Repentance question.Inactive member

hordak · #1 (**permalink**) 03-28-2008, 07:04 AM

So i was born and raised in the church, baptized at 8 and ordained a deacon when i was 13.
Then i hit high school and my priorities changed. I stopped going to church and struggled with the word of wisdom for a while, committed some other sins but was able to leave them behind with some maturity. Now my wife is getting baptized and i have come back to the church but i have some questions. I will be having an interview with the bishop to see if i am worthy to hold the Priesthood soon. Should i confesses all my sins going back to when i left the church? I understand that confession is an important part of repentance and i can see why when the problems are fresh and you need to ease the burden and gain some accountability however many of them i was able to repent of and forsake 4-5 years ago. Last Sunday we had had a talk about not letting the past mistakes burden us and i think it holds true to this issue. In my heart i only feel i have one thing that is holding back my eternal progression and it is the one thing i haven't been able to quit.Smoking.
So do i go in there and lay it all on the table and give him my life story or just the things which still hold me back?

Elgama · #2 (**permalink**) 03-28-2008, 07:23 AM

my personal response would be say to go in and take the questions the Bishop asks you at face value, answer them as honestly as you can. We have other members that have been Bishop's though and can tell you more. But trust the keys your Bishop has.

-Charley

WillowTheWhisp · #3 (**permalink**) 03-28-2008, 08:56 AM

I would be inclined to ask the Bishop the question you have asked in the opening post here. If he needs to know more he will ask you, if he does not he will reassure you.

SmilingRedhead · #4 (**permalink**) 03-28-2008, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I would be inclined to ask the Bishop the question you have asked in the opening post here. If he needs to know more he will ask you, if he does not he will reassure you.

That's exactly what I was going to say

Palerider · #5 (**permalink**) 03-28-2008, 09:22 AM

after reading everything....I believe you have your question answered and I say "ditto" to whats been said. Good Luck with your interview!!!

WillowTheWhisp · #6 (**permalink**) 03-28-2008, 09:38 AM

By the way, welcome back.

Loudmouth_Mormon · #7 (**permalink**) 03-28-2008, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hordak

Should i confesses all my sins going back to when i left the church? I understand that confession is an important part of repentance and i can see why when the problems are fresh and you need to ease the burden and gain some accountability however many of them i was able to repent of and forsake 4-5 years ago.

I have personal experience in confessing past sins to my bishop that I left behind years ago. My vote is do it. I am very glad I did it. There is just something about saying the words out loud, to one of the Lord's representative, that has a healing and cleansing power.

FYI, here are the steps of repentence we teach out of the Gospel Principles book:

Quote:

How Do We Repent?
We Must Recognize Our Sins
We Must Feel Sorrow for Our Sins
We Must Forsake Our Sins
We Must Confess Our Sins
We Must Make Restitution
We Must Forgive Others
We Must Keep the Commandments of God

We've repented after we've done all this stuff, not just some of it.

LM

rickg · #8 (**permalink**) 03-28-2008, 03:14 PM

Yes, been there, am doing that. I asked a past Bishop what all I need to talk about, how far back to go, ect. He actually left it mostly up to me. But he was most concerned with my current issues, not what happened 10 years ago. If I had a list of sins going back that far, and had truely left them behind, he was satisfied with that. We tend to be tougher on ourselves than a Bishop(or the Lord), so he said I'd probably already more than paid for those sins. I suppose adultry and murder would need to be dealt with, but anything less than that could be considered a done deal.
But, as other have said, talk it over with the Bishop, and go from there. One thing I have done, is have a prayer just before going in to my Bishops office, and ask that the Spirit would guide the discussion, and that anything that needed to be dealt with would come up. Sounds simple, but it works! I had something I'd almost forgotten about come to my mind in one interview, and it did nned to be talked about. So try that.

lilered · #9 (**permalink**) 03-29-2008, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rickg

Yes, been there, am doing that. I asked a past Bishop what all I need to talk about, how far back to go, ect. He actually left it mostly up to me. But he was most concerned with my current issues, not what happened 10 years ago. If I had a list of sins going back that far, and had truely left them behind, he was satisfied with that. We tend to be tougher on ourselves than a Bishop(or the Lord), so he said I'd probably already more than paid for those sins. I suppose adultry and murder would need to be dealt with, but anything less than that could be considered a done deal.
But, as other have said, talk it over with the Bishop, and go from there. One thing I have done, is have a prayer just before going in to my Bishops office, and ask that the Spirit would guide the discussion, and that anything that needed to be dealt with would come up. Sounds simple, but it works! I had something I'd almost forgotten about come to my mind in one interview, and it did nned to be talked about. So try that.

++

Great advise learned by your own expierence.

tomk · #10 (**permalink**) 03-29-2008, 08:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hordak

So i was born and raised in the church, baptized at 8 and ordained a deacon when i was 13.
Then i hit high school and my priorities changed. I stopped going to church and struggled with the word of wisdom for a while, committed some other sins but was able to leave them behind with some maturity. Now my wife is getting baptized and i have come back to the church but i have some questions. I will be having an interview with the bishop to see if i am worthy to hold the Priesthood soon. Should i confesses all my sins going back to when i left the church? I understand that confession is an important part of repentance and i can see why when the problems are fresh and you need to ease the burden and gain some accountability however many of them i was able to repent of and forsake 4-5 years ago. Last Sunday we had had a talk about not letting the past mistakes burden us and i think it holds true to this issue. In my heart i only feel i have one thing that is holding back my eternal progression and it is the one thing i haven't been able to quit.Smoking.
So do i go in there and lay it all on the table and give him my life story or just the things which still hold me back?

My gut reaction to this was -- why are you coming to us? This is between you, your Bishop, and the Lord.

If you are completely repentant you won't hesitate to mention those things to your Bishop. How long it's been does not matter.

If I were you I would print your post and hand it to your Bishop when you interview with him.

Tom