In this short note I tell how to repent of your sins correctly. I strongly recommend to repent as described below.
The teaching about repentance
The word of Bible which is sometimes translated “repent” in fact means “to change the mind”. Biblical repentance is not that you yourself decide not to sin anymore, but that God changes your mind so that you can stop sinning.
I am a bad person
First thing you need to believe in order to repent that you are a bad person. You are not worth to live. Just like every man or woman on the Earth.
Without believing this salvation does not happen, because you need to know what are you saved from.
God created people brains as powerful computers (Gen. 1:31) “God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” Now we see that everything in us is bad, we are even unable to calculate, nor we are able to do any good. The humanity in you is lost and needs to be restored.
It is confirmed by (Luk. 9:24) “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same will save it.” This means that in order for you to be saved you should admit that for Christ’s sake your life as it was in the past must not be continued (because you are bad).
I want to stop sinning
The next thing you need to admit is to decide that you want to stop sinning (including thieving, lies, infidelity, homosexuality, alcoholism, drugs, curse language, greediness, and all other sins).
Full vanishing of sins is possible only after death (Rom. 6:7) “For he who has died has been freed from sin.” But in this life you should desire to decrease your sin.
You certainly must desire to stop sinning in order to make your decision to repent. Without the desire to stop sin you cannot repent, because God is not going to repent you by force without your consent.
I set my purpose to stop these sins which I can stop by my own will
If you want to decrease your sin, you will do it. We do something when we really want it. So if you want to stop sinning you will stop these sins which you can stop by your own will.
For example, if you are a thief you will stop stealing (unless you are kleptomaniac, in which case you should apply to God to cure you).
This does not mean that you can stop sinning by yourself, but just to confirm that you want to stop sinning (because you apply to God with precisely this purpose to stop sinning).
I renounce non-evangelical religious practices and all kinds of idols
All kinds of idols (including icons and crucifixes) are counter-biblical. (1Thes. 1:9) “and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God.”
You should denounce all kinds of non-evangelical beliefs, such as Roman Catholics, Russian Orthodoxes, Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Islam, Scientology.
Christ is both the son of God Almighty and full representation of God
Christ is both the son of God Almighty and full representation of God (that is essentially is God). That is you need to believe in Holy Trinity.
You can read in this free ebook for a more detailed explanation what Holy Trinity is and how it can be non-contradictory. In short: Christ is God’s wisdom and everything what concerns God is wisdom (that is God is wise and is nothing unwise, so Christ is the full content of God).
“The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” are not names for different parts of God, but one name for God because three persons exist in God as one entity. They cannot be separate from one another. Each person is understood as having the identical essence or nature, not merely similar natures.
Without faith in Holy Trinity repentance may not work. I tried to repent many times before I accepted Trinity doctrine but without the result. My beliefs on this were similar to Jehovah Witnesses’s ones. I admitted that I was a heretic (because it is the only reason why salvation may not work), but didn’t know exactly what is my heresy. As soon as I believed in Trinity and applied with repentance, my mind was cured.
Christ came in human flesh
No comment, just believe it.
I agree that Holy Spirit will make a surgery on my brain
You should agree that Holy Spirit will make a surgery on your brain immediately after you apply.
Your mind is broken and you need this.
The word of Bible which is sometimes translated “repent” in fact means “to change the mind”. It is the thing which you agree to by sending this query to God. You need to agree for this to happen with you.
Christ died instead of me
Christ died to pay the price of your sins, to redeem you. His blood is the price paid for you being a sinner to be accepted to the heaven.
He died instead you. You are worth dying but he died for you, that you can live eternally.
Christ resurrected
For your salvation you must also believe that Christ has resurrected shortly after his death.
You are going to do good deeds
You should agree that faith will result in change of your character, so that you will do good deeds.
(Jam. 2:26) “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.”
(Eph. 2:8-10) “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, that no one would boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.”
You need to decide to do good deeds to show that you really believe. (Without this God would not agree that you really repent.) You cannot however “earn” salvation by good deeds.
Faith
You confess that after this query to God you believe that you will live eternal life being freed from sin, even despite of the fact that while you yet live on the Earth you have some sins. But it is that you are freed for sin in order to be able to live eternally, not “awarded” life for your good deeds or purity.
God saves you to be freed of sin, not frees you from sin in order to be saved.
This is one-time application. You do not need to submit this form after every sin you do. God has already set the purpose for you to cease to sin and is able to grant you internal life without sin. Apply only once.
You should believe that after this application to God you are accepted to the heaven as if you would not sin at all, because Christ’s death is a full price for your sins.
Repent now
To send repentance query to God, check all the below checkboxes (to claim that you believe all of them) and press “Send to God” button. (Or alternatively you can pronounce the confession that you accept every of these checkboxes for yourself. God will hear both ways.) Be sure that by checking these checkboxes you agree to the requirements and agree that Holy Spirit will make surgery on your brain.
You can also can use this checklist to check whether you properly repented in the past (that you were not a heretic at the time of claimed repentance, for every item). If you never repented or repented wrongly (without accepting every doctrine in the below checklist), repent now by agreeing to all items and clicking the button “Send to God”.
The form should be completed with sincere heart, prompted by the Holy Spirit.
- I am a bad man or woman and am not worth to live.
- I want to stop sinning.
- I set my purpose to stop these sins which I can stop by my own will.
- I renounce non-evangelical religious practices and all kinds of idols.
- Christ is both the son of God Almighty and full representation of God.
- Christ came in human flesh.
- I agree that Holy Spirit will make a surgery on my brain immediately after I apply.
- I believe that Christ has died for my sins instead of myself dying, redeeming me from slavery of sin.
- Christ resurrected shortly after his death.
- I will do good deeds, with God’s help.
- I believe in my salvation.
After querying this repentance checklist, you are qualified to be baptized in a evangelical church.
You are now strongly recommended to read Bible. First read New Testament, lie reading Old Testament aside for the future.