Repentance

We have seen that the discipline of childhood forms the basis for adult repentance, and that as adult repentance opens the way for the reformation of the understanding, so also reformation makes possible a newly generated will in the understanding.

And that as this sequence is effected in successive order, in distinct stages, it involves in each a different development; yet the spirit of repentance follows throughout. It is seen in a certain likeness in childhood and in the higher stages it becomes evermore a deeper reality.

Of these stages, that which is known as repentance is the first to be undertaken in a state of rational freedom.

It is also the most crucial, in that it is a radical turning away from evil to good, by a supreme decision which may rightly be called crucial, both because it stands as a radical turning in the direction of man's life, and because it is undertaken in a state of suffering. There is in this turning, therefore, a living sign of the cross, which the word 'crucial' implies.

Involved in the state of that which is specifically known as repentance there is a deeper mystery than we can explore, or which our limited human minds can solve; a mystery that is known to God alone. We touch it always with a sense of bafflement whenever the question is asked, Why does one man repent, and another not? Many answers may be given, and yet the mystery remains essentially unanswered.

We seem to follow a clear rational sequence of cause and effect in the explanation of the way in which the complaints of childhood progressively lead to the door of repentance; and after repentance we also follow externally the mode by which the understanding is reformed, and also that by which the will is subsequently renewed in the understanding. In both of these there is a comprehensible mode and sequence, a step-by-step progression.

Thus in the first, the third and the fourth states there appears a clearly defined sequence--a normal passing from one state, as involved in that which precedes; while in the second, or adult repentance, there is a break--a turning so sharp, so radical, that we look in vain for the reason--the cause why one man makes that radical turning, and another man does not. How then, may we avoid the pitfall of predestination?

The word 'freedom,' man's God-given freedom, is of course the true answer, i.e., man's freedom to do as he wills; a freedom that is imposed upon man by the nature of his creation. i.e., by the will of God, carrying with it the necessity of man's taking upon himself the responsibility for his turning, and the necessity of his bearing the blame if his choice is wrong.

This, as a fact of human life, is clearly revealed, but why one man turns in one way, and another in another, is hidden from our eyes.

We may, however, see that our permanent ignorance as to this is of Providence, in that our ignorance sets an effective guard to the exercise of freedom. It would seem from this that human ignorance is the underlying factor that makes this freedom possible.

If we could perceive the inner workings of the cause of man's turning from evil to good, we would be raised above every human appearance, and would see even as God sees.

We know that every man is born into evils, and also that to everyone remains of good are given; and that a balance is struck between these two opposites, so that in a state of balance between them, each man may choose his way of life. This to us is the simple fact of life.

Even so, there is something God-like in this amazing freedom of man. It is the very image of God in man, yet it is only an image; but as such it is a medium competent to control the animal propensities of the body, and so to raise man above the beasts of the field, and enable him to look up to God, and to worship Him, whereby the firstborn love of self is or may be superceded.

This is accomplished through this image, by an imperceptible influence which breathes into man an endeavor to free himself from his firstborn state, i.e., from the supremacy of his self-love.

On man's part, an appeal for enablement must be made to God to prevent sin against Him; the sin of confirming the inborn self-life.

It may first be seen that this self-love, apart from repentance, is also inimical to the neighbor, and that if an injury to man results from it, repentance before God of need calls for a restitution to man, insofar as this may be possible.

Yet in this the debt is to God, and the confession should be to Him. The reward also is His. This reward is a spiritual power which alone can raise man above his animal-like impulses.

The preparation for this vital change in man calls not only for an orderly inspiration of power from within, but also for instruction from without from the Word, which is first received in a state of childish faith. Children may be so trained in this faith that they take for granted what is taught them in the innocence of their ignorance.

Arriving at adult life, if their faith is kept alive, then as their sense of responsibility increases, they encounter the threat of loss of their childish faith with a feeling of fear. If at the time their fear is sufficiently aroused, they are at the opening phases of temptation, and the first call to real repentance is: given. If the affirmative spirit prevails they cast out the thought injected into their minds that their faith is weakening. This they do because they love their faith.

Whatever is loved is a very real thing, for love itself is the supreme reality of life, and the strength of man is according to the strength of his love- his love of his faith. Whatever is loved is accompanied by the fear of its loss, and the deeper the love, the greater the fear. The threatened loss of faith is therefore the beginning of man's struggle to maintain his faith, and in so doing he attains spiritual life, i.e., the life of which faith is a sign.

The saying is true that the fearful suffer many deaths through anticipation; yet through fear of loss, love increases. It is the means of love's increase.

Temptation is a spiritual fear. It has the element of death in it, and also the spirit of life. Fear is destructive; life restores. There is that in man which must be broken down. Fear gives warning of this.

All living things fear. They flee for their lives, and none so much as human beings. To them nothing so appalls as the fear of evil to themselves. This is the essence of punishment which, when permitted, is both destructive and preservative. Hence it is that punishment and the fear of it is a beneficial constraint in the life of everyone. In it lies the beginning of the great change.

