Short story: A Priest, and a Rabbi, argue about the value of repentance
By emptychair
@innertalks (23220)
Australia
September 29, 2025 9:51pm CST
An old Priest came up to a Rabbi, when he saw him walking in the street, and he said to him:
"Repent, and your sins will be forgiven."
The Rabbi smiled widely, as he replied:
"We, Jews, do not repent."
"To repent is to feel guilty, or to have regrets for past actions. But this state is of the mind, not of your soul. You can achieve God's aim for your life by returning to being your real self, your inner self, your soul. Our soul, as God created it to be, is always essentially good."
The Priest retorted:
"That stance of yours comes from your pride."
"All have sinned, all need God's blessings, and grace, to change back into being a good person for God. The original sin affects everyone."
The Rabbi answered him:
"We are all born with a clean slate, so to speak, and nobody inherits any original sin, or is burdened from the sins of another person."
Who is right here then, should we repent, or not?
The answer is more like this, I think.
As all parts of you are you, you must repent in these parts of you that sin, as they will tend to paint over your soul, with blackness too, so you do need to repent from your heart, and mind, and so the soul then shines forth, without any blackened covering over it.
Creating a new self, living from your higher self, involves you letting go of all of that old self, that stops you from changing.
When you repent of these old ways, it does help you to change then, and to better embrace your being of your real self, or your soul self, within you.
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
Arguing is often just about seeing the same thing differently. Seeing with the eyes of your higher self allows you to notice this truth, more often.
2 people like this
2 responses
@Deepizzaguy (114995)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
30 Sep
You are right that repentance does change the behavior of a person who used to in a manner that led to destruction in the old life.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23220)
• Australia
30 Sep
Yes, we really need to see the errors in our past ways, and repentance allows us the humility of mindset to be able to do this, and to embrace the needed change to come into our life.
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (27551)
• Singapore
30 Sep
My approach has been not to sin or lie wantonly.
If we tell the truth one does not have to remember what we said.
It lightens our approach to life and indirectly casts a positive influence on those we come across.
I reflect often about life and what to do to better it..
I cannot recall being untruthful, deceptive, selfish.
I remember often those who have moved across to the other side and with whom I had related to while here.
They should know me better now that I had only the best intentions for them as well as for others here.
At times, I implore their intervention as if they are with me still to guide and encourage me.
In a nutshell, I don't feel the need to repent but I do more count the blessings.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23220)
• Australia
30 Sep
Some say that repentance works together with forgiveness too.
We can forgive others, as well as forgive ourselves, if we have done anything inadvertently, that has hurt others, or ourselves, too.
Yes, when we have the best intentions that is usually a good thing, if we have a high enough consciousness to know what is really good. Intentions can be deceiving at times, as some people think they have good intentions about what they do, but they are often just fooling themselves.
I know that I could have done things better in the past, but some things are not about repenting of them, but more recognising the fact that our actions can always be improved, and so the next time, we will act from an even higher aware consciousness then, rather than just acting in the same old way, without improving the action, and so making do with complacency, rather than the improved actionality of our doing our improved level of bestness.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23220)
• Australia
1 Oct
@Shiva49 None of us can act perfectly at all times, and sometimes our actions might not be carefully enough considered, or we lacked clarity in seeing the rightest action. We still did our best, but we can learn from the past, and ask for more insight and blessings for the future.
Deliberate erring could be considered sinning, as somebody firing a missile at enemy hideouts, often claims when they hit civilian houses instead, and kill innocent citizens. They have erred deliberately to teach those against them a lesson of sorts, that they felt qualified to deliver.
Some people are lazy, and err in their ways deliberately thinking that going halfway, or making a small error will not be noticed, and have no consequences.
I worked with many of these types, who never examined accounts fully, but just glanced over them, and approved them quickly, without a care about their rightness, or not.
@Shiva49 (27551)
• Singapore
1 Oct
@innertalks I feel repentance is for sinning willfully.
I ask more for blessings to better myself than worry about sins - to err is human comes to mind but it is not sinning.
As you say "God is love", and the fear of God is overdone.
I am careful with how I deal with people as each is different.
I may be free with some but hold back if that could upset the receiver.
At the end of end of the day, I don't worry about sinning and repenting as the overall score should be positive leading to "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith,"
I want to be easy on myself and not be burdened with sins and repenting.
I forgive easily but tough to forget the hurts that were made knowingly making sure they hit the soft underbelly!
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