Be Thankful For The Honest Sinners

[The Nehor]

Possible. But not guaranteed. I have to go through the rest of my days hoping for the possible.

Or you can repent and get confirmation that you have been forgiven. I would go with that route. A lot less stressful.

[3DOP]

But I honestly feel like my soul is doomed from not being fully honest in my temple interviews and entering the temple since then possibly defiling it. I honestly have tried repenting but it appears by other posters that it's too late the damage has been done. God has been mocked.

 

VideoGameJunkie, hey.

 

I hate that we don't go to the same church and believe the same things. May the good God manifest His love to you.

 

If you were Catholic, I would tell you that it is a great gift to feel remorse for misconduct. Rather than showing that God has given up on you, it would mean assuredly that God has NOT given up on you. Your remorse doesn't come from you. It comes from God. Do what you can to undo any harm, and resolve not to do it again. To have a proper understanding of God's love, we need to fall occasionally, but we cannot stay down. Get up young man; by God's grace get up. Who did Jesus say entered the kingdom of God, the Pharisee who kept the law most particularly, or the poor sinner who beat his breast asking God to be merciful to him, a sinner? The latter was better off. To be sure! Don't blow it by feeling sorry for yourself. You have an opportunity now to make it right, and bring joy to the heavenly court, because there is more joy over one sinner that repents than over 99 who need not repent. Right?   

 

That is what I would say to you if you were Catholic. I wish I didn't have to issue a disclaimer. I would be the one feeling guilty if I failed to say that I hold that outside the Catholic Church, there is no salvation. We are not universalists. But if for now, you do your best according to the light you have, I could have more hope that you would in a meaningful way be Catholic, even if you didn't know it. From my perspective, you are better off being a good Mormon than a bitter Mormon. It seems like there is a pressing need for you to seek forgiveness as best you can, cooperating with those who you believe are God's representatives on earth. Should not you make an appointment with the bishop quickly? It appears to me that you are still tender-hearted and can turn either way. Don't waste a moment longer in this guilt. Resolve to do the right thing right now, and follow through at the first opportunity. THAT should prove to yourself that you have repented indeed and are humbly sorry. Don't try. Do it.

 

Your Friend in Jesus and Mary,

 

3DOP

Edited September 25, 2014 by 3DOP

[VideoGameJunkie]

Thanks for that 3DOP. It meant a lot. I do need to talk with my Bishop. My Bishop is also my home teacher. 3DOP, your first paragraph goes very well with Mormonism too since we believe in the Holy Bible. I was just worried because there's so much to lose and spiritual punishment seems so scary. But I'll try to meet with my Bishop/Home Teacher.

[omni]

Discernment is a tricky thing. Elder Richard R. Lyman had been committing adultery for nearly 18 years while an apostle and none of the First Presidency or Q12 had any idea.

[Rain]

You lose nothing, but time spent in the temple, perhaps, when you repent, but if you are there unworthily then you will not have the peace you could have had and are only robbing yourself. The spiritual "punishment" only comes in when you decide not to repent - punishment does not come from repentance.  

As far as bishopric members knowing or not, I believe this or something like it was quote just a few days ago here on this board by President Kimball: If pain and sorrow and total punishment immediately followed the doing of evil, no soul would repeat a misdeed. If joy and peace and rewards were instantaneously given the doer of good, there could be no evil-all would do good and not because of the rightness of doing good. There would be no test of strength, no development of character, no growth of powers, no free agency only Satanic controls.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Rain

[JLHPROF]

Discernment is a tricky thing. Elder Richard R. Lyman had been committing adultery for nearly 18 years while an apostle and none of the First Presidency or Q12 had any idea.

 

Adultery / Unauthorized Polygamy

 

ToMAYto  / ToMAHto.....

[thesometimesaint]

The Church, and its Temple's, aren't rest homes for the righteous, but are emergency rooms for the spiritually wounded. 

[Ahab]

Knowledge of what you can do to improve the kind of person you are is the best kind of knowledge to have. So when you get some of that kind of knowledge, use it. It doesn't do much good if it's just rattling around in your mind.

[JLHPROF]

The Church, and its Temple's, aren't rest homes for the righteous, but are emergency rooms for the spiritually wounded. 

 

Ooh, I like that (and agree).

But why then such strict worthiness for the temple.  There is a minimum righteousness standard to enter.

[omni]

Adultery / Unauthorized Polygamy

ToMAYto / ToMAHto.....

Lol! I'm expecting any day now for you to announce you've left the Church and joined our brothers and sisters down in Centennial Park, UT.

[VideoGameJunkie]

thesometimesaint, I really like that quote about temples being emergency rooms for the spiritually wounded. The temple can bring us so much healing in our lives.

[JLHPROF]

Lol! I'm expecting any day now for you to announce you've left the Church and joined our brothers and sisters down in Centennial Park, UT.

 

Centennial Park!  Perish the thought.  A breakaway sect of Warren Jeffs and the FLDS.

Talk about fruits of a poisonous vine...

[thesometimesaint]

Ooh, I like that (and agree).

But why then such strict worthiness for the temple.  There is a minimum righteousness standard to enter.

