As I was growing up (as a Baptist), I was taught that because of my own free will, I was responsible for my sins, and that these sins separated me from God. Though I could never do anything to fix my sins or carry myself back across the chasm I’d put between myself and God, Jesus, through means I could never articulate, has bridged the gap between myself and God and put away all my sins. All I had to do to accept this gift was to ask that Jesus apply it to me; through a sincere, contrite prayer offered to Jesus, I had only to ask once that he forgive me of my sins and live in me, so as to assure my salvation forever. Continue reading “St. Ephrem and the Tangled Battle of Sin and Repentance”