2 Sameul 11:11

HEART-WRENCHING EXAMPLES OF FALSE GUILT

* A man backs out of his garage, does not see his two-year-old son in the driveway, runs over the child who dies within minutes. This father will blame himself forever but he did not mean to do what he did. It was not a sin, but pseudo-guilt.

* A woman puts on the brakes of her car too late, then skids into the other lane and has a head-on collision - four people in the other car die from the accident. She will be found guilty of careless driving in court, but she did not mean to hurt anybody, neither did she sin against God. It was pseudo-guilt that would bother her from then on.

* A young man is ordered to shoot and kill in war; he cannot get over the guilt of taking other peoples' lives. This is pseudo-guilt.

* A young woman is raped shortly after getting off the bus at night; she blames herself that she was not more watchful. This is another case of pseudo-guilt.

* A nurse was late in arriving at a home where she was to give the patient an injection that might have saved their life; the patient died moments before the nurse arrived. The nurse was ridden with guilt for years. But it was pseudo-guilt.

* A father who did not bond adequately with his son and a domineering mother who gave the child 'smother love' now blame themselves that their son is gay in his lifestyle. Whatever the failures of the parents - and who has not failed? - God did not hold them responsible for the way the son turned out; they suffer pseudo-guilt.

* A minister is awakened in the middle of the night by a threat on the other end of the line, 'I am going to kill myself if you don't come and help me.' The pastor, who dismissed the call as an idle threat, is ridden with guilt when he discovers the next day the man on the phone committed suicide shortly afterwards. The pastor suffered pseudo-guilt from this.

Extracted from 'Totally Forgiving Ourselves' by R T Kendall