Religion and Humility
“Religion rubs our noses in the past to keep us humble. Reviewing the sinfulness of our past in order to become humble is a perversion... It actually creates shame, and that is a poor counterfeit of humility. To maintain consciousness of our sinful past to help us become more humble is the cruelty of a religious spirit. It requires us to keep something in our minds that is not in God’s. In reality it is much more humbling to live in the liberty of unearned forgiveness!”
Amen!
posted by Ryan H at
7:54 PM
1 Comments:
Hey, Ryan.
Some interesting thoughts. I wonder what the author means by "religion." That's a word that can mean a variety of things depending on context.
Also, I haven't thought much about how past sins bear on humility. Admissibly, recalling my former sins has humbled (shamed?) me at times. Although, certainly we shouldn't dwell on such things. (E.g. Phil 3:13, Isa 43:18.)
But in at least one of the Psalms*, Israel's sinfulness is rehearsed. And in Titus**, the epistler briefly reminds us of our former estate-- apparently for the express purpose of putting us in our place.
I'm not sure that the quotation actually contradicts any of these passages. Rather, I'm just trying to figure out how it can be applied in *accordance* with Scripture.
What do you think?
Peace! --Jacob
* Psalm 78, I guess. See verses 5-8 especially.
** Titus 3:2-3. But look at the following verses too!
By
Jacob, at 2:03 AM
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