 

The rules aren't all that strict for the Temple. If we were required to be perfect before we could enter there would be only one person who could enter and we're not him.

SEE Temple Recommend Questions

http://lds4u.com/lesson5/templequestions.htm

[JLHPROF]

Discernment is a tricky thing. Elder Richard R. Lyman had been committing adultery for nearly 18 years while an apostle and none of the First Presidency or Q12 had any idea.

 

Fascinating blog article on this piece of history - http://kolobiv.blogspot.com/2009/05/why-i-would-like-to-have-lunch-with-amy.html

[omni]

Centennial Park! Perish the thought. A breakaway sect of Warren Jeffs and the FLDS.

Talk about fruits of a poisonous vine...

They're a lot more "normal" than the FLDS and broke away from Warren Jeff's because of his extremist views and control. There was a great TV series on NatGeo about them I'd recommend watching if you ever get the chance. Edited September 25, 2014 by omni

[JLHPROF]

They're a lot more "normal" than the FLDS and broke away from Warren Jeff's because of his extremist views and control. There was a great TV series on NatGeo about them I'd recommend watching if you ever get the chance.

Yep.  Watched it.  They are much more normal than the FLDS.  Sister Wives (the Browns) are also much more normal than the FLDS.  Pretty much ANY other polygamists are more normal than the FLDS.  The FLDS is every negative stereotype about polygamy rolled into one wacko group.

 

The issue is that the Centennial Park leaders broke off of the FLDS (and got their "authority" through the FLDS leaders).  So again, fruits of a poisonous vine.

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. The idea that Priesthood leader's get unlimited access to divine knowledge about everyone is a popular but false one. God told Joseph Smith to keep things secret because Joseph could not always tell the wicked from the righteous. If prophets do not get that level of omniscience why would bishops?

You mean they don't have a crystal ball they look into to determine if the person is lying or not?

 

Bummer.

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

If the Bishoprics and Stake Presidencies were in tune with the spirit as I was taught they were, shouldn't they know if a person is lying to them? 

You were never taught this.

[VideoGameJunkie]

If you confess sins and lose your temple recommend can you ever get it back or is it gone forever?

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

If you confess sins and lose your temple recommend can you ever get it back or is it gone forever?

Of course you can. You can be excommunicated and if you go through all the steps required to temple recommend, you can get one. 

VGJ, I think you might need to spend some more time in the scriptures.

 

Did you serve a mission? Just curious.

[will227457]

If the Bishoprics and Stake Presidencies were in tune with the spirit as I was taught they were, shouldn't they know if a person is lying to them? 

You don't really believe this do you?

 

I can only imagine....sitting in a recommend interview and in my head I hear a voice (low and deep) "Brother Will227457.....sister ____ is a LIAR!"

 

 

LOL

 

Our Bishops and Stake Presidents are regular people just like you and me they roll out of bed and put their pants on one leg at a time. Are they call of the Lord? Yes i'd like to think so, do they trend towards being spiritual people? Yes absolutely. Are they better or more in-tune with the spirit than me or you....not necessarily, it's just that their "flock" is much larger.   

[omni]

You don't really believe this do you?

I can only imagine....sitting in a recommend interview and in my head I hear a voice (low and deep) "Brother Will227457.....sister ____ is a LIAR!"

LOL

Our Bishops and Stake Presidents are regular people just like you and me they roll out of bed and put their pants on one leg at a time. Are they call of the Lord? Yes i'd like to think so, do they trend towards being spiritual people? Yes absolutely. Are they better or more in-tune with the spirit than me or you....not necessarily, it's just that their "flock" is much larger.

I laugh at this too now, but for much of my life I believed it to be true. This shouldn't be a surprise as it's what many of us have been taught by our leaders.

[Derl Sanderson]

Just an aside:

 

After enlightening the Junkie about Catholicism's concept of repentance, 3DOP said: "I wish I didn't have to issue a disclaimer. I would be the one feeling guilty if I failed to say that I hold that outside the Catholic Church, there is no salvation."

 

It's interesting to me that no post since has used this statement as a phony pretext to remind everyone that the Pope is a liar, that 3DOP's a dupe, that Mariology=idolatry, or that the Cardinals play in the National League Central Division.

 

But let any Mormon try and float an equivalent statement from our perspective over on the discussion boards at catholic.com. Evisceration will follow as surely as ugly follows Miley Cyrus.

 

I know that Mormons are a bunch of weirdos, cheeseballs and dipsticks -- I live with them. But the gracious restraint and respect that I see for another's deeply held though differing religious beliefs (at least on this thread) bespeaks a genuine kind of Christianity that is sorely lacking in other places and in this instance makes me glad I've cast my lot with the Saints. 

[VideoGameJunkie]

Derl Sanderson, I saw that part of his post, but didn't feel a need to bring it up since I know about the Plan of Salvation.

 

Mola, I lasted one week in the MTC then came home because of my mental condition and home sickness.

[VideoGameJunkie]

Oh and btw, I took 3DOP's advice and met with my Bishop tonight to clear the air and put everything out in the open and I left smiling and feeling liberated. I encourage everyone to go to the Bishop with their problems and he will always help.