"[B]y means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron" (1 Tim. 4:2, NASB).
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our consciences, but shouts to us in our pains; it's His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."--C. S. Lewis
Dr. Sigmund Freud relegated all guilt to suffering some form of "guilt complex" to be healed when he came into vogue. He denied its reality. People do suffer for doing wrong and condemn themselves, even if society doesn't. You cannot convince a person who feels guilty that it is okay and he just has a complex. It is good to have feelings of guilt and to feel bad because we become cognizant of wrongdoing--it is even therapeutic. Yes, guilt can be good for you and the development of your conscience. Guilt is not a psychological disorder, but a real phenomenon and there is only one cure for it: confession and restitution or reconciliation. Wrongs must be made right and one must believe he is forgiven justly
Jesus does this by having the authority to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to forgive us of all our sins. A man may forgive you for what you trespassed against him, but Jesus can forgive all sins against everyone. Guilt is no disorder to be cured nor a psychological phenomenon to be explained away but must be dealt with for a person to live in the real world of right and wrong. It is entirely possible to feel guilty because they are guilty! Just like we act human because there's such a thing as human nature. Animals are not conscious nor responsible for wrong and will not be judged, but man will face Judgment Day (cf. Heb. 9:27) and having guilt only shows him he's got something to deal with before eternity.
The only way to live guilt-free is to have a relationship with Jesus and to have all your sins forgiven past, present, and future. Moral relativism denies any absolute standards of right and wrong or universal truth, and people should make up their own values as they go along, basically according to whim. Everyone has a conscience, and it can become muffled or ignored, but it's still there. Even in prison, there's a prison code and convicts have a warped sense of right and wrong. When we violate our own standards or even those we aspire to, we feel guilty and sense something wrong, no matter what terminology we use. There is psychological guilt that is mean and cruel, but also God-given guilt that we must deal with. It is not maladjustment, and no matter how you try to convince someone it's unreal, he knows it is and suffers as a result. You cannot just explain away guilt psychologically!
Some guilt is unnecessary, of course, but that doesn't preclude the existence of genuine guilt. Christianity is the only faith that deals decisively with this issue and solves it; for nothing but the blood of Jesus can wash away our stain and flaw of guilt. We must not only be forgiven but have some cognizance of why and how it's accomplished righteously. Only God can ultimately forgive one's sins. We instinctively know that justice must be done, and God didn't sacrifice or compromise his justice in justifying us by His mercy and grace through the blood of His own Son.
The reason people deny guilt as real and only a psychological problem, or even illness, is that they deny absolute standards of right and wrong and our responsibility to live up to the universal moral order, and more specifically they adhere to the belief that nothing is our fault, but the blame should be placed on the evils of society--for we are all innocent and even victims. Our salvation is threefold according to the offices of Christ: as our Prophet, Christ frees us from the ignorance of sin; as our Priest, from the guilt of sin; as our King, from the dominion of sin.
In the final analysis, a man can say he has forgiven you for the trespasses against him, but only God can forgive all trespasses and can solve the guilt problem and issue definitively and set a person free from it, mainly because God is both just and the justifier in the cross of Christ. Remember: there's nothing wrong with our nature or personality if we feel guilty as if it's a complex or flaw, but it's God-given to awaken our conscience and has therapeutic value to warn us and keep us on track and in line with God's will. Soli Deo Gloria!
"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our consciences, but shouts to us in our pains; it's His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."--C. S. Lewis
Dr. Sigmund Freud relegated all guilt to suffering some form of "guilt complex" to be healed when he came into vogue. He denied its reality. People do suffer for doing wrong and condemn themselves, even if society doesn't. You cannot convince a person who feels guilty that it is okay and he just has a complex. It is good to have feelings of guilt and to feel bad because we become cognizant of wrongdoing--it is even therapeutic. Yes, guilt can be good for you and the development of your conscience. Guilt is not a psychological disorder, but a real phenomenon and there is only one cure for it: confession and restitution or reconciliation. Wrongs must be made right and one must believe he is forgiven justly
Jesus does this by having the authority to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and to forgive us of all our sins. A man may forgive you for what you trespassed against him, but Jesus can forgive all sins against everyone. Guilt is no disorder to be cured nor a psychological phenomenon to be explained away but must be dealt with for a person to live in the real world of right and wrong. It is entirely possible to feel guilty because they are guilty! Just like we act human because there's such a thing as human nature. Animals are not conscious nor responsible for wrong and will not be judged, but man will face Judgment Day (cf. Heb. 9:27) and having guilt only shows him he's got something to deal with before eternity.
The only way to live guilt-free is to have a relationship with Jesus and to have all your sins forgiven past, present, and future. Moral relativism denies any absolute standards of right and wrong or universal truth, and people should make up their own values as they go along, basically according to whim. Everyone has a conscience, and it can become muffled or ignored, but it's still there. Even in prison, there's a prison code and convicts have a warped sense of right and wrong. When we violate our own standards or even those we aspire to, we feel guilty and sense something wrong, no matter what terminology we use. There is psychological guilt that is mean and cruel, but also God-given guilt that we must deal with. It is not maladjustment, and no matter how you try to convince someone it's unreal, he knows it is and suffers as a result. You cannot just explain away guilt psychologically!
Some guilt is unnecessary, of course, but that doesn't preclude the existence of genuine guilt. Christianity is the only faith that deals decisively with this issue and solves it; for nothing but the blood of Jesus can wash away our stain and flaw of guilt. We must not only be forgiven but have some cognizance of why and how it's accomplished righteously. Only God can ultimately forgive one's sins. We instinctively know that justice must be done, and God didn't sacrifice or compromise his justice in justifying us by His mercy and grace through the blood of His own Son.
The reason people deny guilt as real and only a psychological problem, or even illness, is that they deny absolute standards of right and wrong and our responsibility to live up to the universal moral order, and more specifically they adhere to the belief that nothing is our fault, but the blame should be placed on the evils of society--for we are all innocent and even victims. Our salvation is threefold according to the offices of Christ: as our Prophet, Christ frees us from the ignorance of sin; as our Priest, from the guilt of sin; as our King, from the dominion of sin.
In the final analysis, a man can say he has forgiven you for the trespasses against him, but only God can forgive all trespasses and can solve the guilt problem and issue definitively and set a person free from it, mainly because God is both just and the justifier in the cross of Christ. Remember: there's nothing wrong with our nature or personality if we feel guilty as if it's a complex or flaw, but it's God-given to awaken our conscience and has therapeutic value to warn us and keep us on track and in line with God's will. Soli Deo Gloria!
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