Repentance means to turn away from one's actions. Whatever was wrong, we have turned from it and are now doing something new.
True and full forgiveness is based on repentance. It is often you see that people seek forgiveness but do not repent.
Often the church muddles everything by suggesting that we must forgive those who will not repent. You see there is a certain sort of peace or lack of anger we should have with the unrepentant.
Holding a grudge or stewing in anger is not Christian. We are to love our enemies. But it is very different to forgive the unrepentant or pretend nothing happened or is still happening.
And that is the great flaw in much of the teaching of the church of today. The idea that forgiveness does not need repentance.
We often like to simplify things in theology. We turn words which are not synonyms into synonyms. For instance, forgiveness equals forgetting to the church. It does most certainly not.
Another instance of this is repentance means acting sorry or claiming to be sorry. It most certainly does not.
You see the terms are related but repentance is being genuinely sorry, not saying the words. Often we cannot judge things immediately. We must wait and see but often repentance is faked and the church refuses to call a spade a spade.
Showing posts with label repentance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label repentance. Show all posts
Friday, March 28, 2014
Saturday, September 28, 2013
To backtrack
It is interesting the principle of never backtracking. In life we should forge ahead and not backtrack.
I suppose everyone understands that there is a time to backtrack when we are lost. But to admit we have lost the trail is always difficult.
The reality is that as fallen people we constantly lose the trail. So backtracking to the rail is an important part of following God.
I suppose often what we as a society would call backtracking is what the bible would call repentance. But we do not like to repent because to repent would indicate we have left the trail.
Repentance is of course a “turning around” really it is a backtracking to where we should have been. Why do we not like repentance and backtracking? We do we absolutize these as not desirable?
I suppose it is because we are proud and pride is a very fundamental human sin. To admit we are lost is to admit we are weak.
We do not wish to admit we are weak, but the reality is we are weak. We may not like the fact but it is true.
No matter how strong we are can be defeated at any moment by the forces of nature, an accident or a disease.
We wish to believe we can be like God, by we are feeble and frail. Luckily God is the God of the feeble and frail.
The bible says that God came to save the poor and low in the world. Why?
Well we are all poor and low in the world. The only difference is that some of us are aware of the fact and some of us are not.
We can have faith in ourselves but we will all fade and while some men may be remembered in history books they too have died.
They are remembered as great. But the are remembered because they are no more. They too have fallen and their true strength rests in where their ultimate trust is.
I suppose everyone understands that there is a time to backtrack when we are lost. But to admit we have lost the trail is always difficult.
The reality is that as fallen people we constantly lose the trail. So backtracking to the rail is an important part of following God.
I suppose often what we as a society would call backtracking is what the bible would call repentance. But we do not like to repent because to repent would indicate we have left the trail.
Repentance is of course a “turning around” really it is a backtracking to where we should have been. Why do we not like repentance and backtracking? We do we absolutize these as not desirable?
I suppose it is because we are proud and pride is a very fundamental human sin. To admit we are lost is to admit we are weak.
We do not wish to admit we are weak, but the reality is we are weak. We may not like the fact but it is true.
No matter how strong we are can be defeated at any moment by the forces of nature, an accident or a disease.
We wish to believe we can be like God, by we are feeble and frail. Luckily God is the God of the feeble and frail.
The bible says that God came to save the poor and low in the world. Why?
Well we are all poor and low in the world. The only difference is that some of us are aware of the fact and some of us are not.
We can have faith in ourselves but we will all fade and while some men may be remembered in history books they too have died.
They are remembered as great. But the are remembered because they are no more. They too have fallen and their true strength rests in where their ultimate trust is.
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