Repentance

A personal study

What is repentance?

What does it mean to repent?

Why do "good people" need to repent?

What does daily repentance mean?

Bible Dictionary
Denotes change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world

Repentance is:
1. a turning of the heart and will to God
2. renunciation of sin (to which we are naturally inclined)

Repentance and Conversion
Pres. Nelson, April 2007

Repentance is the Lord's regimen for spiritual growth
To repent fully is to convert completely to the Lord Jesus Christ and His holy work.
Focused upon our journey to the kingdom of God,

We Can Do Better and Be Better
Pres. Nelson, April 2019



Topical Guide

Other topics/words:  confession, contrite heart, forgive, guilt, purification, remission of sins, return, turn, restore, recompense, sorry, forsake, cease, ashamed, godly sorrow, born again

Proverbs 28:13
Isaiah 55:7
Acts 3:19
2 Cor 7:10
Mosiah 4:10
Mosiah 26:30
Alma 5:54
Alma 26:22
Alma 32:13
Helaman 5:41

God commandeth all men everywhere to repent Acts 17:30, 2 Nephi 9:23, 3 Nephi 11:32, D&C 133:16



Cleansed by Repentance
Pres. Oaks, April 2019

The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ opens the door for "all men to repent and come unto Him."

True repentance is not an event--it is a never-ending privilege.  It is fundamental to progression and having peace of mind, comfort, and joy (quoting Pres. Nelson)

Repentance = an invitation to come unto Christ

Because all would sin and be cut off from God's presence, men could not "be saved" without repentance.

We must repent of all our sins--all of our actions or inactions

No one is exempt.

The Atonement of Jesus Christ gives us the only way to achieve the needed cleansing through repentance.


Finding Forgiveness
Elder Scott, April 1995

We can do nothing for ourselves to satisfy the demands of justice for a broken eternal law. Yet, unless the demands of justice are paid, each of us will suffer endless negative consequences.

Only Jesus Christ can release us!

Each of us has made mistakes, large and small, which if unresolved will keep us from the presence of God.

Qualify for forgiveness through repentance and obedience.

The Divine Gift of Repentance
Elder Christofferson, Oct 2011

The prophetic call to repent should be received with joy!

Without repentance, there is no real progress or improvement in life.

Real repentance, real change may require repeated attempts, but there is something refining and hold in such striving.

With repentance we can steadily improve in our capacity to live the celestial law.

Repentance means committing to obedience...nothing less than a covenant of obedience.

One's very heart and desires change, and the once-appealing sin becomes increasingly abhorrent.

What ever the cost of repentance, it is swallowed up in the joy of forgiveness.

Repentance: A Joyful Choice
Elder Renlund, Oct 2016

Real repentance involves faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith that He can change us, faith that He can forgive us, and faith that He will help us avoid more mistakes.

Without the Redeemer, the inherent hope and joy evaporate, and repentance becomes simply miserable behavior modification.

Keeps us from repenting
1. Blaming others--allows us to excuse our behavior.  By so doing, we shift responsibility for our actions to others.  When the responsibility is shifted, we diminish both the need and our ability to repent.

2. Minimizing our mistakes--removes the motivation to change

3.  Our sins do not matter because God loves us no matter what we do--Go does love us.  However, what we do matters to Him and to us.

4.  Choosing to separate God from His commandments--we should be wary of discounting sinful behavior by undermining or dismissing God's authorship of His commandments.

When we understand how our sins can affect our eternal happiness, we not only become truly penitent but we also strive to become better.

Our Redeemer chooses to forgive because of His incomparable compassion, mercy, and love.

When we choose to repent, we immediately invite the Savior into our lives.

We can feel godly sorrow for our actions and, at the same time, feel the joy of having the Savior's help.

Repentance is not only possible but also joyful because of the Savior.

Repentance is Always Positive
Bro. Owen YM Pres, Oct 2017

We can try to change our behavior on our own, but only the Savior can remove our stains and lift our burdens, enabling us to pursue the path of obedience with confidence and strength.

True repentance inspires us to make our obedience a commitment.