True repentance, however, is given when the fear of the punishment is transferred to a fear of the evil as the cause. This transfer can be made only after the rational mind is in some degree opened, when the man is able to distinguish causes from their effects. Then it is that evil, apart from its effects, may be feared.

Man may then fear evil in itself as a dreadful thing; not as something apart from himself, but seen in himself.

Evil is, indeed, in man. The fear of it is that which draws a line marks a distinction, and the beginning of a separation.

Evil is in man, but it is a saving thought if the man realizes the truth that he need not regard the evil in him as his own, or as himself, but may say in the words of the Writings, that though in him, yet in him from hell, and may be rejected as such. If he takes it as his own, or as himself, he makes himself powerless. If not, he may insofar free himself from it; not however, from his own power or self. For while his own, called his proprium, is evil only, still there is also in him inmostly an image of the Lord, through which comes the life power of his salvation. This power in itself is not man's but the Lord's; but in man it is first felt as a fear of evil, which fear takes hold of the man, and enables him. In this way a new as of self-life is born, and as born, so is measured. Thereafter man finds his place through the measure of his resistance to evil in the world. Hence the regenerate life is not man's proprial, but his appropriated life which he acknowledges as a gift from the Lord--a gift to the repentant, to the man who fears evil.

In this fear there is a beginning of wisdom, and also the love of the Lord.

Even so, the gift is by measure, in accommodation to man's state at the time. After his first repentance he still has a long way to go, if it is the will of God that he should have long life in the flesh. Only at death is his measure complete. While he is on the way the end is hidden. He may yet relapse. Because of this he is not given a permanent sense of security from evil, nor freedom from its threat; not until the judgment is made manifest after death.

Yet he is from time to time elevated into the light of heaven; but he cannot maintain this state in constancy. His mind is ever changing. This because of outward events, and from the recurrence of past memories. These, as we have noted, with their pleasures and pains, he may, in Providence, live over again.

Sharp pangs of regret arise out of the recollection of long past evils; at times even small inadvertences of the distant past bring an acute pain. At times also bright joys recur.

If the man has entered upon the way of life which is characterized by a love of spiritual things, and from this love has contended with his selfish affections, heaven opens, and therefrom comes a sense of peace. But, as said, such moments quickly pass, as the dull life of the world is resumed.

While an uplifting into peace may be prayed for, yet it may not be given in direct answer to the call. But when it is given, and for a supreme moment, we perceive it to be of an essence not of this world. It is a waking dream. This may come to man early in life as a miracle promise. Then the workaday world covers it over; it is withdrawn, and retained only as a memory, vague but very precious. It lies deep within the mind as a potent ideal, as a sustaining force which helps to carry man through many labors, many doubts and temptations.

As a medium of power it rarely descends to external sense and feeling; nor is it often repeated. It is withdrawn for its protection. This glimpse of the Lord's gift given in the beginning for a moment as a reality, is withdrawn to become a prophecy of that which is to be later fulfilled; given in the youth of manhood, in the generous and hopeful period of youth as a significant promise.

This early foretaste comes to man as a most living experience. It is a sacred implantation from God to serve as a sure prophecy of the fullness of life's measure, if man can be held in faith, to the end. To the man it serves as an undying hope.

Apocalypse Explained 9362:

I know that many think in their hearts [thought from Christian creeds] that no one can shun them [evils] from himself, because man is born in sins, and has no power from himself of shunning them. But let them know that everyone who thinks in his heart that there is a God; that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth; that the Word is from Him, and consequently holy; that there are a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life after death, is able to shun them, but not he who despises such things and rejects them from his mind, and certainly not he who denies them. For who can think that a certain thing is a sin against God when he does not think of God:' And who can think evils as sin when he thinks nothing of heaven, of hell, and of the life after death? Such a man does not know what evil is. Man is placed in the midst, between heaven and hell. From heaven goods continually inflow, and from hell evils; and because he is in between, he has freedom to think goods and to think evils. This freedom the Lord never takes away from anyone, for it is his life, and is the medium of his reformation. Insofar, therefore, as man from this freedom thinks of shunning evils because they are sins, and supplicates the Lord for help, so far the Lord removes them, and gives man to desist from them, as of himself, and afterwards to shun them. Everyone from natural freedom can shun some evils because they are against human laws. Every citizen of a kingdom does this who fears the penalties of the civil law, and the loss of life, fame and wealth, and thence office, gain and pleasure. Even the evil man does this, and his life appears in the external form altogether like the life of him who shuns those evils because they are contrary to the Divine Laws; but they are altogether unlike in the internal form. The one acts solely from natural freedom, which is from man, and the other acts from spiritual freedom, which is from the Lord. Both act from freedom. When man is able to shun the same evils from natural freedom, why can he not shun them from spiritual freedom, in which he is constantly held by the Lord? Only let him think that he desires to do so because there are a heaven and a hell, a life after death, punishment and reward, and let him pray to the Lord for help.... From these things it is clear that whoever believes in the Lord, shuns evils as sins; and that whoever shuns evils as sins also believes. Wherefore to shun evils as sins is the sign of faith.