Fun with Definitions and Living

guilt: a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined. (dictionary.com definition number 2)

shame: the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another. (dictionary.com definition number 1)

Now as a Christian, I think guilt and shame can both be useful in motivating us to change our ways and repent; but I find that guilt (which I associate with actual wrongdoing on one's own part) is both healthier and more theologically sound as a motivator than shame (which I associate with wrongdoing only insofar as it is perceived by society.) Example:

A Christian man who is a regular church attender goes to a strip club. Now his guilt is a function mostly of his own moral code as it has been built up--if he's been in church most or all of his life, it's probably acting up at some point during the evening. But the shame is relative to his different social circles: his congregation, and the people, if any, who are at the strip club with him. One of those circles places a good deal more shame on the incident than the other.

I guess I find shame problematic because it gives others too much control over how one feels and makes moral decisions and is relative to society, whereas guilt is (at its best) a function of a well-formed conscience.

But what if we notice something about ourselves that causes both feelings? Guilt and shame? Is there a way to properly respond to the guilt within us without giving too much power to the shame? Certainly I distinguish the two, but certainly they are not without commonality, and find themselves often intertwined or at least incidentally aligned.

So what to do if I do something, or find myself doing something, that causes both?

Blood sugars will be posted after prayer tonight.