I

Without real repentance, it would be hard to continue forward, whether in your performance of duty or in your pursuit of salvation. At every stage—whether when God is disciplining or chastening you, or when He is reminding and exhorting you—as long as a conflict has occurred between you and God, yet you do not make a turnaround, and continue to cling to your own ideas, to cling to your own viewpoints, and attitudes, then even though your steps are headed forward, the conflict between you and God, your misunderstandings of Him, your complaints and rebelliousness against Him are not rectified, and your heart does not turn around. Then God, for His part, will eliminate you.

II

Although you have not let go of the duty at hand, and you still keep to your duty and have a bit of loyalty for what God has commissioned, and people see this as acceptable, the dispute between you and God has formed a permanent knot. You have not used the truth to resolve it and gain a true understanding of God's intentions. As a result, your misunderstanding of God deepens, and you always think that God is in the wrong and you're being treated unjustly. This means you have not made a turnaround. Your rebelliousness, your notions, and your misunderstanding of God still persist, which leads you to have a mentality of non-submission, to be always rebellious and oppose God. This kind of person is someone who rebels against God, resists God, and stubbornly refuses to repent.

III

What kind of attitude should a created being adopt toward the Creator? An attitude that acknowledges that the Creator is right, no matter what He does. If you do not acknowledge this, that the Creator is the truth, the way, and the life will be but hollow words to you. If that is the case, you cannot attain salvation. You would be unqualified; God doesn't save people like you. So long as your disposition does not change, so long as you do not come to know what in your actions does not accord with the truth and what cannot accord with God, then the knot that exists between you and God hasn't yet been untied; the matter has not been resolved.

IV

You must make a turnaround and put aside your ideas and intentions. Once you have this intent, yours will be an attitude of submission. This refers to people making a turnaround in their attitude toward God, the Creator; it is a recognition and affirmation of the fact that the Creator is the truth, the way, and the life. If you can turn yourself around, this shows that you can put aside those things you think are right, or those things that corrupt mankind thinks collectively to be right; and, instead, you are acknowledging that God's words are the truth and positive things. If you can have this attitude, it proves your recognition of the identity of the Creator and your recognition of His essence. This is how God views the issue, and He therefore considers man's turnaround especially important.

from The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Resolving One's Notions Can One Embark on the Right Track of Belief in God (3)