Everyone is a sinner… but guilt is a choice…

We all make mistakes – you know it, I know it, God knows it and every religious book in the world acknowledges it. But regardless of what the religious books say to put the fear of God in all of us – I don’t think there is a Judgement Day. I think the reason why we are all sinners is because God made us so, he wanted us to be imperfect, vulnerable and sin. Simultaneously, God made sure we have the capability to be heroes, be selfless and to love others.

Like the famous British novelist, C.S. Lewis said,

I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.

Clear Conscience and Confessions

The purpose of “Confessions” in Catholic Churches, is primarily to clear once conscience. To achieve a sense of well being without being burdened by the day to day actions that lead us into paths of sin. Similarly, in Buddhism there is a  school of thought that the moment we are born, we start sinning. Everything we do is at the expense of another life. We breathe, we drink, we eat, we walk, all human activities invariably lead to death and destruction of some life form or another. And while some may famously promote vegetarianism as a form of non-violence towards other living beings, plants are indeed living creatures too. Similarly, the act of cutting down trees and plants may be considered violent behaviour too. So in essence there is no absolute non-violence or absolute sin-free existence.

Sin is going to be part of our existence from birth to death. However, we must choose to not to be burdened by it. To always have the ability to let go of our past, think of our current actions and ensure that we are not hurting the cumulative life of the Universe, more that we ought to.

But Be Responsible…

This is the flip side of the coin. So while we will continue to sin and confess our sins to relieve our burdens, we must also act responsibly. In every sinner, there is a tinge of Godliness too. And so just like we have the capability to sin, we also have the ability to help, to serve and to love. And we must continuously find the God within us. Like Jesus said in the Bible Luke 17:21,

nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst

So remember that God didn’t make us perfect, because he wanted us to learn from our imperfections. But in the process of learning from our imperfections, we are expected to do both good and bad deeds. Bad deeds should not bring us down. We should confess our sins with brutal honesty and find the strength to forgive ourselves and move on. We should then use all our energies to find the strength within us to do focus on doing something good, something meaningful, purposeful and something that would make our existence on this planet (albeit brief) worth its inception….

don’t wither into the shadows like slipping sand through the hands of time,

thrust forward your existence in this world,  whether in ruins or in prime

Wish you all a happy guilt free life ahead of you….