“Repentance is a
thing that cannot be trifled with every day.
Daily transgression
and daily repentance is not
that which is pleasing in the sight of God.”
TPJS, p 148
Why We Must Repent
“15 For behold, he surely must die that salvation may come;
yea, it behooveth him and becometh expedient that he dieth, to bring to pass
the resurrection of the dead, that thereby men may be brought into the presence
of the Lord.
16 Yea, behold, this death bringeth to pass the
resurrection, and redeemeth all mankind from the first death—that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the fall of
Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord, are considered as dead, both
as to things temporal and to things spiritual.
17 But behold, the resurrection of Christ redeemeth mankind,
yea, even all mankind, and bringeth them back into the presence of the Lord.
18 Yea, and it bringeth to pass the condition of repentance,
that whosoever repenteth the same is not hewn down and cast into the fire; but
whosoever repenteth not is hewn down and cast into the fire; and there cometh
upon them again a spiritual death, yea, a second
death, for they are cut off again as to things pertaining to righteousness.
19 Therefore repent ye, repent ye, lest by knowing these
things and not doing them ye shall suffer yourselves to come under
condemnation, and ye are brought down unto this second death.” (Helaman
14:15-19, emphasis added).
Verse 15 is only included to give context to verses 16-19.
Samuel the Lamanite is discussing the coming of Christ for His mortal ministry.
At the end of His mortal ministry, he will die to bring to pass the
resurrection of the dead. Samuel also defines what the “first death” is in 16,
that we are all redeemed from “that spiritual death; for all mankind, by the
fall of Adam being cut off from the presence of the Lord…” We can see that
because of the fall, we “are considered as dead…” 2 Nephi 2:21 supports this
idea with the word “lost” instead of dead:
“And the days of the children of men were prolonged,
according to the will of God, that they might repent while in the flesh;
wherefore, their state became a state of probation, and their time was
lengthened, according to the commandments which the Lord God gave unto the
children of men. For he gave commandment that all men must repent; for he
showed unto all men that they were lost, because of the transgression of their
parents.”
So we are “dead” or “lost” and must repent in order to
return to God. Verse 18 in Helaman brings up repentance, that because of
Christ, the condition of repentance exists. As I did with the post on faith, I
will expound only enough to make known what I am attempting to say, although
there may be much more to learn in the specific verses.
Why do all men have the commandment to repent? Are we all
lost? Do we all sin? If all men have the commandment to repent, and “repentance
is unto them that are under condemnation and under the curse of a broken law”
then all of us must sin (Moroni 8:23). All of us must be lost. All of us must
be “considered as dead”. If so, then “awake to a sense of your awful situation”!
(Ether 8:24).
Ezekiel 18:30 illustrates that iniquity can be our ruin. He
was speaking to the children of Israel at the time, but the admonitions of the
Lord to them can also apply to us: “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your
transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin.” While many things may have
been lost in translation among other things over the millennia, the need for
repentance is something that has always been true.
We can also see in numbers 23:19 that “God is not a man,
that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he
said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
God has no need for repentance because He is perfect. As learned from the last
post, we cannot have true faith unless we have an understanding of His
perfections, characters, and attributes; one of which being that He has no need
of repentance.
What is Repentance?
According to Strong’s Concordance of the Bible, repentance
in Greek is “to change one’s mind or purpose.” (see http://biblehub.com/greek/3340.htm),
and the Hebrew word is “shoob” which means “to turn back” among other similar
meanings (Strong’s Concordance-Hebrew word 7725). Therefore, a simple
definition could be to make a change in one’s life direction. Often this change
is due to a change in understanding, or when faith grows. Not every instance of
repentance is something big or very difficult, but includes even the small
changes that we make in life. According to this definition, repentance isn’t
always a religious experience. In many aspects of a life, a child learns things
that are simple, and have potentially been simplified to the point that those
things may be partial truths. As the child grows, so does their understanding
and they must undergo some cognitive dissonance in order to determine the truth
behind all of the simplistic answers they once had. One example is at first, a
child may understand that Christ died for the things we do wrong. Later, that
child would have to add to that understanding that Christ also suffered in
Gethsemane for our sins, and that the atonement can apply in their life if they
repent and “come unto Christ” among other things.
