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To: White Mountain
That is a nice dramatic flourish, but not correct. They do not go to hell for keeping God's commandments, but for breaking them and being unrepentant about it.

So Judas Iscariot shows the way???

How do I gauge whether my degree of repentance is sufficient. Must I cry tears of repentance at the altar? What if I don't cry, am I really repenting??

When I believed in Christ I wasn't sorry for my past sins at all. The Holy Spirit let me know that because I was a sinner I needed Jesus Christ as my savior. I felt pretty good about that. But, with regard to sinning, I think I continued coveting a new Schwinn "Stingray" bike with a banana seat and monkeybars like other kids had.

Should I have promised God to never, ever covet again? Should I have felt miserable about the "good news" that Christ gave His life for me?

How about that Ethiopian eunuch to whom Phillip spoke? Do you think Phillip told that man to feel bad about those sins in his life like covetousness, jelousy, bitterness, worry, implaccability, self-righteousness?

Do you think he should have said, "Stop being so elated about this Isaiah stuff and start feeling repentant for all the bad things you've done in your wretched, miserable life?
98 posted on 12/29/2003 4:50:47 PM PST by Zechariah11 (so they weighed for my hire thirty pieces of silver Zech 11:12)
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To: Zechariah11
Your #98: How do I gauge whether my degree of repentance is sufficient. ... When I believed in Christ I wasn't sorry for my past sins at all. ... I think I continued coveting a new Schwinn "Stingray" bike with a banana seat and monkeybars like other kids had. Should I have promised God to never, ever covet again?

Isn't there a difference between wanting a new bike, properly paid for, comparable to what the average kid has, and coveting your neighbor's bike?

Repentance is not like "sorry you got caught". Repentance is not being bound down by guilt forever. It is the key to freedom from being bound down by guilt forever, thanks to the atonement of Christ. But you do need to feel a Godly sorrow for the bad things you have done, enough to know they were wrong, enough to forsake them for the rest of your life.

Let the Holy Spirit be your guide as to the degree of repentance that is necessary. When you are done, you will have departed from wrongdoing, you will have made amends as necessary, you will have the sense that the Lord has forgiven you, and when you are able to forgive yourself, you will feel a great burden lifted. Then, strive to retain a remission of your sins (the goal of repentance and baptism, Acts 2:37-38) as a lifelong process.

100 posted on 12/29/2003 5:24:24 PM PST by White Mountain (By their fruits ye shall know them.)
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