I'm Afraid So Many People Have a Very Distorted View of Repentance!

Let me ask the question to my readers. Do you know what repentance means? If not, I'd like to tell them that repentance is from the Greek word metanoneia which means a change of mind which results in a change in purpose and behavior. What I'm angry with right now is that people have distorted the meaning of repentance.

Many think to repent is to do penance. As a former Roman Catholic, I used to think repentance and penance were the same thing. No, it's not the same thing. Repentance is not about lighting candles, saying prayers in vain repetition and praying to various dead people like Mary the earthly mother of Jesus. I'm afraid but this is a real problem that penance is nothing more than self-punishment. It's just like the wicked King Ahab sitting on the dust with sackcloth but his heart was not truly repentant. It was nothing but show business. This my friends is a distorted repentance. I believe that it's this twisted definition of repentance that has brought in another distortion.

Since people think that repentance equals penance then I'm not surprised that some have taught that salvation is without repentance. Some have even gone as far as to teach that repentance of sin means to stop sinning. Where in the world did they get that? What does it mean to repent of sin? Let me tell you repentance of sin means changing your mind about your sin. Doing good works is not repentance of sin but a result of it. To repent of your sin means to know you're in deep trouble with God, to stop trying to earn your salvation and to fall upon Christ for salvation. Did I make that up? Sorry but the Bible says in Luke 24:47 that the Gospel is about repentance and remission of sins. No repentance, no remission of sins. That my friends is another distortion of repentance. Unless a person repents of their sin they will refuse to repent of their unbelief.

Both distortions are just as wicked as each other. Many people think that they're saved just because they try the best they can to live a good life. Many people also think that they're saved just because they supposedly said a prayer but their lives are degenerate and wicked. They say that you're saved by grace. Yes that's true but Ephesians 2:10 and Titus 2:11-14 shows that if you're under God's grace your life will be different. Christians may not be perfect but there's one thing certain. They're still growing in repentance. True conversion never starts with a perfect repentance but this repentance is perfected daily. There may not be tears outwardly but there's the sense of need for salvation because they saw how wicked they are without God. But those who think that they're saved even if they're reveling in sin and those who think they're good enough for Heaven need to repent of such wickedness but many of them choose to remain in their false sense of security than have it shaken.