The Constitution of the Churc
www.kevinhinckley.com
Editor’s Note:
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The following slide discusses a common misunderstanding in the church.
The friend in the example talked to me about a fear he had. He was struggling with a particular
weakness. He would sin, feel great remorse, honestly and completely repent and then, at some
point, repeat the sin. Again he would go through sincere and heartfelt repentance only to repeat,
eventually, the original sin.
His fear was, because he had repeated the sin, that 1) he must have been insincere or less than
truthful with the Lord during his repentance process. His proof was that he had sinned again. (“TRUE
repentance is when you never do it again. And if you ever do, you didn’t really mean it.”)
The -100 in the slide is a metaphor I used, kind of a “100 sin demerit”, kind of thing…
Secondly, because of D&C 82:7, he believed that his subsequent sins had a kind of “compounding
effect”; that each time he sinned his past sins were brought forward and combined with his present
sins. In effect, each time he sinned he was sinking deeper and deeper. As a result, he had become
more and more depressed, gradually losing hope in his ability to “dig out” of the effects of his
ongoing weaknesses. I suggested to my friend that he was missing an important part of the
Atonement and of the Lord’s statements that “I, the Lord, remember them no more!”
If there are any questions from the class, please read the quote from the seminary manual about this
idea. Incidently, following the cross references to D&C 82: 7 would suggest that the sins discussed in
that verse seem to focus on someone who joins the church and then leaves it at some point. When
they do so, all of their former habits and sinning ways return, sometimes in greater number.
The following slide demonstrates that dilemma and hopefully sparks a class discussion leading to a
resolution of this misunderstanding. This then can lead into 1) a discussion about Joseph Smith
feeling a need to repent, leading to the First Vision, his subsequent desire to repent, leading to the
visit from Moroni and then the truths contained in Section 20 revealed to the Saints about the Savior
and our role as Latter Day Saints.
A Friend
(Mosiah 26:30 …as often as my people repent will I forgive them…)
Even though a mighty change occurs at rebirth, no one becomes
perfect overnight. So the principle of repentance is needed as one
endeavors to go on unto perfection and as he endures to the end.
Feels
Sins
Feels
Satan would
him believe that,
once forgiven,
any misstep
SinsisAgain!
Again
Forgiven
Sins have Forgiven
fatal and irreparable. But this passage shows that Satan is a liar.
Every young person should have this passage memorized as a
source of hope. But he should understand that it is not a license
Repents
- 100
to commit willful
sin or try
to take unrighteous advantage of the
Repents
Lord's mercy,
- 100
I
I
- 100
for the Lord has also said, "but unto that soul
who sinneth shall the
- 200
former sins [habits, behaviors] return." (D&C 82:7.) Though at first - 100
these like
two scriptures
(Mosiah 26:30;
D&C 82:7) may seem
- 100
feel
I’m digging
a hole
contradictory, together they teach the true mercy and justice of the - 100
can
out
of…
- 300
Lord.never
(Seminary get
Book of
Mormon
Student’s Manual, Sec 82)
On April 6th, 1830
Gathered at the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette, NY
On April 6th, 1830
Gathered at the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette, NY
About 30-40 persons gathered
Six people constituted the formal organization
Those six were baptized that day
Another four were also baptizedMartin Harris
Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith
Porter Rockwell
Section 20
1 The rise of the Church of Christ in these last
days, being one thousand eight hundred and
thirty years since the coming of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh,
it being regularly organized and established
agreeable to the laws of our country,
by the will and commandments of God,
in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the
month which is called April—
Question:
How do commandments “inspire” us??
