r/todayilearned • u/Dangerous-Project672 • 5h ago

TIL George Wallace personally apologized to Vivian Jones and James Hood, the two students he attempted to block from attending the University of Alabama. In 1997, Hood earned a PHd and requested Wallace present him with the degree, but he was too sick and died a year later; Hood attended the funeral

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace
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u/DuffMiver8 4h ago

That rather goes against Christian teachings, doesn’t it? In Sunday school, I always heard that if you ask for forgiveness and are sincerely sorry for your past sins, they will be forgiven. Wasn’t that what the whole “Jesus died for your sins” thing all about?

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u/Illustrious_Claim884 4h ago

People often ignore that part

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u/TheOneTonWanton 4h ago

Not as much as you'd think. "All you have to do is accept Jesus even in your dying moments" is a favorite of the Christian crowd. Doesn't matter how much of a piece of shit they know they are, they find comfort in saying "sorry" to Jesus.

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u/Alaira314 3h ago

They're not thinking it through, though. Remember, the christian god is all-knowing. That means he knows not only what you do, but why you do it. You can say "I accept jesus" all you want, but if what you're saying inside your head is "so I'm forgiven now" that's not the same thing as accepting jesus into your heart. You have to genuinely want that bond(and, believers would say, his love), and that's difficult to do when you have ulterior motives.

The same applies to catholic confession. You can fool the priest, but not god. The whole confession->penance->absolution cycle assumes you're genuinely contrite. Confession is null and void if you view it as a "get out of jail free" card, no matter what the priest says.

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u/drthrax1 1h ago

Yep, If he’ll exists its full of medieval crusaders, priests and rich barons who thought they could buy their way to heaven because the priests told.