H
Hellisreal
Guest
My take on it is that WE need penance, to prevent our hearts from hardening against God, and to reduce the space between us and Him. (my personal thought, though, and if anyone thinks it needs correcting I’d love to hear it!)
Why would we have the sacraments if we did not need something?
Of course we need it.
Its freely given by God to us (believers)
Yet, we also can not simply ignore this gift- and not want to open it up.
We are told what we can and cannot do and what pleases Him.
We are also told He Loves Us, and its not a one way street.
We must return this love
And we know that we can, He has given us every possible means to do this.
And yes, we are required to do these things, we ought to out of pure love, but God will even take the one who does it out of fear too.
He takes us as we are, but is not a Hippie God, that says ANYTHING GOES.
You can do what you want and you have nothing required of you.
heck, even atheists follow the golden rule.
What sets us apart, or set aside for Him?