Blaspheming the Holy Spirit

Atheist Brian offers up the blasphemy challenge:

"There isn't any good reason to believe in God," asserts Brian. "It's that simple."

What's wrong with God?

"What's wrong with the tooth fairy?" asks Brian. "There's nothing wrong with something that most likely doesn't exist."

...And recently they came up with a new way to publicize their cause. It is called the Blasphemy Challenge.

...What they did was challenge people to make videos of themselves, denying, denouncing or blaspheming the Holy Spirit,...

Chandler... says: "I've come to the conclusion that alongside the fact that there is no Santa Clause and there is no Easter bunny, there is also no God. So, without further ado, my name is Chandler and I deny the existence of the Holy Spirit."

...[Kathleen] Liles says Brian is simply missing the point. Faith is not something that can or should be proven, she says.

"Faith is a gift, it is a mystery, as so many other gifts from God are," she says. "And when we open our hearts to God, then God will give us the faith to believe."

...Brian says,... "If they want to come to the table and present their evidence, I will present my evidence. And we will see how much of theirs is based on faith, and how much of mine is based on fact."

This is just appalling atheist apologetic and shallow interpretation. Mind you, the token "Christian" response leaves a lot to be desired also.

There are three major mistakes in this article. Inappropriate analogy, misinterpretation and the fact/ faith dichotomy.

Comparing God to the tooth fairy or Santa Claus may belittle him, or make Christians seem childish, but it does little more. There are hundreds or fantastical beings that I could claim I don't believe in but that doesn't prove anything. No one ever truly believed in Santa Claus (except for childhood fantasies) nor was there ever a time people believed in the tooth fairy, it is a conscious man-made construct. Now an atheist may say so is God, but God certainly isn't a consciously invented construct. I could say that I don't believe in Brian, but that leaves me with having to explain away all the people on YouTube denying belief in the Holy Spirit. This is the real point, Christians claim there is good evidence for God. Atheists may attempt to explain this away, but they do not need to explain away Santa Claus, no one believes in him.

Then there are the large number of atheists denying the existence of the Holy Spirit showing up their lack of biblical knowledge, or even desire to gain any.

"Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"—for they had said, "He has an unclean spirit." (Mark 3:28-30 ESV)

God hates those who call good evil and evil good (Isa 5:20). But which does he hate more. Many an evil person or demon claims their activities are good. God opposes this, they are making false claims about themselves and leading others astray. Calling good evil however; that is making claims on God. That is maligning his character. That is attacking his glory. When Jesus accuses the scribes of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, what is it they have done? They have called the Holy Spirit who indwells Jesus unclean; they have claimed the good things of God originate from evil.

The atheists pride themselves in denying the existence of the Holy Spirit; not a sensible thing to do, but not an uncommon belief for people who don't know God. But to acknowledge God and see his good works are say they originate from Satan; that, God says, is unforgivable.

As far as the fact faith dichotomy is concerned, that needs more extensive treatment. However Christians must bear some of the blame for this one with their inadequate definitions of faith. Faith is not the ability to believe the untrue, it is trust based on truth.

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."/
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,/
there is none who does good. (Psalm 14:1 ESV)