I've noted it a couple times over the years, but I used to have a page that stayed at the top of my blogs where I said that the story of the angel set to obscure the Garden of Eden was to make it appear like something that no one wants. It's also like the cup in the Indiana Jones Last Crusade movie that was the most plain of them all. And, in that page on my blog, I said that I believed the highest wisdom of all ages that was hidden in plain sight was to be found in CONFESSION.
How's that? We have all heard about confession. Indeed, people that preach "salvation" in Jesus will quote Bible verses about how you need to confess your sings in order to be saved. Not much of a mystery, then... right? But, then, how many actually DO what those passages say to do. I am not saying that they won't pray for forgiveness of "unnamed" sins.. or things "done or not done" in their confessions. Surely, that is enough.. right? Well, I can confess "unnamed" things all day long without actually being specific about them... or even being sorry.
I'm treading on very fickle waters in my theology, here. Because, I will CONFESS that I don't believe all the Bible to be the will of God or even necessarily words of God. And, I'll further confess that if it WAS the will of God in some of the things that were ordered or directed, I would outright reject the being. I just choose to believe in the Love of God more than the judgement of God. However, there are some passages that I do believe echoes Divine wisdom and truth, and one of them is indeed confession.. but not confession to God. Indeed, from my Bible courses in college and Seminary, I recall that it was a common passage direction that if you were going to God to make an offering and remember you have wrong against another, you were directed to leave your gift and go make peace with your brother or sister. Peace with man was more important than clearing guilt with God.. or to be more theologically correct.. God would rather you make your offering to your neighbor than to Him and get their forgiveness than His.
We are, instead, led by groups to hate this group or that group and find fault with one another.. directed BY the churches, oftentimes. Confession is not seen as wisdom. it is seek as weakness. You are, they say, to seek forgiveness from God but stay as far away from your enemies as possible, despite Jesus own words to the contrary.
So, why is confession wisdom? Just think about it for a minute. If you deny or hide your wrongs, you will only embolden your enemies and make your heart bitter. But, if you confess your wrongs, you might make peace with them and find a life with less stress and more love and caring connections. You will find more unity, rather than living in the rubble of Babel. Confession has led me to many reconciliations, and that is a goal I will continue to seek. I have been wrong in many different ways, and I freely admit it. I try to grow from them and learn from them, but some are harder to overcome than others. Those that care about you will feel for you in that struggle and try to help, while those that are opposed to you will only see your confession as more reason to hate you... filtering out those who are not good for you.. another wise outcome.
So, name your confessions. Tell those you wronged that you are wrong. Give them a chance to respond. Then, as you admit them to yourself, forgive yourself and move forward.
Now, no one should be demanding that you confess or reminding you of your wrongs to fault you for their own validation. That is not the heart of someone that loves and is in fact a wrong of them to do, itself. You will also find as you analyze yourself that there are some things that are not wrong, at all. They are just different than another likes. That isn't a case of confession and forgiveness but recognition and either acceptance or finding another path. I am not saying you should repent for being yourself, but even here it is important that you confess that you are who you are.
So, I hope you find the wisdom in this post, but I assume that it will be ignored and likely shadow banned for being too real. But, in a blog that tells uncomfortable truths, this is indeed one.
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