Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Confess to progress


One of the aspects of Christianity that I love is the practice of confessing our sins. Within ourselves, it is easy to know when we have sinful thoughts or have committed sins. It takes a lot of courage to acknowledge and even more guts to admit it to someone else. Someone who has taken the step of confessing is surely on the right path to becoming a better person for she has recognised her sin, admitted it and resolved to rectify.

Confession is good for various reasons some of which are listed below:
1. It takes the load off the mind
2. It is the first positive step in self-improvement
3. It is an open declaration of one's resolve
4. It enhances the value of honesty which paves the way for other values to creep in and establish their presence

The act of confession by itself does not atone for sins. One should not carry an impression that confession "clears the slate" and permits one to sin again. It should not be treated as a ritual which needs to be completed after every sin. The very purpose of confession seems to be to make a strong resolution to avoid similar sins in future. It is like making a public declaration of our intentions to be better human beings.

We are all human and are prone to sinning (a) consciously or unconsciously (b) physically or mentally. We can reach the ultimate goal of divinity only when we are able to cleanse ourselves of sins. By sinning surreptitiously and projecting a clean image to the world, we are only fooling ourselves. People who strive to become better human beings and spiritually evolved would recognise the tremendous power of confessions.

Confess to progress

4 comments:

KParthasarathi said...

"One should not carry an impression that confession "clears the slate" and permits one to sin again." This is important and there should be a sincere remorse while confessing with a determination not to repeat again.
Thank you Vish for the wide range of topics you dwell upon.

Sonal Raisinghani said...

When does a person go for confession.. ? (ans) When filled with remorse for having offended God .... It means the person is Godfearing... Every such confession made by a godfearing person, makes him realise " a wrong deed has been done and needs immediate rectification."This confession in itself is praiseworthy.
There could be similar errors and subsequent confessions done by the person repeatedly. But again, we should not forget his Godfearing qualities.. Hence when you give a helping hand to the person and make him/ her realize that it is similar confession being made again and again and prayers are being heard again and again.. the person would surely correct course of action.. initially to fool people around and then as a habit

Rakesh Vanamali said...

I personally believe that an act of confession helps one build personal integrity and courage to admit one's mistakes, something that is much needed and most importantly something that can help build humility.

venuss66 said...

Amen.
Thank you for sharing.