--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" <curtisdeltabl...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <jstein@> wrote: > > I'm not sure we can say with any certainty what the > > biblical speakers intended. And in any case, that isn't > > how repentance is generally taught; it's a process, not > > an instant transformation. > > > > It is instant enough to work at a death bed conversion in most forms of > Christianity I am aware of. The process of confession in Catholicism > requires a few minutes of reciting some Hail Mary's and Our Fathers. It is > as instant as your intention is sincere in asking for forgiveness. >
I am focusing more on the forgiveness side. Asking for forgiveness implies an insight that ones actions were less than fully productive. Perhaps hurtful to others. Confession of that, recognition of that, whether to someone else, to ourselves, or to some image we have of god, is human growth. It applies to stages of our life, or day to day. Born of the realization that "Boy was I ever blind back then (yesterday or yesteryear)" we take on larger perspectives and horizons. In that sense, recognition of better ways = asking for forgiveness is instant, in my experience. Ones we "get it", we are transformed, we move on. Break old habits.
