Guilt

Before Reading this article about guilt, it may be helpful to read this article about using your emotions. We are not trying to divorce emotions such as guilt, but learn how to use them properly.

“And he touched my mouth and said: ‘Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’”

Isaiah 6:7

Guilt is grossly overused in Christian culture. Not the good type of guilt that causes men to change, but the purely emotionalistic guilt that boys love to wallow in. It it weaponized by demagogues, People complain of “feeling guilty”. Simple pew warmers believe that guilt itself is necessary for change or repentance but this is not totally accurate.

Guilt may help catalyze repentance at times, but it is not absolutely necessary. 

Liberals overuse guilt, as they do any emotion. They think that emotional “feelings” are necessary for growth and change, though very few liberals ever grow spiritually. They certainly grow more emotional over time. Emotional growth is not what we are pursuing as men. 

Conservatives overuse guilt, stating that it is the foundation of change. My first question is: “What would a conservative know about change?” The label they wear describes how they feel about change – they avoid change by conserving old traditions. Besides, guilt is not in the “steps of salvation”, that highly promoted conservative arguing piece, so it can’t possibly have any relevance for them (slight exaggeration). 

While guilt may be helpful for moving men to change, it is not necessary.

The only thing that matters is our actions.

Guilt is irrelevant if we do not change ourselves and our actions. We can have all the emotional, guilty feelings in the world, but without change, that guilt did not matter one bit, nor did it do anything for our faith. You can have all the emotions in the world, but without action, you have nothing. 

This faith is based on action, not on how you feel. You have a responsibility to be a man, one of the foundational principles of which is to control your emotions rather than having them control you. You must be firm and principled in character and efficient in action. Only in this way can you avoid the trappings of emotionalism. 

Again, this section is not to say that guilt is 100% useless. Guilt does have some use, but not if that guilt is not accompanied with the action of repentance. Men can learn how to repent without emotion and how to repent with the help of the emotion of guilt. Never rely on emotion, but use it if you can.

Mantra

Guilt is unnecessary.

Application

Forget about feeling guilty. If you can change yourself without feeling guilty, then do it. Now there is something to be said about godly sorrow. But again, godly sorrow without the action of repentance is worthless. 

Reject every doctrine that paints guilt as a necessary feeling. That is all guilt is, a feeling. Feelings get you nowhere. Actions are the only things that change where you are in life. Want to move forward and progress? Stop feeling, start acting. 

However, one acceptable form of guilt is anger. If guilt is going to be an emotional feeling, then the best emotion would be anger. This is because anger is useful for destroying old behaviors. It is a hot emotion that should be channeled towards our own weakness and insufficiency and be used to eradicate it from the face of the earth.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.