Repentance & Forgiveness

Admit it.... Nobody is perfect! After teaching a Primary Lesson about Repentance I paused to ponder. Is there a difference between Forgiveness and Repentance? I believe so and I believe they go hand-in-hand.

As becoming a member of the church the 4th article of faith states, "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Repentance is making a confession to the Lord. Believing that our sins will be forgiven. It then is up to us to seek repentance for forgiveness from our Heavenly Father and do all we can do to change. As teaching the children, the steps to repentance is easy; First, we must feel sorry; Second, we ask forgiveness; Third, we right the wrong and Fourth, we don't repeat the wrong. Thankfully we can partake of the sacrament and renew this covenant every Sunday and have the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Forgiveness is to pardon or excuse someone from blame for an offense or misdeed. The Lord commands us to forgive those who offend or hurt us. Forgiveness is much more difficult because it requires of us to have courage to ask forgiveness or the wrongdoer has not yet gotten to the point of asking for forgiveness and continues to offend. I do believe forgiveness is due if the wrongdoer makes an attempt by stopping the offense and they have a change in heart. You'll know when that happens, you can feel it (unfortunately, this doesn't usually happen overnight).

Of course, Dr. Lauras input below.



One thing to remember, we do not always realize that we have offended someone or maybe, they might even feel what they did was not offensive at all. But I would say that if a person has voiced their opinion and feelings are hurt that would be a pretty good indication that forgiveness is needed.