Repentance is the resounding message of the Lenten Season and the Gospel itself but a church planter from Orange, California raised that progressive church leaders deny this while conservatives downplay it.
In "5 Reasons To Love Repentance" published by The Gospel Coalition, Southlands Church resident Will Anderson criticized church leaders who avoid preaching about sin out of fears of scaring congregants.
"The imperative-'Repent!'-assaults modern sensibilities like nails on a chalkboard. Repentance is often dismissed as the sadistic mantra of self-loathers; or worse, dreaded as a pistol drawn in pulpits to scare sinners into submission," Anderson began.
"Progressives tend to deny repentance altogether, rejecting it as fundamentalist fodder. I recently met with a local progressive church leader who feels this way," he added.
Anderson narrated that he met the progressive church leader in a charitable event. During their lively conversation, the leader remarked that she never addresses sin when she is in the pulpit. She explained that she does not think it is helpful for her to always tell people how bad they are.
"While progressives deny repentance, some conservatives downplay it," Anderson continued.
The Talbot School of Theology MA graduate recounted instances he heard sermons by conservatives that name sin as a problem and the solution is God's forgiveness yet brush aside repentance. He stressed that such church leaders only affirm the doctrine of repentance in theory but never practice it because it is sidelined.
The author also found conservatives who overemphasize repentance as equally disturbing. He said these church leaders particularly paint God as though he was the Greek god Thor who had no heart for he used his hammer generously. He said these leaders lacked the gentleness mentioned in Colossians 4:6 and 2 Timothy 4:2 out of their zeal for the holiness of God.
Anderson, who defined repentance as the act of turning from sin and toward God, emphasized that the Bible speaks repeatedly of the need for contrition. He rebuked the idea that God used the need for repentance as a cruel waterboarding tactic. He said it was actually God's way of preserving the lives of the Israelites from harm and death. He then cited the Gospels--particularly Matthew 4:17, Mark 1:15, and Luke 5:32--that summarized Jesus' main message of repentance.
"If repentance is so central in Jesus's teaching, why is it so peripheral (or nonexistent) in ours?" Anderson raised.
Repentance, he said, is difficult to call "good news" when the world labels it negatively. He then enumerated the five reasons why one should love repentance. First, it reinforces reality. Second, it brings true acceptance. Third, it frees an individual from guilt. Fourth, it creates joy. Finally, it restores relationships.
The author explained that a better understanding of repentance comes from the realization of one's identity before God. Seeing straight that God is God and one is not, reinforces the reality of repentance. Knowing one's identity enables one to realize the gravity of one's sin before the holiness of God. Yet God stays to love each one despite the sins committed. This truth would remove fears to face one's sins and admit them before God.
Anderson underscored that God is not out to condemn but rather relieve a person from his or her guilt as long as there is genuine repentance. He said the byproduct of repentance is joy. Plus, it restores a person's relationship not only with God but also with others.
"For all Christians in every corner of the earth, repent! In the end, repentance is not striving, covering, earning, or worrying. It's rest," Anderson concluded.
