The question today is from an anonymous woman, a young woman who listens to the

podcast regularly. She struggles with the painful memories of her sinful past life.

Dear Pastor John, have been a follower of Christ for a while now, she writes.

But my conscience still haunts me for all the really bad and dumb things I did when I was younger.

Does that mean I am not saved? I prayed for forgiveness

many times, talked to pastors and even Christian therapists, but I don't feel forgiven because

the guilt is always there, no matter how much I pray and see God.

I feel far from God and not sure what else to do.

Oh how I would like to be used by God to give some measure of relief and freedom and boldness to our friend.

So let me start by saying there's one thing you said that I don't

believe is true. You said, I don't feel forgiven, that's true. You said I don't feel forgiven because

the guilt is always there.

That's not true.

I'm just going to say that's not true.

The guilt is not always there.

The feelings of guilt are always there. The feelings of guilt are always there. The guilt is not there. And if you

think that's quibbling over words, that may be your biggest problem. It's not quibbling. It's not quibbling. It's absolutely

essential to distinguish the presence of real guilt and the presence of feeling guilty.

Now I'm not going to say that if you realize this distinction your problem will go away.

It's not that simple. I know that.

Let's try a thought experiment.

Suppose you commit Let's try a thought experiment.

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