10.1 Shame and Guilt
© 2019 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
We return to the mental thinking of Brother A and Sister B, or, to simplify, to the mind of Christian. We have the tools, now, to understand what Christian thinks in his mind and why he thinks it.
We cannot see our brethren set free into the Joy of Christ if we remain in the realm of, “I believe this and you believe that,” or if we attempt to analyze each thought and explain what is right or wrong about it. As John the Baptist said, “The axe is laid to the root.” And as Paul said, “The old man is crucified.” The root is serpent rule # 2, the crippling belief that God and man live by different substances and are mirror opposites.
Disconnection. The real meaning of “living by different substances” is disconnection from God on the one hand and on the other, the spinning of an unnecessary and fake story of self – “I am my own source.”
The New Testament word for “sin” is the word used at an arrow shooting contest to denote missing or falling short of the target. “Sin” should be understood as disconnection from God, that is, imagining that I am not coming out of the good speaking of Christ every moment, that is, believing that I am my own “god.” Living in such a false story results in two seemingly opposing things ruling over and coloring every thought, feeling, and desire coursing through Christian’s mind, on the one hand, guilt and shame, and on the other hand, an exalted sense of self-rightness.
Double-Minded. God has one simple answer to the human problem, first He puts us into Christ Jesus and second, He puts Christ Jesus into us. Then He tells us – Stay there, and don’t go wandering off into imagining that you are something else. And Christ, of course, is our full and continuous, dynamic and living, constant and reciprocal CONNECTION with God inside of us, that is, sinless perfection.
But how God’s answer becomes the life of our brothers and sisters in Christ awaits the next chapter. Here we must continue with the two minds of Christian, for he is indeed double-minded and double-hearted and does not know where to turn or even who or what he is.
Ashamed of Himself. The big question of the Bible is – What is man? And Christian holds an answer to that question that is utterly wrong. Christian thinks in his mind that he, as a human, is fundamentally flawed, that there is something inherently and terribly wrong with how he is made.
And so we see, very simply, that Christian’s false imagination of himself is rooted entirely in his own unthankfulness married with the serpent’s accusation. Christian is deeply ashamed of himself. And in fact, we will see in the next lesson, that the harder his forehead is in self-rightness, the deeper and more graphic is his utter shame of himself and the unresolved guilt he carries against himself.
The Rules of Serpent Thinking. “I am made wrong. God requires me to make myself better. I always fail.” (Or, much worse – “I am much more successful than other Christians at making myself better than what God made.”)
Do you see how the “three rules of serpent thinking” really simplify how we understand Christian's problem? If God’s answer to the human dilemma is “far away” right now, then God’s requirement and the meaning of salvation must be human correction and betterment.
I am coming out of myself – I am ashamed of myself. – I must do better – I fail to do better.
Where is my salvation? – Only death will save me. – Right now, I am fallen short.
Endless Repetition. We know from our own experience that this scenario plays itself out in endless repetition inside the thinking of Christian. God cannot penetrate Christian’s mind because Christian forbids it, because Christian believes in all fervency that if he does not believe that he is his own source and that he makes himself wrong, then he would be in “rebellion” against God!
“If I don’t maintain my own ‘god-ness,’ then I will be in rebellion against God!” – “If I were to surrender utterly to the conviction that God alone is my source, that I am right now exactly as He intends – His image, and that I am coming every moment out of the good-speaking of Jesus, then I would be setting myself up as ‘God.’”
Defining our Terms. Christian lives under a twisted and illogical demonic spell reinforced constantly by his preacher and his Bible translator. Shame and guilt are the only condition in which Christian can live because he imagines himself to be his own source.
Let’s define our terms. And notice, all the way through these definitions, just how much God has answered every one of these definitions by the redemption of Jesus. Because of that, these things continuing in Christian’s mind are, in fact, accusation against the Salvation of God.
Ashamed (Webster’s 1926): Adjective – Affected by shame; abashed or confused by guilt, or a conviction or consciousness of some wrong or discreditable action or an impropriety.
Defining Shame.
Shame (Webster’s 1926): Noun – 1. Painful feeling or emotion excited by a consciousness of guilt or impropriety, or of having done something unworthy, or of the exposure of that which nature or modesty prompts to conceal; also, susceptibility to such feeling or emotion. 2. Reproach incurred or suffered; shameful or ignominious treatment; dishonor; ignominy; scorn; contempt. 3. Cause or reason of shame; a disgrace.
