Does God only command repentance, or does he provide repentance by grace somehow?

[whirlingmerc]

It seems to me as in the book of Acts where 'god opened' the hearts of some, that God is much more active than commanding and leaving one on their own.

I am seeing that in the three sections of the book of Zechariah, the call to 'return to Me and I will return to you' is deeper and more profound in nature in each section and in the end it is God who 'pours out the spirit of grace and duplication'

 

[Timothy Bryce]

Believe it or not, I found myself in a Catholic chapel the other day, praying to god for the first time since I was 8 about some stuff that has got me really worried/stressed out but have no control over at the moment. I tried meditation, mindfulness exercises, gym, creative writing, talking to friends, talking to family, talking to psychologists (the works) and I couldn't get my most current anxieties out of my head, so, walking quite shamefully into the chapel, dousing my forehead on my way in, I went in and spoke to [I suppose the Catholic god] like he was a real person.

I don't know - I mean, that was a complete last resort (hail mary pass - couldn't resist the pun) and I kind of felt shameful afterwards for having violated my values and beliefs so significantly but I figured I should leave no stone unturned. I don't know how relevant this is to the thread, but it's something I guess.

 

[whirlingmerc]

Part of the reason I asked is that the book of Acts speaks of God granting repentance

Acts 11:18
When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

 

[Timothy Bryce]

Part of the reason I asked is that the book of Acts speaks of God granting repentance

Acts 11:18
When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Yeah some dude in the chapel talked to me when I began to walk out. He stopped me as I walking as I was looking all distressed and emotional.

I told him that, for over half of my life (the second half), although I'd been baptized & confirmed (my school forced us to do it), that I had not only sinned horrendously in ways that god himself would probably be baffled by, but that I had also taken great pleasure in the fact that I was actually doing the wrong thing so to speak. That I had deliberately set out to commit horrible acts towards people and that I had enjoyed the process of doing it; that I had preferred the idea of hell to heaven for most of my life even though I didn't believe any of it and considered his religion to be hogwash.

He responded by telling me some allegory in the bible about King David coveting a female bather who was married to a soldier, so King David apparently sent the soldier to the front line to be slaughtered and promptly started banging the deceased soldier's wife. The point this guy was trying to get across to me was that God forgave King David for that sin and is capable of forgiving everyone. It was an awkward moment for me. But I then sat down, reflected on the things that had been haunting me and felt that all I really had left was my own sincere regret and remorse for a recent **** up and tried to express it to God as if he was just a bro - repentance.

Long story short, I think things are actually going to work out for me. Things usually do work out for me, but the very next day, I had an indication that these pressing professional/personal issues might not be so bad and that everything will be okay. So, yeah, repentance - some good **** I guess.

For what it's worth from the most lapsed Catholic whose ever existed.

 

[whirlingmerc]

Join the crowd, the redeemed are people under renovation and works in progress... God glorifies himself by loving you as you are but loving you too much to leave you as you are

 

[metis]

Most religions have some system set up for "repentance", and I think that's a good thing. In so many cases it comes a bit after some sort of trial & tribulation, whereas a person may hit rock-bottom and then realizes (s)he needs help.