What does Repentance really mean in your own Religion or Worldview?

Please do share. Thanks.

Not sure.

You're welcome, Tonye-T

Obowunmi, what worldview or religion are you most persuaded by ~ be it One, Some or None?

Worldview . , , Christ like

repentance simply means an understanding of the evil in ones deeds, an understanding of the consequences and a subsequent attempt at making amends. repentance comes in handy when a person understands that "the wages of sin is death" and in this case say a particular sin of adultery. by committing this sin, one is sure a candidate of eternal damnation . . .since it is disobedience to God/Christs laws, one is also cheating and deceptively cohabiting with ones partner.

to genuinely repent would be to understand that through adultery, the sinner has no effective relationship with his maker, he is also being deceitful to his partner and living a double life at the detriment of his family. this understanding brings a resolve to end the sin-filled life and make amends. this is called repentance.

Thanks for your response, noetic16. In essence, I can say your view is "repentance is an understanding of your current spiritual status and (it's difference/distance from) your spiritual goals"?

Please keep them coming!

In my own worldview, repentance means awakening from the slumber mankind has been put under by the ego and all it's agents. Once a man has moved out of the ego and is awakened, he has repented from old ways and began a new journey in the new ways of being. This has nothing to do with religious belief but about a deep rediscovery of one's true self. Stepping out of the egoic self is the salvation of man.

Dulcet7:

What does Repentance really mean in your own Religion or Worldview?

Please do share. Thanks.

in my own religion, Eckankar, repentance means one now accepting total responsibility for all his actions and not blaming anybody for whatever he/she sees in his/her life. there is no forgiveness of sins. whatever you sow, you will reap. that is the law of karma or the law of cause and effect. so if you want goodness in your life then go out and sow the seeds of goodness. it is that simple.

[center]Repentance and Seeking Forgiveness
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It is obvious that man is very weak by nature and has been charged with hundreds of Divine commandments. On account of his weakness, he falls short in carrying out some Divine commandments and sometimes he is overcome by the desires of the self that incite to evil. On account of his weak nature, he deserves that at the time of any slipping, if he should repent and seek forgiveness, God's mercy should save him from being ruined. It is a certainty that if God had not been the Acceptor of repentance, man would not have been charged with these hundreds of commandments. This proves that God turns towards man with mercy and is Most Forgiving. Repentance means that a person should discard a vice with the resolve that thereafter, even if he is thrown into the fire, he would not commit that vice. When man turns towards God Almighty with sincerity and firm resolve, God, who is Benevolent and Merciful, forgives him the particular sin. It is one of the high Divine attributes that God accepts repentance and saves a sinner from ruin. If man had not the hope of his repentance being accepted, he would not be able to refrain from sinning. The Christians also believe in repentance, but on condition that the person who repents should be a Christian. Islam lays down no condition for repentance. The repentance of the followers of every faith can be accepted leaving out only the sin of denying the Book of God and His Messenger. It is impossible that a person should attain salvation only through his conduct. It is the Benevolence of God that He accepts the repentance of some and bestows by His grace such powers on others that they are safeguarded against sinning.

To reject repentance and forgiveness is to shut the door of human progress. It is obvious to everyone that man is not perfect in himself, but is in need of perfection. As after his birth he gradually widens his knowledge and is not born learned and well-informed, in the same way, when after his birth he begins to be sensible of his surroundings, his moral condition is at a very low ebb. Observation of the condition of small children would show that most children are inclined to beat others on the slightest provocation and many of them are given to telling lies and abusing other children. Some steal and carry tales and are envious and miserly. When they grow up they fall into the grip of the self that incites to vice and are guilty of diverse types of evil and wickedness.

Thus for most people the first stage of life is impure, but when a fortunate person emerges from the fierce flood of youth, he turns towards God and withdraws from undesirable activities through sincere repentance and occupies himself with purifying the garment of his nature. These are stages of human life which a person has commonly to traverse. This shows that were it true that repentance is not accepted, it would mean that God does not desire to bestow salvation on anyone.

This is a statement of my own views of repentance: Jenwitemi's post is also very close to my own views.

Repentance means retrospective awareness, repentance means looking backwards. You have done something. If you were aware then no wrong can happen, but you were not aware at the time you did it. Somebody insulted -- you became angry, you hit him on the head. You were not aware what you were doing. Now things have cooled down, the situation has gone, you are no more in anger; you can look backwards more easily. You missed awareness at that time. The best thing was to have awareness at that time, but you missed it, and now there is no point in crying and weeping over the spilt milk. But you can look, you can bring awareness to that which has already happened.

That's what Jesus calls repentance. That's what Buddha calls pashchattap. That is what Mahavir calls pratycraman, looking back; what Patanjali calls pratyahar, looking in.  It is not feeling sorry, it is not just feeling bad about it, because that is not going to help. It is becoming aware, it is reliving the experience as it should have been. You have to move into it again.

You missed awareness in that moment; you were overflooded by unconsciousness. Now things have cooled, you'll take your awareness, the light of awareness, back. You move in that incident again, you look into it again as you should have really done; that is gone, but you can do it retrospectively in your mind. And Buddha says this cleanses the heart of the evil.

This looking back, continuously looking back, will make you more and more aware. There are three stages. You have done something, then you become aware -- first stage. Second stage: you are doing something, and you become aware. And third stage: you are going to do something, and you become aware. Only in the third stage will your life be transformed. But the first two are necessary for the third, they are necessary steps.

Whenever you can become aware, become aware. You have been angry -- now sit down, meditate, become aware what has happened. Ordinarily we do it, but we do for wrong reasons. We do it to put our image back in its right place. You always think you are a very loving person, compassionate, and then you suddenly become angry. Now your image is distorted in your own eyes. You do a sort of repentance. You go to the person and you say, 'I am sorry.' What are you doing? You are repainting your image.

Your ego is trying to repaint the image, because you have fallen in your own eyes, you have fallen in others' eyes. Now you are trying to rationalize. At least you can go and say, 'I am sorry. I did it in spite of myself. I don't know how it happened, I don't know what evil force took possession of me, but I am sorry. Forgive me.'

You are trying to come back to the same level where you were before you became angry. This is a trick of the ego, this is not real repentance. Again you will do the same thing.

Buddha says real repentance is remembering it, going into the details fully aware of what happened; going backwards, reliving the experience. Reliving the experience is like unwinding; it erases. And not only that -- it makes you capable of more awareness, because awareness is practised when you are remembering it, when you are becoming again aware about the past incident. You are getting a discipline in awareness, in mindfulness. Next time you will become aware a little earlier.

BUMP

At the core of almost all religions, is repentance. What does repentance mean to you? Please do share

Repentance is Re-orientation

Pastor AIO:

Repentance is Re-orientation

Thanks. Re-orientation. A return to the origin, no?