Repentance requires persistence.

We are all prodigals.  We all have to "come to ourselves"...and choose the path that leads back home.  It's a choice we make daily throughout our lives.

Repentace puts us on the right path and keeps us on the right path.

The moment we set foot on the path of repentance, we invite the Savior's redeeming power into our lives.  The power will steady our feet, expand our vision, and deepen our resolve to keep moving forward.

Pancakes--2 Nephi 32:3

When we were still meeting in person for seminary my teaching partner passed out doctrinal mastery scriptures to pairs of students and asked them to come up with a way to remember it.  (She may have asked them to draw it).

Matthew and Izzy had 2 Nephi 32:3  Feast upon the words of Christ.  And their analogy?

Pancakes with syrup 

(2323--pancake, syrup, pancake, syrup; EAT)

On Friday I asked my kids to spend 30 minutes working on Doctrinal Mastery on their own and then to reply to the email after they memorized five of them and to tell us how they remembered one.

--I remember 2 Nephi 32:3 because of the pancake thing and it is feasting upon the words of Christ. 

--I also remember 2 Nephi 32:3 because of the pancakes. If we feast upon the words of Christ we can receive knowledge of all things.

--i remember it using the pancake thing! 

--i remember Nephi 2 32:3 from the pancakes.:) 

--I remember 2 Nephi 32:3 (Pancake,syrup,Pancake,syrup) cause that's the one that Izzy and I made.

--I remember 2 nephi 32:3 using Matthew‘s pancake reference 

--The pancake analogy really helped me with 2nd Nephi 32:3

--I remembered 2 nephi 32:3 because of the pancake example, syrup, pancake, syrup, pancake!

I did have two students do other DM scriptures:

--I remember mosiah  2:41, obedience brings blessings and happiness. The way I remember this is I made a quizlet at the beginning of the semester and have been working on all of them slowly through out. 

--I remember Mosiah 18:8-10 because we are like the 8 and when we enter in to the covenant we have a greater purpose so you ad the 10 and you are now 18

And I did this one:

2 Nephi 28:30  We are given line upon line (28, 29, 30)

Well, I call it a successful year if the kids can really, really remember a DM…and it sounds like they can. J  Yum, pancakes!

One DM per Page

Here is a way I've started to really dig into a doctrinal mastery passage...One doctrinal mastery scripture per page.

I typed the reference and key phrase at the top of the page.  In the center I copied and pasted the scripture from ChurchofJesusChrist.org and below that added the footnotes from the scriptures.  I enlarged the text and added a little more spacing.  Then I printed it out and starting digging in one word and phrase at a time; jotting down notes, reading cross-references, asking questions, making lists, and referencing other resources such as the seminary manuals.  An hour really digging in...I love it!

Memorizing Techniques

Some ideas I pulled together about memorizing Doctrinal Mastery scriptures.

1.  Make flashcards; use often

2.  Make a matching game with reference and key phrase

3.  Write it out, cover what your wrote, then write it again (and again and again)

4.  Say the reference and key phrase out loud until you can recite it

5.  Use the first letter of the reference and each word from the phrase (Doctrinal Mastery App)

6.  Make a fill-in-the-blank "worksheet"

7.  Write them out then cut into words or phrases and put back in the right order.  How fast can you do it?

8.  Make up a game to teach them to your parent(s) or sibling(s)

9.  Draw a picture that helps you remember the reference or the phrase

10. Turn it into a rhyme or song

11.  Visualize it/create an image to remember the reference or key phrase

12.  Ask your parent, sibling or friend to quiz you on them

13.  Write it on a piece of paper and hang it where you can see it often during the day.

14.  Set an alarm to go off several times a day--stop what you're doing and work on Doctrinal Mastery for 5 minutes.

I am coming to believe that knowing the reference and the doctrine it teaches is really the goal...not knowing the exact "key phrase" and most often we will have access to scriptures to look up the full reference.  That is what I am focusing on and encouraging my students to focus on as well.  I find that when I try to memorize word for word I'm obsessed with the WORDS and not the meaning of the scripture.