Bible Discussion Thread

This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

(MacBeth; William Shakesphere 5th Act).

This quote is in the play regards the death of MacBeth's wife. There are shades of Ecclesiastes here of vanity and life passing as a vapor; but also the idea of the second part of this verse in 2 Corinthians 7:10...

"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death." This verse shows the futility of those who; like Judas Iscariot regret the consequences of their sin; whether on themselves ultimately or how it affects others (in his case leading to suicide). We can see the same sort of mindset with Pilate who in John 19:11 was told that others had greater sin but nonetheless his attempts to release him were not out of reverence for His holiness but attempts to quell extremes of rebellion from both the Jews and the Romans in making a wrong decision. Ultimately; both these cases show cowardice which is one reason people will go to hell according to Revelation 21:8.

We shouldn't assume that emotion shouldn't accompany true repentence leading to salvation but that it is the Spirit which takes over and the emotions are part of a cleansing process. When given a new heart we are transformed from the inside out and can't help but cry out to God; as Isaiah did "woe is me" ( Isaiah 6:5). This shows the humble and contrite spirit David describes in Psalm 51 and elsewhere. Penitence from any other method assuming some goodness we have in ourselves apart from Christ is meaningless. This is what makes those from a Christian family background have to test themselves to see if they are in the faith ( 2 Cor. 13:5). We can't change our hearts from mere assent of doctrinal statements or scripture. More to come.