Did anybody else read this?
It's interesting and I think accurate, but it raised questions in my mind.
How do we distinguish between the type of morbid sorrow that Satan inspires, which leads to despair and ultimately death, and the Godly sorrow which leads to contrition and repentance?
Any thoughts?
I think we need to focus on past sins and mistakes only long enough to learn from them, repent of them and move on. There is nothing to be gained beyond this. I know there have been times when I was immobilized by a morbid reliving of real and imagined mistakes I had made in the past. (If only I had done this or that differently, perhaps things would have turned out better.) I was of no use to anybody during this time. Satan loves it when I allow such discouragement to derail me from the joyful, victorious life that God has called me to live.
One thing that has helped me get beyond this is to focus on the verse that says, "ALL things work together for good to them that love the Lord and to them that are called according to his purpose"! ALL things! Even the sins and mistakes of my past are going to be woven into the fabric of my life in such a way as to be for my good! When I am focusing on my past sins, I am acting like it is all up to me - and it isn't! It's all up to Him! Thanks be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
:clap:
I appreciate the question, BOG, and look forward to hearing what others have to say re: this.
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Did anybody else read this?[/quote]
Where? Could you post a link?
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]"When Satan reminds you of your past just remind him of his future!"[/quote]
:amen:
By the way, Never, here's the link to the article:
http://gcm.ibelieve.com/content.asp?SID=5&CID=18133 (http://gcm.ibelieve.com/content.asp?SID=5&CID=18133)
All I know is, I am comforted in the midst of sorrow about past sins when I let God handle it. If I wallow in it alone, I ain't alone long, 'cause Satan comes in with me.
Never, When you look at GraceCenteredMagazine's opening page, notice along the left there is a list of topics to click on. Down toward the bottom there is one named "Bible Corner". That is where the article under discussion is located. Like you, I had never noticed that until BOG brought this article to our attention! :idea:
Thanks for the help James and Connie!
The article reminded me of something I heard a preacher say once -- "You can never have a better past than the one you have, but you can have a better today."
[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote [/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]How do we distinguish between the type of morbid sorrow that Satan inspires, which leads to despair and ultimately death, and the Godly sorrow which leads to contrition and repentance?[/quote]
I think the main way to distinguish between them is by their results. Like you said, guilt heaped on us by Satan leads to despair. It is paralyzing. Godly sorrow leads to repentance. It is motivating.
On a different note -- Is the author green on anyone else's monitor??
:rolleyes:
Never, how observant you are! I had to look back, as I had not noticed, but, yes the author is green on my monitor, also!
He does look green. Perhaps he was seasick the day the picture was taken. Perhaps he's a Martian.
Back on the subject. I read this quote the other day on another site, and was interested that the same question was being discussed. My thoughts about the author are at best ambivelent, but the ideas are interesting. The author is obviously a Catholic. We'll talk about the circumstances of the quote in a minute.
"If sorrow so grips the mind that its strength is sapped and reason gives up the reins, if a bishop is so overcome by heavy-hearted sleep that he neglects to do what the duty of his office requires for the salvation of his flock - like a cowardly ship's captain who is so disheartened by the furious din of a storm that he deserts the helm, hides away cowering in some cranny and abandons the ship to the waves - if a bishop does this, I would certainly not hesitate to juxtapose and compare his sadness with the sadness that leads, as Paul says, to hell. Indeed, I would consider it far worse, since such sadness in religious matters seems to spring from a mind which despairs of God's help."
This was written by Sir Thomas More about the English bishops, all but one of whom signed the oath recognizing Henry VIII as head of the English church. More wrote this during while he was confined in the Tower of London awaiting his own certain execution. The one bishop who refused to sign the oath was also executed.
As I said, my thoughts about More are ambivalent at best, because he didn't hesitate, when he was in power, to impose harsh punishment on religious dissent. In a way, his execution seems a sort of rough justice. But I think his observations about II Cor 7:10 might have some merit and use to us. Undoubtedly, many of the English bishops sorrowed over their circumstances and over their separation from the Catholic church. But they let that sorrow drive from them their duty. I think it may be correct that the wordly sorrow that leads to death is the sorrow that blinds us to our duty to God, and causes us to forget that all events are, in the end, in the care of One greater than we are.
Any comments?