Dr Paul Allen

Issues of conscience and preference require careful consideration to maintain unity and love within the church. Understanding these categories helps Christians respect diverse opinions and avoid unnecessary conflicts, promoting a more unified and loving community. Is it an issue of conscience? Conscience issues arise when someone abstains from something that is neither sinful nor foolish, influenced by biblical wisdom and personal experience. Even among like-minded believers, circumstances colour perspectives. The influence of your personal experience can make it difficult for you to imagine how others could operate differently in good conscience. No wonder the New Testament commands believers to respect and tolerate diverse opinions on issues in this category (Rom 14:13). Christians must submit their consciences to God (Rom 14:5–7) and seek to build one another up in love (Rom 14:19), even as they exercise liberty with discretion (Rom 14:20). Is it an issue of preference?   The ke...

Proverbs 28:13 “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” Although many people try to deny their sin and suppress their guilt feelings, no one can totally escape the weight of transgression. We cannot finally escape the truth that we have broken God’s law and stand under His just condemnation (Rom. 1:18–3:20). We have missed the standard that our Creator has established for us and have incurred a debt to Him that we cannot possibly repay (Matt. 18:21–35; James 4:17).  Sin and guilt are real, and the only hope we have is to find the real answer to our fundamental problem of estrangement from God. Happily, Scripture gives us a real answer to our problem—namely, real forgiveness. Humanly speaking, we see how sin weighs on others and know how it can burden our own consciences. The ramifications of sins committed years ago can last into the present. Parents feel remorse for their failures. As people approach death, t...

When distinguishing guilt from shame, we can easily oversimplify what makes them different and not appreciate certain similarities. I began to make this point in Part 1 of this series. In this post, I want to add a few unique features of shame, compared to guilt, that is not only interesting but important. A Unique Problem and Solution An interesting feature of shame marks it distinct from guilt. Shame is “contagious.” Gregg Ten Elshof has a fantastic new book (called “For Shame”) coming out this summer in which he explains: Shame and its opposite, honor, are contagious. Guilt and its opposite, innocence, are not. We talk about “guilt by association.” But, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as guilt by association.… you cannot be guilty for something someone else has done merely by means of your association with them. Guilt and innocence are inherently individualistic. They accrue to individuals as a consequence of what they (and only they) have done or failed to do. (86) Of cou...

As a Christian, I have read thriller and crimes novels on my holidays to relax. At times some books are a good read, others are filled with despair with no hope. Last year, I decided to write a thriller suspense espionage novel but I would put a Christian in the mix as a key person. In the Hunt for the Red Banners, I have also put two Muslim brothers. One seeks revenge and the other brother finally doesn't like the plan.  So I have the second brother trying to discover if guilt can be removed and if forgiveness can happen in a person's life. So he wanders into a church looking for answers. It is subtle and brief and yet some readers may reject it. Hopefully, they will identify with him in that - what does a person do with their guilt. The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Lulu.

There is an important difference between guilt and guilt feelings. The distinction is between that which is objective and that which is subjective. Guilt is objective; it is determined by a real analysis of what a person has done with respect to the law. When a person transgresses a law, that person incurs guilt. This is true in the ultimate sense with regard to the law of God. Whenever we break the law of God, we incur objective guilt. We may deny that the guilt is there. We may seek to excuse it or deal with it in other ways. Still, the reality is that we have the guilt. However, guilt feelings may or may not correspond proportionately to one’s objective guilt. In fact, in most cases, if not all cases, they do not correspond proportionately. As painful as guilt feelings can be—and we’ve all experienced the rigours of unsettling guilt feelings—I don’t think any of us have ever experienced feelings of guilt in direct proportion to the actual guilt that we bear before God. I believe it...

… what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ROMANS 1:19 Scripture assumes, and experience confirms, that human beings are naturally inclined to some form of religion, yet they fail to worship their Creator, whose general revelation of himself makes him universally known. Both theoretical atheism and moral monotheism are natural to no one: atheism is always a reaction against a pre-existing belief in God or gods, and moral monotheism has only ever appeared in the wake of special revelation . www.hopecollege.com Scripture explains this state of affairs by telling us that sinful egoism and aversion to our Creator’s claims drive humankind into idolatry, which means transferring worship and homage to some power or object other than God the Creator (Isa. 44:9–20; Rom. 1:21–23; Col. 3:5). In this way, apostate humans “suppress the truth” and have “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and b...

Guilt is a key player in Satan’s master plan of deception. As he weaves his web of guilt into our lives, we are often overcome by feelings of punishment, rejection, and isolation. It is then that we are tempted to doubt the sincerity of God’s forgiveness and grace. Many people do not know how to handle feelings of guilt. They become confused, frustrated, and eventually give up. But God has a written solution for handling guilt, and it is found within His Word. Two Types of Guilt Before we begin dealing with the subject of guilt, we must first understand its meaning. Guilt is a legal term meaning “to commit a breach of conduct.” There are two forms of guilt—genuine guilt which comes as a result of violating one’s moral beliefs and false guilt which is derived from misconceptions or feelings gone astray. In the case of false guilt, the individual actually feels guilty without committingany violation. Dr. Paul Tournier, a noted Christian physician wrote in his book A Doctor’s ...

