“Admitting to part of a lie does not help to relieve guilt, and may even increase anxiety and shame. Coming completely clean is the best approach.”

A line from a John Macarthur sermon? A quote from the Puritans?

Nope.

Research findings published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association! You can read a popularized version of the research here. After extensive studies and experiments, researchers found:

• Confessing to some bad behavior was more common than making a full confession among those who cheated as much as possible in the study.
• Confessing to only part of one’s transgressions is attractive to a lot of people because they expect the confession to be more believable and guilt-relieving than not confessing.
• Investigators found that people feel worse when they tell only part of the truth about a wrongdoing compared to people who fully disclose their transgressions.
• Only telling part of the truth, as opposed to not confessing at all, was more likely to lead to increased feelings of guilt, shame and anxiety, the research found.
• Cheaters who confessed just part of their wrongdoing were also judged more harshly by others than cheaters who didn’t confess at all.
• Full confessors were more relieved after their confessions when compared to partial confessors.
• Participants were more likely to believe the full confession than the partial confession.

Their conclusion: “It’s best to commit to an all-or-nothing approach when it comes to confessing.”

The lead researcher commented: “Paradoxically, people seeking redemption by partially admitting their big lies feel guiltier because they do not take complete responsibility for their behaviors. True guilt relief may require people to fully come clean.”

Sometimes you have to feel sorry for scientists. They’re only a few thousand years behind God who said, “He who covers his sins will not prosper” (Prov. 23:7). But anyway, still fascinating to see some empirical research confirming what Christians have always believed and experienced.

Let’s hope it doesn’t take them another few thousand years to discover the even greater benefits and blessings of confessing all not just to other people, but to God through Jesus Christ, and receiving not just full pardon for their guilt, but also power to forsake the sins they confess.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-9).

The text of the confession appears on the left side of the page and the outlines are lined up on the facing page.

I have followed the original text of 1646, from the manuscript of Cornelius Burges, Assessor to the Westminster Assembly, as published in the modern critical edition of 1937 by S. W. Carruthers. In order to increase this booklet’s usefulness in America, I have footnoted the most significant revisions made by the OPC, the PCA, the ARP and the RPCNA

Due to formatting issues, this is only available in pdf format. Again, feel free to adapt. I’m not bothered about having my name attached to these, but if you do use my name, just be sure to clearly distinguish your contribution from my own work.

Westminster Skeletons (2): Teaching Outlines on the Westminster Confession of Faith

The world’s largest art competition has been going on for the past few weeks in….Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids? Not Venice or Paris or Greenwich Village? Grand Rapids, Michigan?

Yes, that’s right. Conservative, Reformed, traditional Grand Rapids has just hosted Artprize, the world’s largest art competition. This annual event has cash prizes totaling $450,000, with first prize receiving $250,000 (do I hear the sound of old paintbrushes being cleaned up?), most of it coming out of the generous pockets of Dick and Betsy DeVos. You can see the winners here.

I’m not much of an art buff, but even I took my family on to the streets of Grand Rapids to view some of the 1400 exhibits showing in strategic places throughout the town. Much to my surprise, we had a really great time. The streets were packed with young and old. And most people looked kind of “normal”; not the usual arty crowd. And the pieces of art were (mainly) understandable; not the usual weird, incomprehensible, abstract stuff.

Part of the reason for that was that the winners were all decided by public vote (you texted or voted online), and this clearly motivated the artists to produce works that would impress “ordinary” people. And most of the work was hugely impressive. The creativity, imagination, and ingenuity was fantastic. I found myself wishing I had more time to see more and appreciate more. Not quite sure what came over me.

God’s image
But I also found myself thinking of how God’s image was being so clearly displayed in and through the art and the artists. In these beautiful, stunning, and eye-popping paintings, sculptures, and all sorts of varied constructions, I could see a bright shadow of God’s own creative genius and awesome creativity in the Garden.

Some of the most impressive pieces were constructed out of waste metal and other assorted pieces of junk. How could so much ugliness be transformed into such loveliness! In the same way God is making old and junky creatures new and beautiful in His powerful work of sanctification.

The streets of Grand Rapids are back to their familiar drabness now. But in the memory of these temporarily beautified public spaces and crossings, surely we can get a little foretaste of how God will yet renew and beautify the earth with His works of grace.

Confess
So many of the pieces could form the basis of sermons and blog posts. But I’d like to leave you with one that was brought to my attention by Charissa Romens at the Acton Institute’s Powerblog. She writes:

Confess is a large board where people can anonymously write their confessions. Everything from the dark, to deeply personal, to lighthearted, to witty is posted on this public wall for anyone to peruse.

As I thought about this, I was also struck by the universal desire for confession. Wherever we look in the world we find this urge, this “instinct,” this compulsion to admit sin in a public way. No matter how hard we may try to forget, to hide, to cover-up, to deny, to blame others, to balance with good works, that sin or these sins keep bubbling up to the surface of our consciousness.

But even when confession is made, most of the time it is misdirected to priests, counselors, psychologists, walls! As a result, there is no lasting sense of peace or forgiveness. And there is no power to change.

The greatest prize
This is where true Christianity has such a powerful and relevant message. If we confess our sins to Christ, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). I sometimes wonder if we underplay this basic and fundamental promise of Christianity. We can get so caught up in doctrinal controversies about justification, etc., that sin-burdened souls do not hear this simply profound promise. Confess your sins to Christ and you will receive full, free, felt, and forever forgiveness from all your sins.

What greater prize can there be?