God cannot forgive a sinner who does not acknowledge his sin.
Interpretation
Acknowledging one's sins is essential for forgiveness.
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-awareness and accountability in the process of seeking forgiveness. It suggests that true repentance begins with recognizing and admitting our wrongdoings, as it is through this acknowledgment that we can seek genuine forgiveness and personal growth.
In practice
In a discussion about personal growth, one might quote this to emphasize the need for self-reflection.
I am not like a pebble on the beach - a grain of sand on the seashore or just one of millions of human beings past, present and future. No, I am a unique human being loved by God as if I were an only child - the only fruit of his creative powers.
I must not permit the evil capabilities of human nature to sour my faith in the tremendous good that is possible despite the frailty of that nature.
The sinner who suddenly realizes God's love for him and then looks at his rejection of that love feels a loss similar to the death of a loved one. A deep void is created in the soul and a loneliness akin to the agony of death.
Our memories are our own, and we cannot blame anything or anyone in the past for any pain dwelling there. If we open the door to them or keep hashing over past incidents in our minds, we have only ourselves to blame.
Man can and does rationalize his sins. He finds reasons for all his weakness, invents excuses that first calm and then deaden his conscience. He blames God, society, education, and environment for his wrong doing.
Love has been defined, analyzed, explained and excused. It has been the cause of wars, feuds, heroism, martyrdom, inordinate passion, and beautiful friendships. It pulls two people of opposite temperaments together into a married state and permits them to live happily. It makes friends understand each other without the necessity of words.
Your souls are precious and can only be equal to the price of Paradise, therefore sell them only at that price
No theory is good unless it permits, not rest, but the greatest work. No theory is good except on condition that one use it to go on beyond.
As meditation goes deep you will feel less and less desires, more and more contentment with whatsoever you have. There will be less and less desire for that which you don't have, and more and more contentment with whatsoever you have. As meditation goes deeper, a very contented consciousness evolves. Ultimately there is no desire, only contentment.
Unless a capacity for thinking be accompanied by a capacity for action, a superior mind exists in torture.
Do not follow vain desires; for verily he who prospers is preserved from lust, greed and anger.
He cumbers himself never about consequences, about interests; he gives an independent, genuine verdict. You must court him: he does not court you. But the man is, as it were, clapped into jail by his consciousness.
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