“Windows To Spirituality”
Confession A confession is a statement – made by a person or by a group of persons – acknowledging some personal fact that the person (or the group) would ostensibly prefer to keep hidden. The term presumes that the speaker is providing information that he believes the other party is not...
Repentance In Islam The word Tawbah (repentance in Islam) in Arabic literally means ‘to return’. In an Islamic context, it refers to the act of leaving what God has prohibited and returning to what He has commanded. The subject of repentance is one which concerns all people who believe in...
Repentance In Christianity This article is about Repentance In Christianity. Repentance is a theological term that describes a stage in salvation where the believer turns away from sin. As a distinct stage in the ordo salutis its position is disputed, with some theological traditions arguing it occurs prior to faith...
Repentance In Judaism Repentance in Judaism known as teshuva (תשובה, literally “return”), is the way of atoning for sin in Judaism. According to Gates of Repentance, a standard work of Jewish ethics written by Rabbenu Yonah of Gerona, if someone commits a sin, a forbidden act, he can be forgiven...
Repentance, Sincere Penitence, And Turning To God In Contrition This article covers repentance, sincere penitence, and turning to God in contrition. Repentance means that one feels regret and is filled with remorse for his or her sins and turns to God with the intention to obey Him. According to truth-seeking...
Penance Penance is repentance of sins as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part in confession among Anglicans and Methodists, in which it is a rite, as well as among other Protestants. The word...
The Virtue Of Penance Penance (poenitentia) designates (1) a virtue; (2) a sacrament of the New Law; (3) a canonical punishment inflicted according to the earlier discipline of the Church; (4) a work of satisfaction enjoined upon the recipient of the sacrament. These have as their common centre the truth...
How To Avoid Sins And Sincere Repentance This article leads us to “How To Avoid Sins And Sincere Repentance“. It is very important for our spiritual and emotional life to pay special attention to repentance, the greatest shelter against sins, in the following respects: Reaction to Sin One’s reaction to...
Atonement In Judaism Atonement in Judaism is the process of causing a transgression to be forgiven or pardoned. In the Hebrew Bible In the Hebrew Bible the idea of atonement (Hebrew כפּרת kaphoreth) is connected with “covering.” In Rabbinic Judaism In Rabbinic Judaism, atonement is achieved through some combination of...
What Is Repentance? Repentance is the activity of reviewing one’s actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by a commitment to change for the better. It is generally seen as involving a commitment to personal change and the resolve to live a more responsible and...
How Should People Avoid Sins, Distractions, And Temptations? This article covers the answer to the question: “How Should People Avoid Sins, Distractions, and Temptations?“ The question refers to one of the greatest difficulties of modern life. Even the not-so-young, but of course especially the young live in a social environment...
What Is Sin? Sin is a term used to describe either an action that is prohibited in religious ethics or law, or a fallen state of being. The religious concept of sin is tied to a cluster of interrelated issues including atonement, theodicy, free will, ethics, guilt, and law. Although...
What Is Shirk? Literally, shirk means ascribing or the establishment of “partners” placed beside God. It is the vice that is opposed to the virtue of Tawhid (monotheism). Those who practice shirk are termed mushrikun. Mushrikun (pl. of mushrik) are those who practice shirk, which literally means “association” and refers to accepting other gods and divinities alongside the...
Fall Of Man The fall of man, the fall of Adam, or simply the Fall, is a term used in Christianity to describe the transition of the first man and woman from a state of innocent obedience to God to a state of guilty disobedience. The doctrine of the Fall comes from a biblical interpretation of Genesis, chapters 1-3. At first, Adam and...
Mortal Sin A mortal sin (Latin: peccatum mortale), in Catholic theology, is a gravely sinful act, which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. A sin is considered to be “mortal” when its quality is such that it leads to a separation of that person...
Anantarika-karma Ānantarika-karma or ānantarika-kamma is a heinous crime that through karmic process brings immediate disaster. They are called ‘anantarika’ because they are ‘an’ (without) ‘antara’ (interval), in other words the results immediately come to fruition in the next life, i.e. the participant goes straight to hell. These are considered so heinous that Buddhists and...
Why Is Worshipping God And Refraining From Sins Important For Human Nature? A parable to understand the intrinsic relation of worshipping God and refraining from sins to human nature To understand how true and proper are the tasks assigned to us of performing prescribed prayers and avoiding major sins, and...
Vanity Vanity is the excessive belief in one’s own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones and merely meant futility. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym for vanity, but originally meant boasting in vain, i.e. unjustified boasting; although glory is now seen as having a predominantly...
Why Our Actions And Personal Sins Important This article covers the importance of our actions and personal sins. The All-Wise Book states in a miraculous fashion that the universe grows angry at the evil of the people of misguidance, and the universal elements become wrathful, and all beings, furious. In...
The Consequences Of Sin In Christianity This article covers the consequences of sin in Christianity in the Bible. There are three separate aspects of the consequences of sin which will be explained here: 1). The penalty of sin which describes the very real moral debt that every person now carries as...