The Guilt of Janet Ames (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) When we talk about God 's using guilt, it sounds strange to many people in our society because there's a widespread notion that guilt is something that is intrinsically destructive to human beings and that to impose guilt on anybody is wrong. The idea then emerges that God certainly would never use such a thing as guilt to bring about his will with human beings. If he did, that would be beneath the level of purity we would prefer in our deity. In biblical terms, guilt is something that is real and is objective, and I think it's very important that we distinguish between guilt and guilt feelings. Guilt feelings are emotions that I experience subjectively. Guilt is an objective state of affairs . We see that in our law courts. When a person goes on trial for having broken the law, the question before the jury and before the judge is not, Does the accused feel guilty? but, Is there a real state of affairs that we call ...

Gustave Doré, Depiction of Satan, the antagonist of John Milton's Paradise Lost c. 1866 (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Satan bears many names. Satan has many schemes. Satan wears many hats. Satan comes in many disguises. And through it all, one of his favorite tactics and one of his most successful tactics is to be an accuser. The book of Revelation assures us that night and day he stands as our accuser. accuser (noun) 1: one that charges with a fault or offense 2: one that charges with an offense judicially or by a public process Satan is an Accuser and you know his accusations. You have heard him charge you with a fault, you have heard him proclaim your guilt . You have heard it in the courtroom of your heart and mind and conscience. You commit a sin. You fall into that same old sin you've been battling, that sin you swore you wouldn't commit again. You discover a new sin and for a time revel in it. And then you hear the accusation. “You are guilty. Y...

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Guilt is a Chauffeur to Drive You to the Cross Christians typically bounce off of two extremes: Undervaluing the work of Christ by clinging to our own merit Undervaluing the work of Christ by wallowing in our guilt Typically the chariot that brings in and provokes these responses is guilt. Guilt roles in because we are sinners . We become aware of our sin. We realize our lack of conformity to God ’s Word. We know of our spiritual laziness. We know of our failure to do what God requires. And so we feel the guilt. Now, before we impugn guilt as the enemy, let’s realize what it has done. All guilt is as rationale response to sin. We become aware of our sin. This is fine. In fact, it is healthy. But it is what we do from here that is critical. It is spiritually deadly to assuage that guilt by quickly gathering together our own supposed merit. We become like one whose house is burning down and is scurrying to grab the va...

English: Icon of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) So many Christians live their lives racked with guilt and shame . They think back to the things they did, the sins they committed, whether two days ago or two decades, and they live under a cloud of shame. This shame hurts, it burns, it incapacitates. It raises this question: What is the place of guilt, what is the place of shame, in the life of the Christian? I want to take a shot at answering that question today. We need to begin by distinguishing between guilt and shame . Here is how I differentiate between them: Guilt is the objective reality that I have committed an offense or a crime; shame is the subjective experience of feeling humiliation or distress because of what I have done. God has made us in such a way that sin incurs guilt and guilt generates shame. But there is a catch and a caution: Guilt and shame come in helpful forms and in paralyzingly unhelpful forms. Guilt and shame can be a good gift of God or a c...

John Bunyan (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) One of the more interesting sections of dialog in John Bunyan ’s  The Pilgrim’s Progress  has Christian and Hopeful discussing the danger of backsliding, of falling away from what had the appearance of spiritual life and growth. That dialog, drawn from the tenth stage of Christian’s journey, is important and instructive. Bunyan presupposes that such people have been awakened to their need for salvation by some combination of the fear of God and the danger of hell, but eventually fall back or fall away. Here are four reasons that people backslide: The conscience is awakened, but the mind is not changed. Therefore, when the guilt and fear of God that motivated this awakening of conscience has passed, their desire for salvation cools and they return to their own ways. Though the consciences of such men are awakened, yet their minds are not changed: therefore, when the power of guilt weareth away, that which ...

Image via Wikipedia The Westminster Catechism defines sin as "any want of conformity to or transgression of the law of God ." We notice here that sin is defined both in negative and positive terms.  The negative aspect is indicated by the words "want of conformity." It points to a lack or failure in moral performance. In popular terms it is called a sin of omission . A sin of omission occurs when we fail to do what God commands us to do. The positive aspect of the catechetical definition of sin refers to overt, actual stepping over the boundaries of God's law. It is a sin of commission. Sometimes God expresses His laws in negative terms (do not . . .) and sometimes in positive terms (do . . .). The Ten Commandments contain both forms (do not steal; honor your father and mother). Both sins of omission and sins of commission are real sins. They incur real guilt . When we do what God forbids, we are guilty of a sin of commission; when we fail ...