Repentance: The Means to Harden the Clay or Wax the Candle

[Jesse Dornfeld]

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to add something for you to think about, or possibly comment on.

I believe the main thing that turns people off to Christianity is one specific thing in particular. That is repentance. Repentance is like a way of drawing closer to God in and of itself IMO. It requires you to humble yourself before God and say you are wrong about things - that you have done morally wrong things and need to be forgiven and make a change of mind: To turn your gaze toward Christ and away from yourself. In some traditions, this is worked out in the sacrament of confession. One will confess their sins to a priest so they can rest assured that they are forgiven. I am not a part of a Traditional Church, but I respect the idea of confessing. However, I believe that this formal way of confessing to a priest was not the way it was done before church buildings were built as a place of worship for Christians. In the early church, while confessing to your peers was encouraged, the biggest thing was repenting proper. This could be done directly to God if need be. As far as I am aware, Roman Catholics also think confessing to God Himself is fine to do. (Someone, please correct me on that if that is wrong.) It is my understanding that within the RCC you can confess your sins directly to God or you can go to a priest. I think this is the same for Lutherans as well. I do not know about other traditions, such as the Orthodox, Anglicans, or Coptic.

So what is the problem with Confession? Well, the World thinks confession is humiliating to the person repenting. They see it as a bad thing because they think it is a practice meant to shame the laity to keep them in order. This might be the biggest thing that turns people off of Christianity. Believing that Jesus loves you is no problem. Do you want to believe Jesus is God? Well, a Hindu might think Jesus is God just like the millions of other gods. As far as Christ's death, people seldom realize that crucifixion was a very humiliating way to die. But people are not in the 1st Century culture so they don't trip over the idea that Jesus was crucified. So the cross is not that bad either. While some atheists think the idea of God sending God to earth to die for his creation so they can be unified with God seems circular, I don't think that's the main thing they have a problem with. Rather, I think the secular world, that is, the whole World, the dominion of Satan, can't get over the fact that a person humbles themselves so devoutly to a God they can't see, and then, they talk to Him and tell Him He is the Lord of all creation and that we are just worms compared to him. Humans want to naturally think highly of themselves. It is pride that prevents people from believing more than anything IMO.

IMO, Repentance is beautiful!

Now, I haven't talked about baptism. This is not meant to get into a debate on whether baptism saves or not. It is about how repenting seems to be the lynchpin in keeping people from boldly coming before the throne of grace.

Thanks for reading!

 

[YahuahSaves]

I might add that Jesus is the "bridge" between heaven and earth. Since the cross and the new covenant began, we no longer need to confess to people because we can now approach God with full confidence.

 

[Jonaitis]

Repentance is God's salvation in Christ!

 

[Valletta]

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to add something for you to think about, or possibly comment on.

I believe the main thing that turns people off to Christianity is one specific thing in particular. That is repentance. Repentance is like a way of drawing closer to God in and of itself IMO. It requires you to humble yourself before God and say you are wrong about things - that you have done morally wrong things and need to be forgiven and make a change of mind: To turn your gaze toward Christ and away from yourself. In some traditions, this is worked out in the sacrament of confession. One will confess their sins to a priest so they can rest assured that they are forgiven. I am not a part of a Traditional Church, but I respect the idea of confessing. However, I believe that this formal way of confessing to a priest was not the way it was done before church buildings were built as a place of worship for Christians. In the early church, while confessing to your peers was encouraged, the biggest thing was repenting proper. This could be done directly to God if need be. As far as I am aware, Roman Catholics also think confessing to God Himself is fine to do. (Someone, please correct me on that if that is wrong.) It is my understanding that within the RCC you can confess your sins directly to God or you can go to a priest. I think this is the same for Lutherans as well. I do not know about other traditions, such as the Orthodox, Anglicans, or Coptic.

So what is the problem with Confession? Well, the World thinks confession is humiliating to the person repenting. They see it as a bad thing because they think it is a practice meant to shame the laity to keep them in order. This might be the biggest thing that turns people off of Christianity. Believing that Jesus loves you is no problem. Do you want to believe Jesus is God? Well, a Hindu might think Jesus is God just like the millions of other gods. As far as Christ's death, people seldom realize that crucifixion was a very humiliating way to die. But people are not in the 1st Century culture so they don't trip over the idea that Jesus was crucified. So the cross is not that bad either. While some atheists think the idea of God sending God to earth to die for his creation so they can be unified with God seems circular, I don't think that's the main thing they have a problem with. Rather, I think the secular world, that is, the whole World, the dominion of Satan, can't get over the fact that a person humbles themselves so devoutly to a God they can't see, and then, they talk to Him and tell Him He is the Lord of all creation and that we are just worms compared to him. Humans want to naturally think highly of themselves. It is pride that prevents people from believing more than anything IMO.

IMO, Repentance is beautiful!

Now, I haven't talked about baptism. This is not meant to get into a debate on whether baptism saves or not. It is about how repenting seems to be the lynchpin in keeping people from boldly coming before the throne of grace.

Thanks for reading!

Jesus Appears to the Disciples​

John 20:19-23 19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” RSVCE

7 Genesis 2:7 then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

The importance of confession is stressed by Jesus, by His words and by the occasion of His words. The Bible states that God breathed very life into man, and God breathes life into sinners through confession, sinners who are deadened by sin. For major sins, Catholics refer to those sins as mortal sins, we are to avail ourselves of the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) where if we repent we know that God forgives us. With mortal sins not confessed through a priest we are not to receive communion, we are warned of this in the Bible. There is wisdom and beauty behind this sacrament. It would be easy to sin and then say a quick "Sorry Lord" and go on with our lives. With confession you tell your sins in front of another person, this causes reflection and then hopefully repentance, where you make an effort not to sin in the future. And you receive graces to help you.
For sins of a lower nature we don't have to go to confession (but it is wise to do so to receive graces.) For example, we ask God for forgiveness in the beginning of mass.

 

[sandman]

It requires you to humble yourself before God

You may be right regarding humility …. for me it was religion that turned my stomach. I am not talking about Christianity…. I mean religion, as in what man thinks of God. To me it just seemed like a show or an act with the creeds, symbols, garb, rituals …etc… instituted by man to appease God, and even at a young age…. it never set right with me.

From birth to 14 I was raised RC. From there I became atheist and from atheism into a lifestyle that was 180 degrees out of phase with God for almost 3 years …. You would think that would be atheism …..but there is something far worse that repudiates the essence of God. But my life changed one night when God pulled me from the grips of death.

And as far as repentance …I had no problem with that …. Because it wasn’t the confessing of sin…. as I was originally taught…. it is confessing the savior from sin our Lord Jesus Christ.

While I don’t disagree that pride does get in the way of submission. I also think that is at the heart of what religion is about. Man dictating, instituting or supplementing what is worship from his perspective.