The Nehor Posted April 8, 2012 Posted April 8, 2012 I think this is one of the parables that you can take farther than it was meant to go.In reality, the returned son has no more inheritance. He is welcome at his father's home, but he has spent his inheritance and can't have anymore without robbing the other son.This. The parable of the laborers in the vineyard is the key one in this respect. It doesn't matter how long you work in the vineyard. The reward is the same. A hard lesson for many who have borne the heat of the day.
blackstrap Posted April 8, 2012 Posted April 8, 2012 To paraphrase: we cannot say on our death bed that we repent and all is well,for that same spirit that we have in mortality,is the one that will be in the spirit world.When is it everlastingly too late? You should not procrastinate the day of your repentance.Why not,if it is all the same reward no matter what?
The Nehor Posted April 8, 2012 Posted April 8, 2012 To paraphrase: we cannot say on our death bed that we repent and all is well,for that same spirit that we have in mortality,is the one that will be in the spirit world.Actually you can....if you mean it. In other words if you were healed and could leap out of bed you would do all that you could to serve God. Or, as is more likely, you die and get to the other side and they give you a calling and God sees what you do with it. The Book of Mormon makes it clear that the same spirit goes to the next life. Is sincere repentance on a deathbed not repentance? The problem is that a lot of deathbed repentances are driven by fear and not faith. We probably shouldn't bother to try to judge between them.When is it everlastingly too late?When the person makes it so. Some people have moved themselves beyond saving grace. It is not that they couldn't be saved if they repented; it is that they have killed the ability within themselves to repent. Their choices have obscured the Light of Christ and there is no impulse left. Some choices are irrevocable. We are not supposed to try to figure out who is beyond help.You should not procrastinate the day of your repentance.Why not,if it is all the same reward no matter what?Because you can't truly repent while harboring such calculating reservation. Say I decide that I will repent right before I die. It comes time to die and I plead for forgiveness. Do I plead for forgiveness for my sin in procrastinating? Am I truly penitent? Would I do it again? If you were healed and would go back to sinning if you were healed you are not repenting; you are banking on a payout for saying some words in feigned remorse. Still, it is possible you are truly penitent and would and will hold true to your commitments.What I can say is that the person who lives a life of sin and sincerely repents before dying and someone who lives the gospel their whole life will get the same reward if both serve God. It seems unfair but I have come to appreciate it. It cuts away more mercenary motives for serving God. It helps to bring the two great commandments into the light and removes any sense in which heaven is a bribe for good behavior. Heaven becomes the consumation of the love one has for God rather then an end in itself with God as the means of getting it.Well, that's the way the priestcrafting Nehor sees it anyways. 1
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