It makes sense that one would turn back, or make a change in
one’s life direction upon learning new truths that bring good cause to make
changes.
When we repent, we turn from our sins, transgressions,
unbelief, and anything that is coming between us and Him. In recent months, a
lot of the repentance I’ve gone through has been of false traditions and
beliefs that I held which are contrary to the scriptures. I couldn’t repent
until I found the scriptures to tell me that I believed false doctrine. One thing
that has helped me to learn from the scriptures, the Book of Mormon in
particular, is that I don’t read the words with the perspective that I know
exactly what they say. I let the words tell me what I need to learn from them
without any preconceived notions. While doing this can be a challenge, the
scriptures have really begun to open up to me.
Just a small aside: I’m talking about repenting and coming
to Christ, but the word can also be used to repent and return to wickedness.
It, however, does not appear in scripture with this meaning (to my knowledge).
Helaman 6:31 could have employed the word “repent” instead of “did turn unto”;
but again, just an aside.
How Can We Repent?
While the scriptures speak much about the stuff from which
we need to repent, and why we need to repent, not much is said about how to
repent. Why is that? I’ll let you ponder that. Those that heard King Benjamin’s
address “had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the
dust of the earth. And they all cried
aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of
Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be
purified; for we believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who created heaven
and earth, and all things; who shall come down among the children of men. And
it came to pass that after they had spoken these words, the Spirit of the Lord
came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of
their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith
which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which
king Benjamin had spoken unto them.” (Mosiah 4:2-3, emphasis added).
They viewed themselves in their carnal state, or in other
words, they knew in their hearts the things that they had done in their lives
that were contrary to the will of God. Because of this humbling experience,
they cried unto God for forgiveness.
Why does it say “cried” instead “prayed”, or “spoke”? Speaking unto the Lord is
solely with the mind. Praying should involve the heart and mind, but crying
involves the whole soul of a person. When one cries unto the Lord, they truly
offer up the desires of their heart and soul. They are doing so “acting no
hypocrisy and no deception before God” (2 Nephi 31:13). What was the result of
such a cry? The “Spirit of the Lord came upon them” and they were purified.
Alma had a similar experience, but was “racked with torment”
to a degree much greater than those that heard King Benjamin speak. Alma 36:18-20
states: “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. 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. And oh,
what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold…” (emphasis added) Again, we
see the use of the “cry” word, and a very similar outcome. Crying for forgiveness
is essential for us to receive such.
Repentance seems to be far more than a step-by-step process.
While we do need to recognize what we’ve done wrong and work to correct it,
repentance is a change of heart that only comes as we turn to Christ. As we
turn to Christ, He can forgive us immediately as He forgave sin frequently
before healing the afflicted. One idea that can be very helpful is to go out
and show compassion to others, help in every way. As you attempt to be
compassionate, as you attempt to emulate Christ, you will begin to have
Christ-like feelings of your own, in your heart, for others.
While there
may be several tenets to the principle of repentance, forgiving others is
essential. I realize this question has been asked by others, but why should you
expect forgiveness when you refuse to forgive others? Christ was teaching
prayer when he stated “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
(Mathew 6:12). We are to forgive others for their offenses so we can be
justified in being forgiven.
Seek to
know what YOU need to change each day from your Father in Heaven. He will tell
you what you need to work on. I’ve found that when He tells me what to change,
it’s a lot easier because then I know that it’s His will to do so. A large part
of Christ’s work is to forgive us, that is the reason for the atonement. If it
were not so, all mankind must unavoidably perish. So worry less about your specific
sins, whatever they may be, and go to the Father in prayer, cry unto him for
help. Cry unto him to know what you need to work on. Perhaps you need to learn
some things before He will help you get rid of something in your life that you
now desire to forsake. So instead of checking off some list, just go to the
Savior, for in Him you will find what true repentance is.
“Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Helaman
5:32)
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