Is Guilt Inherently Bad?

Saw urologist today, getting better, still not perfect. I’ve had to make an involuntary switch to boxers. But getting there.

Is guilt or regret inherently bad? I’m gonna say no. People act like it is. They say stuff like, I refuse to be guilty about who I am or I refuse to live with regret for anything I’ve done, there’s a reason for it and whatever. Idea being, it’s wrong to feel guilt or regret.

I dunno, I feel like guilt is like pain, they both serve a purpose, they show that something is wrong. And that’s a good thing, a useful signal. If you don’t have it at all, it’s like having leprosy, you don’t feel pain so you go around maiming yourself and not even knowing it. Like, isn’t guilt somewhat a prerequisite for being Christian? You can’t repent if you don’t feel like there’s something to repent for. You need some semblance of guilt or regret about who you are.

So yeah, like pain, guilt and regret are useful but bad if they don’t go away is what I think. The Christian solution to guilt is Jesus. The world’s solution is to reject the concept of guilt. Drugs, promiscuity, whatever. It’s not the behavior that’s wrong. It’s the guilt.

I’m against that. Lingering guilt, guilt you can’t control is bad, it’s what Jesus came for. But guilt itself is good, shows you something’s wrong, hopefully makes you do something about it, at the very least turn to Jesus. But you can’t just ignore guilt and say nothing’s wrong. Either deal with it or bring it to Jesus. Either way you have to figure out what it’s signaling. That’s my claim.