Category: Repentance

Faith and Repentance – Broken Heart and Contrite Spirit

Many people, when they talk about the Doctrine of Christ, rattle of a list of steps from the scriptures. It’s dry and lifeless. This is what you do, but there is no desire or reason to do any of it, but at least you know “correct doctrine”.
I like this passage a lot because it builds up a desire to want to come to Christ. In addition to repentance, it incorporates faith — faith that the Lord will receive you, just as you are, warts and all. You have nothing to hide. Childlike. No pretense.

By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins–behold, he will confess them and forsake them.

(D&C 58:43.)


The following quote says “at this very moment”, now, “no matter what your spiritual condition is”. This means everybody. I think it’s worth planting the seed and conducting an experiment in faith, as Alma suggests.

Thanks to Julia Wentzell for sharing the following on Facebook today. It comes from Todd McLaughlin. Julia Writes: “These are the words a friend shared today. I absolutely loved what he had to say. They feel like truth.”

Consider with me the following process of repentance. I would like to know how you think it would impact you.

What if at this very moment, no matter what condition of life you are in, you turned to the Lord with all that you are, all that you have been, and all of the desires for your future – and present it to him straightforwardly and in plainness?

What if instead of hiding from the Lord because of your pain, and your weakness, and your sins, and your depression, and your shame, and your fear – you came to him and presented all of it to him.
In other words, you don’t wait until you conquer a bad habit, or “make yourself better”, or overcome something that is weighing you down. You come to him, as is, and fully present everything to him?
If you have sin, bring them to him and show him. If you have weakness, show him those weaknesses. Bring all of them with you and present them. If you have a difficult past. What if you brought it all to him and shared it with him?

If you have fear and desires that you are ashamed of. Why not just bring them to him? Hide nothing from him.

Give everything to him “as is”. Show him everything in its present condition. Do not wait for anything to change. Do not wait to do better first. Do not hold back anything and do all of it right now.
And expose them to the full light of truth. Allow his love and truth and light teach you about each of those things. Allow him to redeem every aspect about you. Every bad experience, every sin, every fear. Allow them all to be exposed to the full light and allow the Lord to do a redemptive work. Allow him to teach you about each thing…Tell him all about it. Ask him to teach you about it and to redeem the experience.

Do you fear the judgments of others? Describe all of it to him and expose it to light.

Do you desire wealth and a kingdom of this world? Tell him all about it and ask that his light and truth may flow through those desires and ambitions and transform into something Holy.
This process of repentance is no small thing. It takes every ounce of energy and attention we have. It takes all of us. Nothing can be hidden nor withheld.

Ultimately, and soon, we ourselves must lay on that alter. Everything about us must be given to the Lord. There is no other way.

And if we do it, the Lord can redeem the darkest and distorted parts of us. He can in a moment heal the most broken parts of us.
But he can’t unless we hold nothing back. No works of darkness. Nothing can be held from his awareness and his light.

This process of repentance will bring the full gift of the Holy Ghost to us. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is that our spirits and nature are transformed to be in complete unity with Christ. Possessing the Gift of the Holy Ghost means we are completely one with Christ. There is no greater gift.

Eternal Life, Eternal Punishment, D&C 19 is not an “oops”

D&C 19 clarifies the term “eternal” as the word has been translated in the scriptures. In English “eternal” means “without ending or beginning”, but in Hebrew, the word is “olam”, and in Greek, the word is “eonian”. Those words mean an age, a period of time, a world, a condition of existence, an estate. And in all these cases, there is definitely a beginning and an end.

Alma was “racked with eternal torment”, but after he repented, he “could remember [his] sins no more. So, “eternal” doesn’t mean what we commonly think it means.

Alma 36:12 But I was racked with eternal torment, for my soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins.

Alma 36:13 Yea, I did remember all my sins and iniquities, for which I was tormented with the pains of hell; yea, I saw that I had rebelled against my God, and that I had not kept his holy commandments.

Alma 36:14 Yea, and I had murdered many of his children, or rather led them away unto destruction; yea, and in fine so great had been my iniquities, that the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror.

Alma 36:15 Oh, thought I, that I could be banished and become extinct both soul and body, that I might not be brought to stand in the presence of my God, to be judged of my deeds.

Alma 36:16 And now, for three days and for three nights was I racked, even with the pains of a damned soul.

Alma 36:17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.

Alma 36:18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.

Alma 36:19 And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.

I don’t know what Joseph Smith was thinking. He probably had trouble comprehending what the Lord was trying to reveal, but he was really trying to undo centuries of false traditions due to mistranslations of the Bible. Just because you receive revelation doesn’t necessarily you understand what you receive or can easily put it in words. This was probably new to him also.

“Eternal punishment is God’s punishment”, means it’s the kind of punishment ordained by God. And, by the same token “Eternal life is God’s life”, or the kind of life that God lives. We say “eternal life is to know God”, but nobody can truly know God unless he IS God. Then, and only then can you live as God lives.

This is Bruce R. McConkie from A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, page 492:

There is a true doctrine on these points, a doctrine unknown by many and unbelieved by more, a doctrine that is spelled out as specifically and extensively in the revealed word as are any of the other revealed truths. There is no need for uncertainty or misunderstanding. And surely if the Lord reveals a doctrine, we should seek to learn its principles and strive to apply them in our lives. This doctrine is that mortal man, while in the flesh, has it in his power to see the Lord, to stand in His presence, to feel the nail marks in His hands and feet, and to receive from Him such blessings as are reserved for only those who keep all His commandments and who are qualified for that eternal life, which includes being in His presence forever. [Forever means now and always.]