God cannot forgive a sinner who does not acknowledge his sin.
Interpretation
Acknowledging one's sins is essential for forgiveness.
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and accountability in the process of seeking forgiveness. It suggests that true repentance begins with recognizing and admitting our wrongdoings, as it is through this acknowledgment that we can seek genuine forgiveness and personal growth.
In practice
In a discussion about personal growth, one might quote this to emphasize the need for self-reflection.
I am not like a pebble on the beach - a grain of sand on the seashore or just one of millions of human beings past, present and future. No, I am a unique human being loved by God as if I were an only child - the only fruit of his creative powers.
I must not permit the evil capabilities of human nature to sour my faith in the tremendous good that is possible despite the frailty of that nature.
The sinner who suddenly realizes God's love for him and then looks at his rejection of that love feels a loss similar to the death of a loved one. A deep void is created in the soul and a loneliness akin to the agony of death.
Our memories are our own, and we cannot blame anything or anyone in the past for any pain dwelling there. If we open the door to them or keep hashing over past incidents in our minds, we have only ourselves to blame.
Man can and does rationalize his sins. He finds reasons for all his weakness, invents excuses that first calm and then deaden his conscience. He blames God, society, education, and environment for his wrong doing.
Love has been defined, analyzed, explained and excused. It has been the cause of wars, feuds, heroism, martyrdom, inordinate passion, and beautiful friendships. It pulls two people of opposite temperaments together into a married state and permits them to live happily. It makes friends understand each other without the necessity of words.
Sometimes you've got to let everything go - purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything... whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you'll find that when you're free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.
When we step out of our normal world and leave behind us all the usual barriers and prejudices, we tend to become more adventurous.
I need silence, and to be alone and to go out, and to save one hour to consider what has happened to my world, what death has done to my world.
Meditation is enjoying oneself, just sitting silently doing nothing: happy, joyous without any reason, because all reasons come from outside. You meet a beautiful woman and you are happy, or you meet a beautiful man and you are happy - but the meditator is simply happy. His happiness has no reason from the outside world; his happiness wells up within himself.
In vain I have looked for a single man capable of seeing his own faults and bringing the charge home against himself.
Much knowledge will corrupt the heart,/When partly understood,/And so the people grow too smart,/But neither wise nor good.
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