do you wish to be forgiven?

Do you wish to be forgiven?

Could you accept excommunication for the sin if deemed necessary? Why do you feel you should not be excommunicated? If you were, would you become bitter at the Church and its officers? Would you cease your activities in the Church? Would you work your way back to baptism and restoration of former blessings even through years?

What have you done to prove your repentance? How much did you pray before the sin? How much during? How much since your admission of it?

How much did you study the scriptures before your trouble? How much since?

Are you attending meetings? paying tithing?

Have you told your wife or parents? Have you confessed your total sins?

Are you humble now? Is it the result of "being forced to be humble"?

Have you wrestled with your problems as did Enos? Has your soul hungered for your soul's sake? Did you "cry unto him" a day-long prayer and into the night and raise your voice high that it reached the heavens, as did Enos?

How much have you fasted?

How much suffering have you endured? Is your guilt "swept away"?



Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness by Spencer W. Kimball. 1969. p.161 Test of Conviction A total return to the spiritual experiences seems a vital step to repentance. Loss of faith runs parallel to loss of virtue and righteousness. "Whom we serve, we love."

When should we confess? When the sin is of such serious magnitude that it may trigger a disciplinary proceeding or continues to linger in our mind so that we cannot have peace. David understood this latter condition, as evidenced by his admission, "My sin is ever before me" (Psalm 51:3).... Years of service do not obviate confession; years of abstinence do not erase its need; one-on-one pleading with the Lord is not a substitute. Somewhere, sometime, somehow we must face the wall square up and climb it. That is confession. When we do this, our spiritual horizons are broadened.


Tad R. Callister, The Infinite Atonement. 2000. p.189, 190