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Why We Shouldn't Procrastinate Repentance

Billy Baxter

Graduate Poster
Billy Baxter
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Why Is It Important Not To Procrastinate Repentance?

It is important that we don't procrastinate repentance because this life is the time given to us to prepare for eternity. We are eternal beings--we will all live forever, either in misery or in happiness, according to whether our works have been good or evil. If we do not improve our time during this "mortal probation," then comes the night "wherein no labor may be performed."

And the same spirit that possesses us, whether the devil or God, will have power to possess us in the afterlife. If our works have been evil, our reward will be spiritual death and endless misery. If our works have been good, our reward will be eternal life and endless happiness.

We need to repent now to be eligible for God's mercy. Mercy is for the penitent. If we don't repent, we are exposed to the whole law of justice and it is as if there has been no redemption made.
 
Too many 11th Hour Repentists out there already. The RCC has promised that to us.

Why work hard now when a deathbed conversion gets the same results?
 
Interestingly, though I tend to agree with the basic premise that you should do your repenting early rather than late, it seems to me that the idea of an eternity following one's life promotes tardiness, as 8enotto points out. The Bible and the Catholic Church in particular seem to favor the last-minute repentance. The prodigal son is welcomed back, while the one who never strayed is taken for granted. After all, a lifetime is only a tiny slice of eternity. Get it right any time in your lifetime, and it's right forever after.

I think atheism makes a better argument for not procrastinating. The life you have is the only one. If most of it is wrong, then most of it is wrong. Get it right earlier and more of it is right.
 
8enotto said:
Too many 11th Hour Repentists out there already. The RCC has promised that to us.

Why work hard now when a deathbed conversion gets the same results?
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Because, as my link above explains, when we don't repent, we get "out of shape" spiritually, and as any exercise guru will tell you, use it or lose it.
 
It is possible to fall from grace, though. Continued repentance (because it is process, not a single end in itself) exercises those spiritual muscles and makes falling less likely. Deathbed repentance isn't a good game plan.
 
Billy Baxter said:
It is possible to fall from grace, though. Continued repentance (because it is process, not a single end in itself) exercises those spiritual muscles and makes falling less likely. Deathbed repentance isn't a good game plan.
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Doesn't it depend on how sincere you are?
 
It also depends heavily on a belief in a soul, sin is a real thing and anything spiritual is remotely close to reality. oh, a god that is real might help.

The non-religious tend to not have these ideas.
 
Billy:

Who are you repenting to? How do you know if he accepts your repentance? How long do you keep it up?

Why do finite sins merit infinitely long punishment?

Can't you save up your minor sins and repent for them in batches?

If religious people refuse to mind their own business, is that a sin?
 
Billy Baxter said:
It is important that we don't procrastinate repentance because this life is the time given to us to prepare for eternity.
Click to expand...

It is important that we don't spend our lives in pointless regret because this life is all the time that's given us to make a difference to the world and have fun.
 
According to Christianity, a Deathbed Conversion is perfectly sufficient.

Heck, according to Mormonism, a post-mortem conversion is enough!
 
And what exactly are we supposed to convert to? The whole notion implies a final state or destination.

So what if we choose the wrong state or destination? Say, on my deathbed, I decided to convert to Hinduism, only to discover after death I will get punished to infinity by the one-and-only god, Ra. So instead, I might decide to convert to the Egyptian pantheon, only to discover it is Allah who is the Great Infinite. Or convert to the Old Testament Yahweh, only to get punished by the Calvinistic monster of the New Testament, God-of-Paul-of-Tarsus.

I mean...who's to know what's the right god! Surely they must at least have brochures for consideration. Or a Product Description and Disclaimer, perhaps. A break-the-seal confession is hardly helpful in deciding these things.
 
sackett said:
Billy:

Who are you repenting to? How do you know if he accepts your repentance? How long do you keep it up?
Click to expand...

You repent and pray to God the Father in Jesus' name. He will send a feeling of peace. You must do good works from then on to retain a remission of sins.

Why do finite sins merit infinitely long punishment?
Click to expand...

I don't know.

Can't you save up your minor sins and repent for them in batches?

If religious people refuse to mind their own business, is that a sin?
Click to expand...

Yes, and I doubt it, respectively.
 
Billy Baxter said:
Why Is It Important Not To Procrastinate Repentance?

It is important that we don't procrastinate repentance because this life is the time given to us to prepare for eternity. We are eternal beings--we will all live forever, either in misery or in happiness, according to whether our works have been good or evil. If we do not improve our time during this "mortal probation," then comes the night "wherein no labor may be performed."

And the same spirit that possesses us, whether the devil or God, will have power to possess us in the afterlife. If our works have been evil, our reward will be spiritual death and endless misery. If our works have been good, our reward will be eternal life and endless happiness.

We need to repent now to be eligible for God's mercy. Mercy is for the penitent. If we don't repent, we are exposed to the whole law of justice and it is as if there has been no redemption made.
Click to expand...

Nice fantasy. Do you have any actual evidence that is not the clear and total fraud of Joseph Smith?
 
Pixel42 said:
It is important that we don't spend our lives in pointless regret because this life is all the time that's given us to make a difference to the world and have fun.
Click to expand...

Well said. Repentance takes away our guilt.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
According to Christianity, a Deathbed Conversion is perfectly sufficient.

Heck, according to Mormonism, a post-mortem conversion is enough!
Click to expand...

Of course, if you believe in eternity and all that stuff, a deathbed conversion makes sense. A lifetime is trivially short, and it's the only opportunity you'll have for some fun before you end up in Hell. You'd be a fool not to wait, given the teachings. You can be as sincere as you want, even genuinely sincerely repentant at the end, really wishing at the end that you'd been a better person, but what's done can't be undone, and faith makes it easy to say you're sorry, so shut up and move on.

The whole Christian thing is rigged anyway. It's pretty clear that God, just as he wants us to believe from faith rather than evidence, also would rather we were repentant sinners than just dull non-sinners with little to repent. Free will that doesn't go off the rails from time to time is suspicous. The system is set up to favor the serial offender who both sins and repents routinely. The more you sin, the more you know the price of giving it up. A nice final deathbed confession is just writing "the end" to the saga of alternate sins and repentances that the Church seems to like.

All of which is kind of crazy, given that as a completely non-religious person, I can sort of agree with the initial premise. Yes, getting right out there and admitting error and fault, in the sincere manner that includes trying your best not to do the same thing over again - yes, that's a good thing, I think. Not because it will get you into heaven, but because it makes you a better person in the one and only life you will ever have in the one and only world that will ever exist.
 
Billy Baxter said:
Why Is It Important Not To Procrastinate Repentance?

It is important that we don't procrastinate repentance because this life is the time given to us to prepare for eternity. We are eternal beings--we will all live forever, either in misery or in happiness, according to whether our works have been good or evil. If we do not improve our time during this "mortal probation," then comes the night "wherein no labor may be performed."

And the same spirit that possesses us, whether the devil or God, will have power to possess us in the afterlife. If our works have been evil, our reward will be spiritual death and endless misery. If our works have been good, our reward will be eternal life and endless happiness.

We need to repent now to be eligible for God's mercy. Mercy is for the penitent. If we don't repent, we are exposed to the whole law of justice and it is as if there has been no redemption made.
Click to expand...

Why would you assume that "we are eternal beings" and that "eternity awaits"? There is NO good reason for such assumptions.

Surely, if ANY repentance is required it is for the community to which we belong if we have transgressed its social standards.
 
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