Challenges Of Self Condemnation

Forgiveness is not just practiced by saints and not only benefits its recipients but have strong connection with person’s physical, mental and spiritual health. It plays a great role in the health of families, communities and nations. Forgiveness provides common ground for love, acceptance, harmony and true happiness Most spiritual and religious leaders of the world will agree that forgiveness of oneself and others is one way to clear the mind, heart and soul and may result in a feeling of increased peace and happiness.

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom 8:1-2). Paul believes if you are in Christ Jesus, then you will be saved. Because of Jesus ' selflessness, he has freed us from sin and death. God had created the world

God gave men the free will to elect their own salvation. There is no sin until it is actually committed. Sin was now considered a voluntary act. It also consists of a change of heart, which revived the concept of limited atonement. Christ did not die for only a select few predestined elect, but for whosoever will accept God’s offer of salvation. Personal commitment also involved an active and useful Christian life in which individual action brings the kingdom closer.

The society that was made by racial bias has made a “string of work camps and prisons strung across a vast country housing millions of people drawn mainly from classes and racial groups that are seen as politically and economically problematic.” (3) Loury’s explanation of how prisons work today is a fact that no should feel good about themselves. However, Loury makes people feel more shameful and guilty by saying the actions we made are connected to Christ. Loury explains that when someone has committed a crime, the normal reaction of someone will be pointing fingers, “You see that fellow over there committing some terrible sins?” (6) Loury uses Christ as an example to show the reader that no matter who he or she is, everyone is the same and has committed some sort of sin, “Well, if you have ever lusted, or allowed jealousy, or envy or hatred to enter your own heart, then you are to be equally condemned!” (6)

Respected Puritan minister, Jonathan Edwards in his Sermon, “Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God (1781), Elaborates on the negatives of being a repentant sinner. Edward’s goal is to inform people that sinning can be dangerous. He adopts a serious tone in order to establish a constant fear within Sinners and Non Sinners reading. Using the heavy caution within his readers let him establish a successful Sermon with the help of examples.

In the book Rediscovering the Power of Repentance and Forgiveness, Dr. Leah Coulter seeks to challenge the conventional Christian approach to forgiveness. Conventional Christianity approaches forgiveness as a Christian duty, and, in many ways, this has been unfair to the victims who have almost been condemned for seeking justice rather than simply forgetting. She asks, "From an all too common Christian view, why must the weight and responsibility of forgiveness be placed on the sinned-against instead of the sinner's repentance?" (Coulter). Therefore, she focuses extensively on the idea of repentance and the duty of the sinner to repent. However, that is not to suggest that Coulter abandons the idea that forgiveness is a Christian imperative, but she attempts to place it within its Jewish context, and demonstrate how other facets of historical Judaism inform the practice of forgiveness and repentance.

In retrospect, God in His sovereignty put the responsibility on the individual rather than the family. Ezekiel 18:20 (RSV) states, “The soul that sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” God response to responsibility is to take ownership of it whether good or bad and confess it before Him if it is wrong. 1st John 1:9 (RSV) shows, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Seeking confession, then owning up to it, is important to living a healthy life with God. Sande continues, “If it is difficult for you to identify and confess your wrongs, there are two things you can do. First, ask God to help you see your sin clearly and repent of it, regardless of what others may do…Second, ask a spiritually mature friend to counsel and correct you.”

Jonathan Edwards states, “nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment..”(Edward 48). This quote examines that all human are originally sinned. In the early years of Americans, human nature is established upon religious beliefs which were puritanism and deism. Puritans believed in predestination which meant that god planned eternal damnation for some and eternal salvation for others. In the other hand, Deist believed in perfectibility of every individual through the use of reason and they always seeked to improve themselves therefore; they were not dependent on God. The major

When dwelling in sin the risk of losing eternal life is nevermore dire. Edward states, “The Devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own” (432). This statement induces the expression that the demonic adversary anticipates the sinner's entrance to hell; he is lingering to clutch the sinner as his possession. This analysis brings to light, “Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) relies heavily on the use of repetition to impress upon his audience the urgency of redemption

One may be saved by God or sent down into the underworld. In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards attempts to persuade the audience to follow and obey God in everything they carry out. Edwards argues that a life of a person that does not have faith in God is demoralizing and melancholy by using the rhetorical device of repetition.

The next important topic I want to talk about is condemnation. Now what is condemnation? Webster’s definition of condemnation is this: an act of judicially condemning. Condemnation to me means not only condemning someone, but also condemning ourselves, because of sins we have committed. Romans 8:1 says this “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” What is this saying? Through Jesus we do not have to feel guilty for the wrong we have done. Jesus has already paid for our sins through his sacrifice. Justification is a term that goes with both condemnation and grace. Justification is defined in the Praxis the assigned book for Theo 104. “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoned all our sins, and accepted us as righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness

• Sin as Selfishness: represents an undue performance for one’s happiness, as opposed to the happiness or welfare of our fellowman

In the book, “Psychology, Theology, and Spirituality in Christian Counseling”, author Mark McMinn gives the reader information on how these three entities can work together in Christian counseling. McMinn offers several ways in which this can be done including the use of prayer, Scripture, confession, forgiveness, the effects of sin, and redemption in counseling sessions. Through narration of counseling vignettes displaying different results, from different approaches demonstrates for the reader integration. There are very many counselors in different walks in their faith and McMinn helps to explore this area for future and practicing clinicians.

The author (2007) also points out the importance of the Roman Catholic views point about confession and penance has three significate merits to confession. The first significate merit is that consistent confession forces one to confront one’s sin, meaning that one will not merely overlook or diminish one’s transgressions; instead it will cause one to take their sin more earnestly (p 213). The second significate is that the act of penance, paying a price for sin, creates a mindfulness of the significance of sin, meaning that it will not allow one to have a carelessness understanding toward sin of thinking that one will always be simply forgiven; instead penance combats this predisposition by arresting consequences for one’s sin (p 213). The third Significate merit is that it lifts the burned of guilt by forgiveness being granted during the ritual of penance, which can be extremely redemptive for some individuals (p

The most popular verse that can describe the denial of one’s self according to Christianity is Luke 9:23 which states: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). While both believes agree that we ourselves as humans are inherently evil, Christianity teaches that it is our human desires that are sinful and are not pleasing to our creator. Unlike Hinduism or Buddhism, our problem is not our thinking, it is our sin and disobedience to God that is the problem. Julia Ching of the University of Hawaii says it best: “there is an acknowledgement of the self as a creature of God in need of Divine help and sustenance, and a sinner requiring Divine mercy…we are made by God, and reflect his goodness; we spoil his handiwork by our sins; we are saved and “made new” by Jesus Christ” (Ching 33).The message within self-denial is this: that we are sinners but we are given a way out of our sin if we choose to follow Christ and his teachings.