REPENTANCE SHOULD NOT BE DONE OUT OF FEAR!!!!!

If you repent out of fear of punishment, that's not true repentance. That doesn't make you a vessel of true mercy and forgiveness.

You are only being that way out of OBEDIENCE.

You need to REPENT because you WANT TO. Not because you HAVE to.

Why can't people understand this.

11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. 13The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep.

Mark 4:35-41 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Calms the Storm
35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”


The storms came and they were AFRAID! How did Jesus respond, he said they had no faith.
When you have Faith, you lose the fear aspect of it. You are fearless.

Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn't fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn't do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.
Matthew 7:24–27

Build your beliefs of repentance on repenting out of SINCERITY and WILLINGNESS, instead out of FEAR and OBEDIENCE.

From the time i was a baby and a child I was in and out Churches until i graduated high school.
A few years after high school, i realized that after everything i was taught and learned that I had nothing tangible. Nothing real. Did I believe, yes I did. Did I believe in hell at the time, it was neither here nor there.

I remember sitting at my job as a Flagger, and giving religion and jesus a good long hard thought. I realized that throughout my life, everything I was taught was useless to me, and did nothing for me. So i took matters into my own hands, and dropped everything I knew and began seeking a higher power in earnest.

I read many scriptures, researched many religions, approached it from a atheist perspective looking for wisdom and knowledge. I looked at astronomy and saw how everything had to be just perfect (according to evolutionary theory) for the Earth to come into being and support life.

I looked at how our genetics/cell/body are so complicated and relies interdependently on each other to function. One part can't work without the other.

I considered the extinction of Dinosaurs according to evolutionary theory and realized that Humans wouldn't evolve without that asteroid.

I considered Mathematics, and how it governs the Universe. With laws and theories.

As I thought and pondered these things, I deduced that it must have had a designer. Everything worked together to form our existence as we know it. It couldn't have happened by mere chance and dumb luck.

Once I had that figured out, I began to think about human nature. And why we are the way we are as a society. Everybody pursues what they desire. Whether it be money, power, love of partner, family, personal achievements etc.

I considered why cultures wage war and conquer other people. Sometimes it was out of survival and trying to take resources that were scare to survive. Other times it was out of greed, a desire to rule over people.

I realized everything isn't black and white, good vs evil. Things are blurry and grey. That no man could possible judge and determine what was right from wrong. Some things are blatantly evil and some things are good.

I returned to scriptures reading anything and everything I could find. I started to draw inspiration from King Solomon, who desired wisdom above all else. I started to desire wisdom, and I studied Solomon's teachings. To find out what Solomon truly ment.

My eyes began to open. I saw the world for how it truly is, how society truly is. How the elite hoard power and money, how the middle class live their live's somewhat carefree, and how the poor struggle to survive.
I noticed how when you go to Church, the majority of them are elderly or young children.

When you brought up the topic of religion, you always get the same responses.

Either they shy away from it, get angry about it, or they become your best friend. People don't debate anymore, they don't SEEK. They either have a belief and hold firm to it, or they give it an afterthought, and have half-hearted beliefs they don't truly keep in their heart.

When a church group comes knocking at my door, and i start to talk to them about beliefs and religion, they tend to shy away from a true conversation and always have outlets/blanket statements. They don't go deep with it. They spout their doctrine, like something they memorized.
Or they fight back aggressively, like they are damned if they are wrong or there is no room to build upon there beliefs. They don't see room for other religions/texts outside of the bible. They won't build upon their beliefs, or tear it down and start over sincerely.

At this point, i realized that if a person truly wanted to get to know God, it has to be something intimate and personal. You don't know how you can reach out to the other person and change their heart...that's the Holy Spirit's job. Our job is to fellowship with people, jewish and Gentiles, Believers and Non-Believers alike. To exchange ideas and beliefs, and let the Holy Spirit do its work.

I took a good long hard look at myself, figured out who I really was. How my experiences in my past and my decisions formed me for who i was. My outer personality, my inner personality, my desires, my weaknesses, my strengths.
I looked at what I could've done better, and what I was proud of.

I judged myself. I looked at how I wronged other people and acknowledged it to myself, sometimes apologizing to the individual. I made a sincere effort. The more sincere I became, and the greater the effort i made, the more my mind began to open. The more I noticed. I began to perceive things I didn't before. I wasn't blind anymore. I began noticing something I couldn't describe or put my finger on communicating with me subtly. Guiding me, nudging me along.

there were times were I was confused, times where i was proud, times where i was angry, times where i was hopeless,lonely,sorrowful,joyful. You name the emotion, I've experienced it in my journey.

Things fell apart in my life, and I've had to rebuild and start over numerous times. Each time, the Holy Spirit was there, providing me with just enough strength and hope to keep going to keep enduring. I realized that if I didn't go through these things, then other things would have never happened, and I wouldn't be where I am today.

I did all of this, out of curiosity and a craving for something real, something tangible, something beyond Blind Faith. I put in the effort, i was sincere, i endured, i struggled, I questioned everything, i humbled myself and admitted "I don't know", Help me. God saw that, and he responded.