Recently I was having a discussion with a non-believer about our conscious surrounding good and evil. I was using terms like “shame” and “guilt”. My husband kindly reminded me that the words shame and guilt are terms Christians use. The general population that doesn’t hang out in the Christian subculture does not understand what those terms mean. Honestly, even the average Christian doesn’t comprehend how active the emotions “shame” and “guilt” play in their life. Today I would like to define what the difference between shame and guilt are because they are emotions we all feel that impact our actions in our daily living.
Shame Vs. Guilt
We all have wounds from our past. Shame is one emotion that likes to use those wounds and dictate our actions. The difference between shame and guilt are:
Shame:
Says that a person is a mistake, their failures are their identity and they have no hope in correcting their flaws.
Guilt:
Says that a person made a mistake but can change and correct it.
5 quotes about shame
from the book: Released from Shame:
1) “Shame is a strong sense of being uniquely and hopelessly different and less than other human beings.”
2) “Shame symptoms include beliefs, emotions and behaviors that display the underlying pain that comes from seeing ourselves as eternally separated from others.”
3) “Self-shaming is expressed by inner commentaries on our consistent failures.”
4) “Begin to notice the “shaming committee” inside your head.”
5) “You must continue to learn the truth of God to replace the shame-based lies that have caused you to stumble.”
The solution to being healed from shame is understanding grace. Grace is something we can experience from God. God is crazy about us even on our worst day! I personally believe we all make mistakes and will continue until the day that we die. I highly encourage you whether you’re a non-believer or Christian to research these two feelings, the ties we have to shame and on how you can break those bondages. We were design to be free; our past doesn’t have to dictate our future. You have the power to listen or battle the lies that you hear and feed them with the truth.
3 Recommended Books to Overcome Shame:
If this is your first time hearing what it means to experience shame or guilt, do you think after this post you will examine it’s impact on your life? Why or why not?
If before this post, you had the understanding of what it means to experience shame and guilt are there any other books that you would recommend for people to explore to be be freed from shame?
10,000 Smiles
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