How to Be a Sinner

That means that we might reduce by at least one person—ourself—the number of judgmental and resentful Christians, which is surely a worthy goal!

Self-acceptance can healthily lead us to a realistic appraisal of who we are, and reveal what is and is not changeable within us.

It also denotes wholeness, or whole-mindedness, because our goal not to further fragment ourselves (“here’s my good self, here’s my bad self”) but to be whole persons. It is this whole person—and not some kind of pious created persona—who presents himself before God in prayer.

Our inmost self is good and true. We are not totally depraved. But we are deeply confused. And sin is there to confuse us.

“Mercy” is the usual translation for the Greek eleos and the Hebrew hesed. Both eleos and hesed are also rightly rendered as “loving-kindness.” Both also imply “grace,” in the sense that this love is undeserved. It is pure and voluntary on the part of the bestower. The Greek eleos also calls to mind “oil” (in Greek elaion), which carries its own sc

Humility is effectively a genuine, proportionate sense of oneself before God and others.

Spiritual and physical sickness are bound up with each other, and so are spiritual and physical healing. Keep

During the Canon of Repentance3 we pray “Give me understanding, O Lord, that I may weep bitterly over my deeds.” The reason we want this understanding so much that we pray for it, is that it constitutes true perception of reality. That perception brings inner freedom, compassion, and the freedom from judging others.

Seraphim of Sarov, who lived at the turn of the 19th century, observed, “We condemn others only because we shun knowing ourselves.”