The reason why the idea “God wants us to feel shame and that we owe him something in return for what he has done for us,” is so powerful is because it is a LIE!
Guilt or shame is the by-product of man when he violates his conscience. You do not have to be religious to feel guilt. It’s a universal lie. There are 3 ways in which you get rid of guilt.
1. You can justify your actions to yourself so that they do not appear as guilt, but the violation still occurred and is not rectified (pride).
2. You ask for forgiveness and the violation is then rectified. The message of Jesus is that he rectifies that which was not rectified.
3. Another way people try to ease their conscience is to blame others. We see both the self-justification and the blaming of others in the garden immediately after Adam and Eve’s sin. Blaming of others transforms us from the actor who is responsible for what has happened into a victim that does not bear this responsibility but was harmed by another’s actions instead of the one doing the harm.
God has already taken the guilt out of our lives through Jesus Christ who represents forgiveness.
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