re is it good that jesus died brian ceccarelli wrote that s me kent i am not accusing you of evil things jesus is accusing you and it is not only you that he is accusing he is accusing everyone me you and everyone in the world is guilty whether one sees the light or does not seen the light has nothing to do with whether we do evil things we do them regardless kent sandvik responds hmm it seems that this is the core of christianity then you have to feel guilty i think i see where you are coming from kent jesus doesn t view guilt like our modern venacular colors it feelings have nothing to do with guilt feelings arise from the state of being guilty feeling and guilt are mutally exclusive feelings are a reaction from guilt jesus is talking about the guilt state not the reaction let me give you an example have you ever made a mistake have you ever lied to someone even a little white lie have you ever claimed to know something that you really didn t know have you ever hated someone have you ever been selfish are you guilty of any one of these the answer is of course yes you are guilty period that is it what jesus is getting at no big surprise feelings do not even enter the picture consider jesus s use of the word guilt as how a court uses it jesus is concerned that everyone should admit that they are guilty of being imperfect the bible calls it the state that we are all sinners we all do bad things even the most insignficant thing that we do wrong is proof of our guilt that we are all sinners it is it in our nature to do bad things we are sinners therefore we do bad things being a sinner is fact it is not a pleasant fact but it is just a fact we are not perfect calling us sinners should have no more emotional charge to you than calling you a human being guilty as charged and then there s this single personality that will save you from this universal guilt feeling you can handle your guilt in one of two ways acknowledge you made a mistake learn from it and try to not do it again in the meantime not punishing yourself for it which is the way jesus wants you to handle or it this is the healthy way or two the destructive way put yourself down slap yourself and feel like crap never forgive yourself force yourself to say a thousand hail marys even to suicide this the way jesus does not want us to deal with it all people fall into this category to some extent in their lives jesus is not in the business of saving us from this guilt feeling jesus is in the business of showing us how much he loves us despite our guilt jesus knows we are guilty that isn t new to him it is no big deal to him he just wants you to realize that this sinful nature destroys the relationship between you and him that is what he wants you to know why because he wants to have your company you are immensely valuable to him jesus wants a relationship with you however in our present sinful nature we are incapable of having this relationship god is perfect we are not you cannot fit a square peg into a round hole however god has provided a way for us to change our nature so that we can have a relationship with him god has provided jesus so that whosoever just believes in jesus will have their nature changed the holy spirit will move it and now divine nature is now within lives our very being and us and god communicate with each through his unifying holy spirit the benefits of this are endless for with the divine nature living within us we can now see our imperfections better we can now head them off at the pass with the power of the holy spirit living in us we now have his power to help us overcome our shortcomings because the divine nature lives within us we can now understand profound bible passages that never before we could understand because the divine nature now lives within us we now have authority over demonic forces and lastly because the divine nature now lives within us we have eternal life for the holy spirit is eternal the relationship with jesus is of the utmost importance because it is not what you do in life that qualifies you to belong to heavenly kingdom it is your relationship to the living god remember what jesus said at the tail end of matthew when he separated the goats from the sheep many people in the last day will ask him didn t i prophesy in your name and do miracles and do good things in your name and what did jesus say depart from me for i never knew you that is the cornerstone of christianity kent jesus must know you as his friend it is your relationship to jesus if he is your friend and you are his you will be counted among those who will share in his inheritance in heaven brian i will tell you a secret i don t feel guilty at all i do mistakes and i regret them however i ve never had this huge guilt feeling hanging over my shoulder good it shows that you have a strong self image that you love yourself that is the second greatest commandment jesus taught if only more people could do as you do as i said before in the common english venacular feeling guilty has a different meaning than the state of guilt this all is a very clear indication that you need a certain personality type in order to believe and adjust to certain religious doctrines and if your personality type is opposite then you are not that easily attached to a certain world view system i believe what we all need in our personalities is a lot less ego a lot less self centeredness and a lot more unconditional love there are humans that subscribe to the same notion the nice thing is that when you finally shake off this huge burden the shoulders feel far more relaxed yes you have stated what jesus said remember come to me take my yoke upon your shoulders for my burden is light a yoke is used to direct oxen to do work once you have a relationship with jesus you and him share the yoke and the burdens of life having god at your side is of great advantage
