Is repentance anything other than regret? Are we capable of regretting past actions in-and-of-themselves, or can we only regret them as a response to their consequences? Is one truly sorry for something if he/she only regrets the consequences? Is it wrong to regret actions only because of their consequences?
Please discuss any and all of the above questions. Even if you feel regret and repentance have no relationship to one another, I would like to hear your thoughts on both. Also, remember that by "consequences," I don't mean, "getting caught." If a person has an affair, they may simply regret the consequence of feeling guilty and nothing else. Still, a sense of guilt seems inherent in repentance, and thus the reason for my questions.
About Me
- Benjamin
- Ben was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He spent a good chunk of his adult life pursuing academic philosophy, which took him as far as Tallahassee, Florida, where he spent six years working toward a Ph.D. he eventually realized he didn’t even want. Moving back to Utah with his wife and three sons, Ben has continued his pursuit of self-awareness and self-actualization—with decidedly mixed results. It’s an ongoing process, and sometimes a surprisingly difficult one. But as he clears the clutter from his life (e.g. religion) and more earnestly embraces his passions (e.g. musicianship), Ben finds his life becoming more and more perfect. Of course, this doesn’t stop Ben—now in his forties—from asking himself on a regular basis: “What do I want to be when I grow up?”
2 comments:
I think you can regret without having consequence. Or is the regret a consequence?
I think you can repent and feel true sorrow without "being caught" or suffering any consequence or punishment. It does seem that sorrow is part of repentance. The Sunday School answer is to realize that something is wrong or a sin and feel sorrow/regret/etc about it simply because you are becoming a better person and know/feel that it is wrong. The act of doing wrong or sinning would cause you pain, regret and sorrow and thus you would repent.
On the other hand, it seems that some religious dogma seems to think that feeling sorrow ONLY because of the consequences, is not Godly sorrow and not fit for true repentance. Is there a degree of repentance? I think that sometimes we learn that things are wrong because of the consequences. Somewhere between feeling like it's wrong because of some absolute truth and feeling that it's wrong just because it brings punishment.
I agree with Pastor. Anyone that hasn't felt regret without fear of consequences is in my opinion a lucky person or obviously not sinned they way I have sinned. You can suffer regret because you have dissapointed the Lord. I agree repentance is a changing of you ways. You can't change the past, you can only prevent making the same mistakes in the future. You have to hang it on the cross and have faith that God will forgive you, because there is really nothing else you can do to cange what you have done.
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