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| Source Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and you cannot fix is the very purpose of the atonement of Christ.... there is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise of complete forgiveness. That is the promise of the atonement of Christ. |
In April of 1847, Brigham Young led the first
company of pioneers out of Winter Quarters. At that same time, sixteen hundred
miles to the west the pathetic survivors of the Donner Party straggled down the
slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the Sacramento Valley.
They had spent the ferocious winter trapped in
the snowdrifts below the summit. That any survived the days and weeks and
months of starvation and indescribable suffering is almost beyond belief.
Among them was fifteen-year-old John Breen. On
the night of April 24 he walked into Johnson’s Ranch. Years later John wrote:
“It was long after dark when we got to
Johnson’s Ranch, so the first time I saw it was early in the morning. The
weather was fine, the ground was covered with green grass, the birds were
singing from the tops of the trees, and the journey was over. I could scarcely
believe that I was alive.
“The scene that I saw that morning seems to be
photographed on my mind. Most of the incidents are gone from memory, but I can
always see the camp near Johnson’s Ranch.” 1
At first I was very puzzled by his statement
that “most of the incidents are gone from memory.” How could long months of
incredible suffering and sorrow ever be gone from his mind? How could that
brutal dark winter be replaced with one brilliant morning?
On further reflection I decided it was not
puzzling at all. I have seen something similar happen to people I have known. I
have seen some who have spent a long winter of guilt and spiritual starvation
emerge into the morning of forgiveness.
When morning came, they learned this:
“Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the
same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more.” 2
“I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” 3
“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will
remember their sin no more.” 4
“For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”
5
When the prophet Alma was young, he spent such
a time “racked,” as he said, “with eternal torment, [his] soul … harrowed up to
the greatest degree.” 6
He even thought, “Oh, … that I could be
banished and become extinct both soul and body.” 7
But his mind caught hold of a thought. When he
nurtured the thought and acted upon it, the morning of forgiveness came, and he
said:
“I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was
harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
“And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I
did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!” 8
Letters come from those who have made tragic
mistakes. They ask, “Can I ever be forgiven?”
The answer is yes!
The gospel teaches us that relief from torment
and guilt can be earned through repentance. Save for those few who defect to
perdition after having known a fulness, there is no habit, no addiction, no
rebellion, no transgression, no offense exempted from the promise of complete
forgiveness.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith
the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” That is, Isaiah
continued, “if ye be willing and obedient.” 9
Even that grace of God promised in the
scriptures comes only “after all we can do.” 10
You may tell yourself that your transgressions
are not spiritually illegal. That will not work; neither will rebellion, nor
anger, nor joking about them. You cannot do that. And you don’t have to do it.
There is a way back. It will not help if, out
of tender regard for your feelings, I avoid telling you about the hard part.
John Breen did not come to that morning at
Johnson’s Ranch simply by desiring it. He wallowed and clawed his way up over
the pass, suffering every step of the way. But once he knew he would survive
and the suffering would end, surely he did not complain at the ordeal. And he
had help all the way down. He was with rescuers.
When an offense is minor, so simple a thing as
an apology will satisfy the law. Most mistakes can be settled between us and
the Lord, and that should be done speedily. 11 It requires a confession to Him,
and whatever obvious repairs need to be made.
With sincere repentance as a pattern in our
lives, measured by our willingness to “confess them and forsake them,” 12 the
Lord has promised that we may “always retain a remission of [our] sins.” 13
Alma bluntly told his wayward son that
“repentance could not come unto men except there were a punishment.” 14
The punishment may, for the most part, consist
of the torment we inflict upon ourselves. It may be the loss of privilege or
progress. 15 (For further information, see additional text in this endnote.) We
are punished by our sins, if not for them.
There are some transgressions which require a
discipline which will bring about the relief that comes with the morning of
forgiveness. If your mistakes have been grievous ones, go to your bishop. Like
the rescuers who brought John Breen down from the mountaintops, bishops can
guide you through the steps required to obtain forgiveness insofar as the
Church is concerned. Each one of us must work out individually forgiveness from
the Lord.
To earn forgiveness, one must make restitution.
That means you give back what you have taken or ease the pain of those you have
injured.
But sometimes you cannot give back what you
have taken because you don’t have it to give. If you have caused others to
suffer unbearably—defiled someone’s virtue, for example—it is not within your
power to give it back.
There are times you cannot mend that which you
have broken. Perhaps the offense was long ago, or the injured refused your
penance. Perhaps the damage was so severe that you cannot fix it no matter how
desperately you want to.
Your repentance cannot be accepted unless there
is a restitution. If you cannot undo what you have done, you are trapped. It is
easy to understand how helpless and hopeless you then feel and why you might
want to give up, just as Alma did.
The thought that rescued Alma, when he acted
upon it, is this: Restoring what you cannot restore, healing the wound you
cannot heal, fixing that which you broke and you cannot fix is the very purpose
of the atonement of Christ.
When your desire is firm and you are willing to
pay the “uttermost farthing,” 16 the law of restitution is suspended. Your
obligation is transferred to the Lord. He will settle your accounts.
