Sacraments or Sacramental Theology. This is when a person is too skeptical of the Sacraments and other Sacramental realities.
19. Languishing for Sins against the Holy Spirit. This is when someone becomes obsessed with themselves and decides to be consumed with sin against the Holy Spirit (e.g., “I am a sinner who has many sins”), finally being unable to live without sinning or even entertaining thoughts of suicide.
20. Being Scrupulous. This sin concerns excessive scrupling about whether something can be sinful or not (e.g., “This is diabolical”); the sin is to be overly scrupulous about not just sin but about the possibility of committing an immoral action.
21. Scoffing at Sacraments or Sacramental Theology. This is when a person is too skeptical of the Sacraments and other Sacramental realities.

Conclusion

Because of the gravity of the sin, Jesus warns us not to entertain any thought that could lead to such behavior.

“I am warning you,” He says, “that no one can be in My presence unless I wish him to be there” (Luke 9:50). This is something we must be cautious about.

To fall into this sin means we have big problems with our faith and trust. Even though we must pray for God’s light and grace, we cannot just keep getting up again each time we fall into this sin to avoid it! Letting this happen only leads to greater spiritual blindness.