Forgiveness. Received only after a member repents of all sins and keeps all the commandments.
D&C 1:32 says, “Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven.” D&C 82:7 adds,
“And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, will not lay any sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God.”
Eleventh President Harold B. Lee did not seem to have much sympathy for those who struggle with sin when he said,
“The miracle of forgiveness is available to all of those who turn from their evil doings and return no more, because the Lord has said in a revelation to us in our day: ‘Go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth [meaning again] shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God’ (D&C 82:7). Have that in mind, all of you who may be troubled with a burden of sin” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, p. 120).
In his classic work The Miracle of Forgiveness, Spencer Kimball explained,
“To be forgiven one must repent. Repentance means not only to convict yourselves of the horror of the sin, but to confess it, abandon it, and restore to all who have been damaged to the total extent possible; then spend the balance of your lives trying to live the commandments of the Lord so he can eventually pardon you and cleanse you” (p. 200).
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