Is cutlery ever an unforgiveable sin?

"Cutlery" can be used in two different ways. Both were once thought to provide the potential for unforgiveable sin. Modern scholars have determined that while one scenario does not, indeed, have anything to do with unforgiveable sin, the second does and always will.

The more common definition of "cutlery" is "knives, forks, and spoons used for eating or serving food." Back in the olden days, rich folk had a very complicated relationship with cutlery. According to sources, there are 29 different types of spoons and 35 different types of forks, and heaven help you if you use the wrong one at the wrong time for the wrong food. Word has it that Lord Grantham didn't disapprove of Lady Sybil's marriage to Tom Branson because Tom was an Irish chauffer but because he once used a grapefruit spoon on his trifle. The horror!

North Americans are more likely to use the term "silverware" for eating utensils and define "cutlery" as "cutting utensils, especially knives for cutting food." Cutlery includes butterknives and steak knives, but also rapiers, machetes, Swiss army knives, and fabric shears. And here is the danger. The apocryphal Apocalypse of Mary condemns heretics who preach another gospel, those who attribute Jesus' miracles to the power of demons, and children who use their mother's pinking shears on craft paper. Although we may not judge another person's salvation, all three are strong signs the person isn't saved.

In fact, in Elizabethan England, using your wife's fabric scissors was as common a reason for divorce as cheating on her. God is more forgiving, however. It's debated as to whether He categorically condemns the abuser of maternally-owned two-bladed fabric cutlery, but be assured that adultery is not an unforgiveable sin.

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