Don’t
they limit
what
we
can
2 Which commandments
were given
to Joseph Smith,
Jun.,
who wasdo?
called of God, and ordained an
apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the first elder of this church;
5 After it was truly manifested unto this first elder that he had received a remission of his sins [the
First Vision], he was entangled again in the vanities of the world;
6 But after repenting, and humbling himself sincerely, through faith, God ministered unto him by an
holy angel [Moroni], whose countenance was as lightning, and whose garments were pure and
white above all other whiteness;
7 And gave unto him commandments which inspired him;
…and gave him power from on high"
B.H.Roberts
In my interview with David Whitmer, in 1884, as he
went over this ground [talking about witnessing the
Golden Plates] , led by my questions, when we
came to this part of it he said to me that in the
progress of turning the leaves, or having them
turned by Moroni, and looking upon the
engravings, Moroni looked directly at him and said:
"David, blessed is he that endureth to the end."
When David Whitmer made that remark it seemed to me rather a peculiar
thing that he should thus be singled out for such a remark… but the
subsequent history of these three witnesses led me to conclude that there
was indeed a hidden warning in the words of the angel to David…
And it is rather a sad reflection that of these three witnesses he was the only
one who died outside of membership in the Church. I wonder if Moroni
was not trying to sound a warning to this stubborn man, that perhaps
whatever his experiences and trials might be, that at the last he, too, might
have been brought into the fold, and might have died within the pale of the
Church.
Robert L. Millet
"The call to discipleship is a call to a higher
righteousness. The Saints are asked to put off the natural
man, put away the toys of a telestial world, and grow up
in the Lord.
They are summoned to be obedient, to keep the
commandments, to manifest 'by a godly walk and
conversation that they are worthy' of membership in the
Church and kingdom of God (D&C 20:69).
They covenant to take upon them the sacred name of Jesus Christ, to bear the same
with fidelity and devotion, and to behave as becomes Christians. In short, they
covenant before God and man to see to it that their actions evidence their
Christian commitment. Disciples are expected to have clean hands.
"But there is more. Life in Christ is more than correct behavior, more than
appropriate actions, more than what we do. It is being. It is what we are.
True disciples seek that sanctifying influence that derives from the Holy Spirit, so that
they come to do the right things for the right reasons. Life in Christ is characterized
by pure attitudes, motives, and desires. Disciples are expected to have pure
hearts."
(An Eye Single To The Glory of God, p55)
Elder Holland
Sister Holland and I were married about
the time both of us were reading poems
like that in BYU classrooms. We were as
starstruck—and as fearful—as most of you
are at these ages and stages of life. We had
absolutely no money. Zero. For a variety of
reasons, neither of our families was able to help finance our education. We had a
small apartment just south of campus—the smallest we could find: two rooms and a
half bath. We were both working too many hours trying to stay afloat financially, but
we had no other choice.
I remember one fall day—I think it was in the first semester after our marriage in
1963—we were walking together up the hill past the Maeser Building on the
sidewalk that led between the President’s Home and the Brimhall Building.
Somewhere on that path we stopped and wondered what we had gotten ourselves
into. Life that day seemed so overwhelming, and the undergraduate plus graduate
years that we still anticipated before us seemed monumental, nearly
insurmountable. Our love for each other and our commitment to the gospel were
strong, but most of all the other temporal things around us seemed particularly
ominous.
On a spot that I could probably still mark for you today, I turned to Pat and said
something like this: “Honey, should we give up? I can get a good job and carve out
a good living for us. I can do some things. I’ll be okay without a degree. Should we
stop trying to tackle what right now seems so difficult to face?”
Elder Holland
In my best reenactment of Lot’s wife, I
said, in effect, “Let’s go back. Let’s go
home. The future holds nothing for us.”
Then my beloved little bride did what
she has done for 45 years since then.
She grabbed me by the lapels and said,
“We are not going back. We are not going home. The future holds
everything for us.”
She stood there in the sunlight that day and gave me a real talk. I don’t
recall that she quoted Paul, but there was certainly plenty in her voice
that said she was committed to setting aside all that was past in order
to “press toward the mark” and seize the prize of God that lay yet
ahead. It was a living demonstration of faith. It was “the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
So we laughed, kept walking, and finished up sharing a root beer—one
glass, two straws—at the then newly constructed Wilkinson Center.
BYU Devotional, “Remember Lot’s Wife” 2009