Sin and Self-Functioning, Part 2: Grace, Guilt and Psychological Adjustment

Grace and an intrinsic religious orientation were generally consistent with healthy psychological characteristics as revealed in relationships with self-consciousness, depression, hopelessness and/or self-efficacy. Extrinsicness and orthodox beliefs dealing with guilt tended to predict maladjustment. Several findings suggested that grace can obviate the negative effects of guilt while mediating the positive consequences of intrinsicness, and these data therefore reconfirmed the complex and interrelated influences of sin-related beliefs on self-functioning.