Self-Justification
Self-Justification
A person cannot be reformed if he continually justifies himself.
For you do not abandon any mistake unless you first admit to yourself that it is a mistake. But if you believe that you are right, you will remain where you are, changing nothing in yourself…
The problem of self-esteem, dignity, and personal pride is what stands before a person and prevents him from admitting his error, even before his father of confession. He may confess some sins that do not shame him to mention, and hide the rest, or pass over them lightly, or اشاره to them from afar, or mention them in a merged way, or say them and justify them… He may not confess at all, and his confession turns into a complaint against others. As if, before the father of confession, he is confessing the sins of others, not his own…!
And in order for a person to justify himself, he does not mind attributing the fault to others! Thus Eve did, and thus Adam did.
A person may insist that he is innocent in a situation that is clearly wrong, so self-justification leads him to stubborn denial or to obstinacy…
Here, his conscience loses all authority, and the demon of pride takes over his leadership.
The most dangerous thing in self-justification and stubborn denial is that the one who errs begins to philosophize his mistakes and justify them intellectually in order to convince people. Thus people begin to ask: where is the truth?!
Into this abyss fell the heretics and innovators. Their dignity and pride prevented them from admitting their error. So they persisted in error and tried to justify their position intellectually, inventing new deviant ideas, resisting the Church, and causing people to stumble.
Self-justification in one’s actions is a behavioral justification that concerns the person himself alone. But justifying it in one’s thoughts is a justification related to values and principles, taking on a general direction.
Therefore, intellectual justification is very dangerous, especially if truth is not the goal, but rather the self. A person is driven in this by psychological factors…
In his self-justification, all that matters to a person is people’s opinion of him. He does not care about the destiny of this self in eternity; rather, he cares about people’s respect for it. Therefore, he involves people in his problems.
He defends himself, and defends his ideas and actions. He explains, and people may stumble because of his explanation. He does not care about that; what matters is that the self appears innocent, sound, and ideal. This defense may lead to accusing or wounding others. And there is no problem with that, as long as this defending self reaches the justification that satisfies it!!
It is strange that those who justify themselves may pray asking for the forgiveness of their sins, while in reality they do not see that they are sinners in anything!!
In truth, self-justification does not benefit the self; rather, repentance benefits it. Because repentance purifies the self and elevates it spiritually until it reaches the heart of God.
Repentance means revealing the self, knowing its mistakes, and rebuking it for these mistakes.
The self may refuse to be revealed and rebuked… but this is the cross that it carries on the way to God. It is the path of repentance and remorse.
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