Faust, Gloomy Day-Field - Dungeon: The Wrong Kind of Shame

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   It is appropriate to feel guilty after committing a sin; that is what your conscious and the Holy Spirit are for. However, when Margaret is feeling shame at the cathedral, it is an evil spirit who overwhelms her with guilt. Can demons do this in real life? Sometimes, yes. When someone feels overwhelming guilt and shame, it could be a clear indicator of a need to repent. If the guilt and shame leads to repentance, it is the work of the Holy Spirit. However, if it keeps someone in a place of self-deprecation, bitterness, and depression, it is not the right kind of shame. Satan is called the accuser. One of the ways he can lead someone away from God is by overwhelming them with their failures. "You're not good enough." "No one could ever forgive you for what you have done." "How could you do something so terrible?" "Your sin is too great for God to love you." These are some of lines he uses to drive both Christians and non-Christians to the wrong kind of shame, especially the last one. Shame and guilt are a direct result of the fall, but they can be used to turn someone to God. The trick is how someone responds to it. If the Holy Spirit leads them towards repentance, it is the right kind of shame. If they dwell on their failures with no intent to repent, it is wrong.

P.S. I commented on Will and Zelda's posts.

Comments

  1. Nathanael C. CarrollOctober 30, 2017 at 6:47 PM

    I like the beliefs, but I would love to see it tie more into Margarets position and what Goethe portrays. By his account, she "is saved" even after her declarations of guilt and accepting punishment... Soooooo, how does this line up theologically?

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  2. Ethan LafontOctober 30, 2017 at 7:39 PM

    Guilt and shame can drive us to so many things. Sometimes we find ourselves trying to fix the issues in a panic, when we don't realize that stopping and repenting is the best path to being healed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ty GoramOctober 30, 2017 at 10:06 PM

    I don't know about y'all that much, but when I feel guilty it physically hurts me so badly that I feel like I'm being stabbed. I do agree that they can turn someone to God, because whenever I feel like I've done something wrong, the first thing I do is pray about it and try to find the answer to fix it and do my best to make it right again.

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