REL 275 - Teachings and Doctrines of the Book of Mormon

Repentance & Forgiveness
Divine Judgment

Read the following passages in the scriptures before our class:

1 Nephi 10:20-21
 Alma 41:4-15
2 Nephi 2:5
also Doctrine & Covenants 84:45-53		Alma 42:15-28
2 Nephi 9:15-16, 23-39 3 Nephi 27:25-27
Mosiah 2:36-41Mormon 9:1-6
Alma 5:14-44, 50-62
 
Pres. Brigham YoungThe Symmetry Between “Reduction” (or Fall) and Exaltation
 
Pres. Boyd K. Packer Resisting Unworthy Feelings and Temptations
 
Pres. J. Reuben Clark, Jr.Balancing Justice and Mercy in the Final Judgment
 
Pres. Boyd K. PackerThe Brilliant Morning of Forgiveness (1995)
   
Dr. Marcus MartinsHuman Temptations (2019)
 
Questions for Review

President Brigham Young
The Symmetry Between “Reduction” (or Fall) and Exaltation
Journal of Discourses 6:284 285; 10:175

We are inhabitants of a world of sin and sorrow; pain and anguish, every ill that can be heaped upon intelligent beings in a probation we are heirs to.  I suppose that God never organized an earth and peopled it that was ever reduced to a lower state of darkness, sin and ignorance than this.

I suppose this is one of the lowest kingdoms that ever the Lord Almighty created, and on that account is capable of becoming exalted to be one of the highest kingdoms that has ever had an exaltation in all the eternities.  In proportion as it has been reduced so it will be exalted, with that portion of its inhabitants who in their humiliation have cleaved to righteousness and acknowledged God in all things.

In proportion to our fall through sin, so shall we be exalted in the presence of our Father and God, through Jesus Christ and by living the righteousness of his Gospel.  All this the people will understand in due time through their faithfulness, and learn to rejoice even in the midst of afflictions.

Elder Boyd K. Packer
Resisting Unworthy Feelings and Temptations
Conference Report, October 1990

Now, in a spirit of sympathy and love, I speak to you who may be struggling against temptations for which there is no moral expression. Some have resisted temptation but never seem to be free from it. Do not yield! Cultivate the spiritual strength to resist—all of your life, if need be.

Some are tortured by thoughts of covenants already forsaken and sometimes think of suicide. Suicide is no solution at all. Do not even think of it. The very fact that you are so disturbed marks you as a spiritually sensitive soul for whom there is great hope.

You may wonder why God does not seem to hear your pleading prayers and erase these temptations. When you know the gospel plan, you will understand that the conditions of our mortal probation require that we be left to choose. That test is the purpose of life. While these addictions may have devoured, for a time, your sense of morality or quenched the spirit within you, it is never too late.

You may not be able, simply by choice, to free yourself at once from unworthy feelings. You can choose to give up the immoral expression of them.

The suffering you endure from resisting or from leaving a life-style of addiction or perversion is not a hundredth part of that suffered by your parents, your spouse or your children, if you give up. Theirs is an innocent suffering because they love you. To keep resisting or to withdraw from such a life-style is an act of genuine unselfishness, a sacrifice you place on the altar of obedience. It will bring enormous spiritual rewards.

Remember that agency, that freedom of choice that you demanded when you forsook your covenants? That same agency can now be drawn upon to exert a great spiritual power of redemption.

The love we offer may be a tough love, but it is of the purest kind; and we have more to offer than our love. We can teach you of the cleansing power of repentance. If covenants have been broken, however hard it may be, they may be reinstated, and you can be forgiven. Even for abortion? Yes, even that!


President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.
Balancing Justice and Mercy in the Final Judgment
Conference Report, October 1953

I believe that the Lord will help us. I believe if we go to him, he will give us wisdom, if we are living righteously. I believe he will answer our prayers. I believe that our Heavenly Father wants to save every one of his children.

I don’t think he intends to shut any of us off because of some slight transgression, some slight failure to observe some rule or regulation. There are the great elementals that we must observe, but he is not going to be captious about the lesser things.

I believe that his juridical concept of his dealings with his children could be expressed in this way:

I believe that in his justice and mercy he will give us the maximum reward for our acts, give us all that he can give, and in the reverse, I believe that he will impose upon us the minimum penalty which it is possible for him to impose.


Questions for Review

1) Who will be found unclean in the final judgment?  (1 Nephi 10:21)

2) What is the effect of the atonement of Jesus Christ to those who die without a knowledge of the divine laws? (2 Nephi 9:26)

3) "To be learned is good if ............." (2 Nephi 9:29)

4) "To be .............. is death, and to be .............. is life eternal." (2 Nephi 9:39)

5) What will eventually happen to those who rebel openly against God? (Mosiah 2:37-38)

6) Someone says: "I have sinned so much that there is no hope for me anymore." What would be a correct gospel-based response to this person? (Pres. Boyd K. Packer, The Brilliant Morning of Forgiveness)

7) If complete repentance requires restitution, how can something intangible like somebody's virtue be restored or emotional pain be eliminated? (Pres. Boyd K. Packer, The Brilliant Morning of Forgiveness)

Be prepared to present your understanding about this topic to your classmates, and see if you have additional questions to ask me.  I'll be glad to answer them.
This web page was published only as a support for classroom discussion.
For more information, contact Dr. Marcus Martins at: martinsm@byuh.edu