Is guilt something that should be lived with, though, i guess this question is more to Gene? I've felt/feel guilty at different times, but sometimes I'm confused about whether there's a good reason for it or whether the guilt really had no basis in truth. My take on it has been that guilt should be the result of your conscience telling that you did something that falls short of God's perfection. Its purpose would be to bring conviction, repentance, confession and forgiveness (I know, christianese, I normally avoid using it, but I just don't have the time to write these differently right now). So any guilt felt after those other steps have been taken is irrational, don't you think? This is something I've thot of over the years because I've seen guilt at work in my life and in so many around me, they're just BURDENED, and as I listen to why they feel guilty, I wade through such murky waters. It's like the other black and white thread - I simply can't pick apart what's right and wrong, in my human eyes there's simply so much gray. So the only one who can see things as totally right and totally wrong is God. Maybe, if I'm doing ok in my relationship with God, he might use my conscience to convict me about something - but I don't think he wants me to STAY there, otherwise there's no purpose in guilt. His ultimate purpose is that we arrive at the forgiveness because that's given on the basis of grace.
So from this I guess we can draw 2 things:
1. Any longtime guilty feelings may, even though truth based, still be irrational, especially if conviction, repentance, confession has happened (forgiveness is then given)
2. Now we can feel guilty about feeling guilty
We humans are SO complicated! Is that where we reflect God's image?
I've got to go for the rest of the day, so if someone writes back, I won't be on until tonight.
abrazos!
I´ll look for the book