Guilt, Shame and Godly Sorrow

I have experienced both the positive and negative sides of guilt and shame.

Guilt has been defined as “a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc.”

Shame has been defined as “the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another.”

Guilt and shame are helpful, healthy emotions when they help us realize we have turned from God, turned away from light, or crossed a boundary that God or man has set for our protection and well being.

Guilt and shame are gifts from God to help us recognize sin and error and repent by turning back to the light. They are healthy emotions when they cause us to humble ourselves and have a broken heart and contrite spirit. They make it possible for us recognize our responsibility for choices we have made that have turned us from God and have been harmful to ourselves and others. By bringing our broken heart, our guilt and our shame unto Christ and recognizing the price He has paid for our sins, we can experience godly sorrow, which is the kind of sorrow the scriptures say leads us to repent. The Apostle Paul said:

“Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.

“For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2 Cor. 7:9-10).

I do not think God intended for us to spend a long time wallowing in guilt or shame, because that would unnecessarily have us feel separated from Him and others and be subject to the effects of spiritual death. Instead, the Lord wants us to use those emotions to take responsibility for our actions and make course corrections in our lives.

Satan, on the other hand, would have us identify with and internalize our shame by taking it into our hearts and into our beliefs about who we are. He would have us think that because we have done shameful things we are therefore shameful people. He would have us turn guilt and shame upon ourselves in the form of self-judgment and self-condemnation and would have us believe we are unworthy of love and incapable of being forgiven. Satan would have us bathe our hearts and minds and souls constantly in shame, self-loathing, depression and hopelessness. And when we have experienced how dark and damning that can be, he would then have us jump to the false conclusion that nothing we can do is shameful and therefore anything goes.

This is in stark contrast to the positive, encouraging counsel and promises of the Lord:

“Be not ashamed, neither confounded; but be admonished in all your high-mindedness and pride, for it bringeth a snare upon your souls” (D&C 90:17).

“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:  though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land” (Isaiah 1:18-19).

Guilt and shame can serve us well when we use them as a guide, like a GPS, to show us where we are and where we want to go, rather than as evidence and proof of our lack of value. 

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Thank you for visiting my blog. I welcome your comments and would love to learn from and pass along what you have to share. I will moderate comments to make sure they are consistent with the purpose of this blog.

My purpose in writing is to share my thoughts and experiences on the subject of "seeking to bring forth and establish Zion" from the perspective of a believing Mormon. I do this to leave for my children and their children, and for others, a witness of some of the things I have learned along my way, as discussed in more detail in my first post: Seek to Bring Forth and Establish Zion.

I am not looking for praise or for Facebook "likes." If just one person benefits from what I have shared, the effort to share will be worth it.