I repeat, save for the exception of the very
few who defect to perdition, there is no habit, no addiction, no rebellion, no
transgression, no apostasy, no crime exempted from the promise of complete
forgiveness. That is the promise of the atonement of Christ.
How all can be repaired, we do not know. It may
not all be accomplished in this life. We know from visions and visitations that
the servants of the Lord continue the work of redemption beyond the veil. 17
This knowledge should be as comforting to the
innocent as it is to the guilty. I am thinking of parents who suffer unbearably
for the mistakes of their wayward children and are losing hope.
Some members wonder why their priesthood
leaders will not accept them just as they are and simply comfort them in what
they call pure Christian love.
Pure Christian love, the love of Christ, does
not presuppose approval of all conduct. Surely the ordinary experiences of
parenthood teach that one can be consumed with love for another and yet be
unable to approve unworthy conduct.
We cannot, as a church, approve unworthy
conduct or accept into full fellowship individuals who live or who teach
standards that are grossly in violation of that which the Lord requires of
Latter-day Saints.
If we, out of sympathy, should approve unworthy
conduct, it might give present comfort to someone but would not ultimately
contribute to that person’s happiness. 18
In the most tender of sermons in the
revelations on kindness and long-suffering, on meekness, gentleness, on love
unfeigned, the Lord instructs us to reprove “betimes with sharpness, when moved
upon by the Holy Ghost; and then [show] forth afterwards an increase of love
toward him whom thou hast reproved.” 19
The Lord provides ways to pay our debts to Him.
In one sense we ourselves may participate in an atonement. When we are willing
to restore to others that which we have not taken, or heal wounds that we did
not inflict, or pay a debt that we did not incur, we are emulating His part in
the Atonement.
So many live with accusing guilt when relief is
ever at hand. So many are like the immigrant woman who skimped and saved and
deprived herself until, by selling all of her possessions, she bought a
steerage-class ticket to America.
She rationed out the meager provisions she was
able to bring with her. Even so, they were gone early in the voyage. When
others went for their meals, she stayed below deck—determined to suffer through
it. Finally, on the last day, she must, she thought, afford one meal to give
her strength for the journey yet ahead. When she asked what the meal would
cost, she was told that all of the meals had been included in the price of her
ticket.
That great morning of forgiveness may not come
at once. Do not give up if at first you fail. Often the most difficult part of
repentance is to forgive yourself. Discouragement is part of that test. Do not
give up. That brilliant morning will come.
Then “the peace of God, which passeth …
understanding” comes into your life once again. 20 Then you, like Him, will
remember your sins no more. How will you know? You will know! 21
Some years ago I was in Washington, D.C., with
President Harold B. Lee. Early one morning he called me to come into his hotel
room. He was sitting in his robe reading Gospel Doctrine, by President Joseph
F. Smith, and he said, “Listen to this!
“‘Jesus had not finished his work when his body
was slain, neither did he finish it after his resurrection from the dead;
although he had accomplished the purpose for which he then came to the earth,
he had not fulfilled all his work. And when will he? Not until he has redeemed
and saved every son and daughter of our father Adam that have been or ever will
be born upon this earth to the end of time, except the sons of perdition. That
is his mission. We will not finish our work until we have saved ourselves, and
then not until we shall have saved all depending upon us; for we are to become
saviors upon Mount Zion, as well as Christ. We are called to this mission.’” 22
“There is never a time,” the Prophet Joseph
Smith taught, “when the spirit is too old to approach God. All are within the
reach of pardoning mercy, who have not committed the unpardonable sin.” 23
And so we pray, and we fast, and we plead, and
we implore. We love those who wander, and we never give up hope.
I bear witness of Christ and of the power of
His atonement. And I know that “his anger kindleth against the wicked; they
repent, and in a moment it is turned away, and they are in his favor, and he
giveth them life; therefore, weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in
the morning.” 24 In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
References:
1. John Breen,
“Pioneer Memoirs,” unpublished, as quoted on “The Americanization of Utah,” PBS
television broadcast.
2. D&C 58:42.
3. Isa. 43:25; emphasis added.
4. Jer. 31:34.
5. Heb. 8:12; see also Heb. 10:17.
6. Alma 36:12; emphasis added.
7. Alma 36:15; emphasis added.
8. Alma 36:19–20.
9. Isa. 1:18–19.
10. 2 Ne. 25:23.
11. See D&C
109:21.
12. D&C 58:43; see also Ezek. 18:21–24,
31–32.
13. Mosiah 4:12; emphasis added.
14. Alma 42:16.
15. Forgiveness will
come eventually to all repentant souls who have not committed the unpardonable
sin (see Matt. 12:31). Forgiveness does not, however, necessarily assure
exaltation, as is the case with David (see D&C 132:38–39; see also Ps.
16:10; Acts 2:25–27; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 339).
16. See Matt. 5:25–26.
17. See D&C 138.
18. See Teachings of
the Prophet Joseph Smith, pp. 256–57.
19. D&C 121:43.
20. Philip. 4:7.
21. See Mosiah 4:1–3.
22. Joseph F. Smith, Gospel
Doctrine, 5th ed. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1939, p. 442; emphasis
added.
23. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.
191; emphasis added.
24. JST, Ps. 30:5; see
also D&C 61:20.
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