The Problem Of Guilt

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Everyone feels guilty at one time or another.

People feel guilty when they do certain things; others feel that way when they consider their past. Some feel perpetually guilty.

But on a whole we all feel guilty.  Guilt is a feeling that abides in abundance.

Psychologists have struggled with the problem of guilt.

Some have suggested people feel guilty because of repressed sexual desires.

Others say guilt results from fear of separation from one’s mother.  Still others say guilt is simply a social convention necessary to the preservation of an orderly society.

I like the Christian explanation for guilt:  People feel guilty because they are guilty.

The principle of Occam’s Razor states that when two competing hypotheses adequately answer a question, the simplest one is more likely true.

Isaac Newton said it this way: “We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances.”

People don’t try to explain away physical pain as a result of sexual repression, hunger as a result of maternal separation or thirst as a social convention. The problem of guilt is treated differently because the obvious answer is more difficult to bear than those that exonerate us.

The honest answer counsels the need for and obedience to Jesus.  Maybe it’s time to get honest. GS

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