For shame – shame on you – you should be ashamed.
Shame (Webster’s 1926): Verb – 1. To cover with reproach or ignominy; to put to shame; to dishonor; to disgrace. 2. To make ashamed; to excite in a person a consciousness of guilt, impropriety, or unworthy conduct.
“What do they think about me?”
Defining Guilt and Accusation.
Guilt (Webster’s 1926): Noun – 1. Offense, sin, fault; also, deserving of punishment. 2. The fact of having committed a breach of conduct, especially such as violates law and involves a penalty. 3. The state of one who has committed an offense, especially consciously; responsibility for delinquency, crime, or sin; culpability; criminality. 4. State of being liable to penalty for offense against law.
Accuse (Webster’s 1926): Verb – 1. to charge with or declare to have committed; to blame; to censure; by law – to charge with an offense judiciously or by a public process.
Accusation (Webster’s 1926): Noun – 1. Act or fact of being accused; arraignment.
“You are fallen short of God” – “I am fallen short of God.”
Accusing God. We begin to see that all this shame and guilt underlying Christian’s thoughts concerning himself is a smoke screen. Because Christian imagines himself to be his own source, responsible for himself, that is, his own “god,” all of his thoughts against himself are actually his thoughts against God. “God – You have fallen short of me. – You have made me wrong. – You have led me wrong. – I deserve better.”
Self-condemnation IS accusation against God. It is Father on trial in Christian’s mind, not himself. It is Father whom Christian is accusing of falseness, not himself. This is a real dilemma; we can see how great a task it is for the Lord Jesus to save us from our own folly.
The “Face” of Others. To further amplify Christian’s self/God cursing is the fact that Christian lives in a world filled with other Christians. Now, Christian does not actually know what other Christians think, but only what he thinks. For that reason, we say that he lives in the “face” of other Christians always looking at him. By “face” we mean that Christian’s mind is filled with his own thoughts of what he thinks other Christians think about him, judgments which he determines out from what he thinks about them.
Then, consider these words, “the exposure of that which nature or modesty prompts to conceal.” Christian is ashamed of his own weakness; he is ashamed of that very thing which makes him God’s image. He is ashamed of God.
Human Psychosis. Here, then, is the root of all human psychosis and the continued thinking going on in Christian’s mind. – So Adam said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:10). Here is God’s response: “Who told you that you are naked?” – (I certainly did not)!
Adam was the form of God-made-visible. Adam was ashamed of what he looked like. Adam was ashamed of looking like God. Adam covered himself with fig leaves so that no one would see that he was not glorious like the serpent. Christian is always doing the same things in his mind, in his own fake story of self, for the exact same reasons Adam did.
“I Am Naked.” You know, I left out a definition of shame. Let me bring it in here, from Webster's 1926. Shame: 4. The private parts. – “I am ashamed of looking like God. I am ashamed of not looking like the devil, that is, like the super-Christ.” And the preacher says, “Look at yourself (not Christ). Measure yourself by yourself (not Christ).”
And here’s the thing, these endless thoughts of self/God cursing run through Christian’s mind like little snippets of false code, or, in computer terminology, as viruses. What is really happening? What is causing these viral thoughts of self-cursing?
It is a satanic definition of “God.”
A Demon Spell. “I heard Your voice in the garden.”
Christian exists entirely and only by the good speaking of Jesus, by every Word of God’s voice. Yet he is convinced that if he acknowledges that good speaking, he will be setting himself up as “God.” Therefore, he believes that he keeps himself “safe” from “trying to be like God,” by constantly casting himself down by thoughts of “curse against me.” Christian makes himself his own “god” in his hard fantasy because he imagines that is the only way to stay safe from the “devil’s temptation” of “trying to be like God.”
This is a demon spell – an enemy has done this.
“Covering” Self. But what does Christian/Adam do in response to his accusation against God that God has fallen short of him? – Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings… and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden (Genesis 3:7-8).
How are you doing? “I’m doing just fine and dandy, thank you very much, just fine and dandy.”
And so Adam and Christian, in their rebellion, in their continued unthankfulness, set about making themselves look like how God “should have made them look like in the first place!” Christian covers his “shame” with self-rightness, yet he calls his self-rightness “godliness,” that is, “My outward performance makes me ‘look like’ God.”