A brief thought shared in a recent church service.

Last Sunday in the services I attended in Sunderland, England a speaker shared the statement which I shall paraphrase as “‍We teach little children to repent even though they do not yet need to repent because the principle is correct.‍” I’ve been mulling that thought over in my head for the past several days, hoping it will congeal into a full idea to place in the blog. As this does not seem to be happening, I’m simply posting what I have.

Sometimes something is correct even without being necessary. Considering how our action or inaction may have contributed to less-than-ideal circumstances and how we might be able to rectify and avoid that in the future is a correct principle. Asking for the aid and forgiveness of God in these is also correct. These principles are correct even for the innocent: they increase awareness, decrease feelings of guilt, and build a working relationship with deity. I would teach them even to someone whose neurological difficulties meant they would never become accountable for their actions in mortality.

A principle may be correct, and hence valuable, even when its associated rationale is inapplicable. I continue to ponder this postulate and its possible applications.