Religion Magazine

Repentance, Forgivness and Healing

By Ldsapologetics
Jesus welcomed sinners into His flock.  When asked why He had this to say:
12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Matthew 9:12-13
Jesus is our master and when speaking of His role He said this:
33 ¶They answered him, We be aAbraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever acommitteth bsin is the cservant of sin. 35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. 36 If the Son therefore shall make you afree, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:33-36
If you repent, you are freed from the bondage of sin and have been set free by The Savior Himself no one else can hold you in bondage or hold your sin over you.  If you repent you are indeed freed as Jesus has said.
Jesus also said you cannot serve two master or else you offend one and fail the other.  But we will all make mistakes, all of us have but grant yourself the patience to improve over time.  I'm not saying that sin doesn't matter I'm saying all you can do is your best so do that and over time you will, with effort, improve yourself.  Just be better tomorrow than you were today.  And over time you will do more than succeed, you will prevail.
Buddha gives us a parable about life, he says life is like a sitar string; if it is too lax it will make no music but if wound too tight it will break and yet if you tune it just right it can make beautiful music.  This he says is why the middle ground, the middle path is the best.
Sounds a lot like the "all things in moderation" advice we so often hear in church.
Jesus didn't just stand out by welcoming sinners, He stood out because He also welcomed the sick and afflicted though the religious elite believed they were sick and afflicted because of their own sin.  Jesus did not agree.
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay,
And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?
Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he.
10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened?
11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
15 Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.
16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. John 9:1-16
Jesus healed a man all had thought a sinner or had been cursed by his parents sin.  The pharisees were asked how a man can perform miracles if He himself is a sinner and they have their answer but because Jesus does not bow to the authority of men He is condemned by them. 
Many say Jesus' miracles were a sham, now since we don't own a T.A.R.D.I.S. we cannot prove they were or were not a sham.  But there is evidence outside of scripture to let us know what those who lived during His ministry thought.  
Some sources say Jesus healed but He healed by sorcery, thus begging the question that Jesus Himself answered with a question "And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges." Matthew 12:27
I've used many scripture references out of Matthew and Matthew was a tax collector or a publican as it is called in scripture, and Jesus tells us a story of a publican and I have to wonder, was this Matthew's story that Jesus used to open eyes and soften hearts?
10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Matthew 18:10-14
Jesus said the tax collector was justified before God because He humbled himself and asked for forgiveness whereas the Pharisee praised Himself for fasting and paying tithing and all the other things that he thinks make him better than those people like tax collector amongst others.
So Jesus accepts the repentance of the tax collector but not the bragging of the Pharisee.  Jesus says that those was exalt thenselves will be humbled and those that humble themselves will be exalted, think about that the next time someone braggs about how humble they are in church or elsewhere.
We are in the bondage of our sins until we repent and once we do our Savior, the son of The Master has set us free.  And as Jesus says "If the son of The Master sets you free ye shall be free indeed."
Jesus excluded no one so who are we to exclude anyone?
We are all sinners.  We may repent and be washed clean of our sins.  If we live out the teachings of Christ, that is salvation in this life which leads to exaltation and everlasting life in the next.  We can find everlasting life on Earth in the here and now if we love one another, if we accept ourselves and each other.
It's like that old saying "To err is human, to forgive is divine."
Jesus says to judge not lest ye be judged.  Forgiveness is our job, judgment is Christ's.
Jesus didn't just heal people on the outside He healed them from the inside out.  Jesus' teaching can heal us from the inside out.  And if He's forgiven you after repentance, who can truly condemn you?

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