Repentance: "Turning Away" or "Trading Up"?

We've all seen those old men with scruffy faces and intense eyes standing in the streets of the cities crying out, "Repent or burn in Hell!" or "God hates sin!". People walk by looking on with disdain thinking, "Why would I want to listen to a nut like that?!" If the kingdom of God is near, why does that need to sound like a bad thing?

Before I flew across the pond (Atlantic Ocean) and a few mountains to where I live today, I had the opportunity to spend a weekend with a mentor and a friend of mine at a retreat put on by Dudley Hall. At this retreat, many ideas were presented from the scriptures that had a fresh, albeit biblically accurate perspective. We discussed many things including what the old covenant law means for us as participants in the new covenant today, time management, and the different views of repentance.

Repentance is the idea I wanted to write about today. Over that weekend Dudley shared with me a book he had written about repentance and the typical views we all hear about what this word truly means. I've heard many arguments over what it means and the arguments themselves make it clearly a highly disputed and misunderstood topic.

Is repentance necessary for salvation? If not, is it necessary after salvation? Does it apply to only the Jews and not the Gentiles? Who really preached repentance in the new testament?

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." -John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2)

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near." -Jesus the Messiah (Matt. 4:17)

"The time has come...the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" -Jesus (Mark 1:15)

"This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." -Jesus (Luke 24:46-47)

"So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." -The Jewish believers after hearing Peter's explanation of why he went to Cornelius' house (Acts 11:18)

"I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus." -Paul [Preacher to the Gentiles] (Acts 20:21)

I could continue on and on with many more examples, but I believe what is written will suffice. Here are 3 observations:

1. Jesus, John, Peter, and Paul all spoke of or preached about repentance
2. Repentance was preached and granted to both Jews and Gentiles
3. Repentance is spoken of in positive terms, not negative (i.e. "turn or burn")

When repentance occurs, it is ALWAYS a positive thing. Why? It brings the kingdom of heaven into the life of someone new. It brings acceptance of what God has to offer (salvation, His rule, His resurrection power). No longer are we bound to the power of this world and it's rulers. No longer do we have to operate on our own understanding. No longer do we have to live as orphans working, striving, competing for acceptance, forgiveness, love...but now we can live as sons or daughters of the Living King, accepted, forgiven, loved unconditionally and forever.

Repentance, though it does involve turning away from our sins, is ultimately focused on TRADING UP to what God has to offer as opposed to what we, ourselves, or this world has to offer. It is the releasing of what you currently have (sin, shame, guilt, orphan-status, no acceptance, pride, hate, fear) and taking hold of what God offers (forgiveness, righteousness, blamelessness, adoption as sons/daughters, acceptance, humility, joy, love...and SO much more). Repentance is absolutely and always necessary to take hold of what God is offering...whether you are a believer or non-believer. Repentance is a lifestyle.

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor." (Isaiah 61:1-3)

Eid Corbon (Holiday celebrating Abraham's sacrifice of Ishmael)

The typical spread at everyone's home on Corbon

This was my first experience with a Muslim holiday. According to Muslim tradition, this was the day that commemorates the sacrifice of Ishmael by his father Abraham. Early in the morning, the children go to all the different homes and ask for candy (mainly gum) and balloons. If it sounds familiar, it's because it's very similar to our Halloween, except all the candy gathering is done during the morning and day hours rather than in the evening. 

Starting around 9am, the day consisted of our team driving around to different people's houses with whom we had established relationships with and sharing in food and conversation. I haven't even been here 2 months (including the time back in 2008) and I visited 11 homes yesterday. Each home had a spread about like this one pictured above...and they want/expect you to eat. So eat I did. 

In spite of the fact that I was eating tons of food and understanding little of the conversations, I actually enjoyed the day. Our team discussed many of the reasons why they celebrate. We later found that the reasons for the traditions and the prayers for the dead (especially in homes where someone had died this year) were rooted far more in folk ancestor worship rather than in Islam itself. 

This is wonderful for giving us further insight into this culture and understanding ways we can connect and share the Message that gives life and freedom.

If I eat another bite, I don't think I could bear it...

I have a new roommate. He is a national, "like-minded" fellow whom I affectionately refer to in my blog and email updates as "V-ball" since he and I both love to play Volleyball. I'm learning a lot about this culture as I get to live, work, and enjoy recreation with my new friend and brother.

So one morning, I awake around 6:30am to him knocking on my door to tell me some important news. One of his friends in another village about 45 minutes away had shot a bear and wanted to give him and his friends the meat. So he comes in and sits on my bed to tell me about all of this and that I needed to go with him to help cut this bear up and bring it back to our village. 

I listened...thought...listened some more and then told him I would have to pass on this opportunity. It's getting real cold here and I figured this would be a whole-day ordeal that I was not interested in getting stuck in. So I told him to have fun and take some pictures.

After V-ball returns, he brings home 2 arms/shoulders and part of the back-bone with ribs. So then begins the work of cutting all the meat away from the bones. I have never done anything like this before in my life, but it seemed simple enough. We did it in our kitchen and here is what it looked like:

Notice we used wonderful tools such as a wood-axe and a knife bought from the hardware store that day.

It's tedious work cutting away all that meat from the backbone...but I was hungry for bear.

I haven't lived here a month and already I have had numerous "firsts" in terms of my experiences. God is blowing me away and teaching me ways of living which provide numerous examples of finding the spiritual significance that I can relate to the locals.