Spinning my wheels, going nowhere...

[LostSheep]

I hate posting on the advise board...I hate having to ask for help. Yet here I am again.

You know how the church is always saying "It's never too late to repent?" Well, I think that over the years, I've turned that into a negative thing. I mean, why not sin if I can just repent? Well, of course with that mind set, I'm not really moving forward. The more I repent, the EASIER it seems to sin afterwards. I start to take the attonement for granted. Is there anything I can do to help me reverse this negative thinking? And to be more greatful? Or...I don't know....I don't think I really know exactly what it is I'm asking....But I feel a great need to ask it.

[Dr T]

That's a good question Lostsheep. The way I look at that is "the spirit is willing, but the body is weak" kind of idea. I'm learning that the things that are attractive sometimes go against what God is telling us to do. In those cases I'm learning to depend more on God and not myself. I see sinning more just so God can show more grace as not the way to show my appreciation for God and what's He's done for me. We don't sin more so grace can abound, "Be it not so!" or "Heck no way" as Paul sort of said. I don't want to slap the Lord in his face like that and that's the way I see it.

[ztodd]

Originally Posted by LostSheep

I hate posting on the advise board...I hate having to ask for help. Yet here I am again.

You know how the church is always saying "It's never too late to repent?" Well, I think that over the years, I've turned that into a negative thing. I mean, why not sin if I can just repent?

Because "wickedness never was happiness".

The kind of happiness this scripture talks about is the long-lasting, peace-filled kind of happiness that only faithful living can bring.

We can still achieve this happiness by repenting, but as you pointed out, it gets much harder to gain and maintain this happiness the more we give in to sin.

Sinning, with the intent to repent later, is just not worth it. Please believe that. It is abusing the gift that Jesus has given us.

[lilered]

To add a bit to "Wickedness never was happiness". We are told that if we are obediant to Gods commandments and follow his counsel he will bless us. It follows then that if one is wicked, and not repentant they will not be blessed. Happiness is part of that which is promised to the obediant. Another is that the wicked lose the companship and influence of the Holy Ghost. This loss, allows Satan and his followers greater influence on you. The choice is yours. Keep in mind that its can be a slippery slope where one can be influenced so much by Satan than you spend your time following his ways and your life ends before you have a chance to repent.

[Loudmouth_Mormon]

Originally Posted by LostSheep

The more I repent, the EASIER it seems to sin afterwards. I start to take the attonement for granted. Is there anything I can do to help me reverse this negative thinking?

You should try repenting. It's a process, and I don't think you're completing the process.

The repentence lesson from Gospel Principles manual spells out all the steps. Sounds like you're having a problem with that 3rd step.

We Must Recognize Our Sins

We Must Feel Sorrow for Our Sins

We Must Forsake Our Sins
Our sincere sorrow should lead us to forsake (stop) our sins. If we have stolen something, we will steal no more. If we have lied, we will lie no more. If we have committed adultery, we will stop. The Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, “By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them” (D&C 58:43).

We Must Confess Our Sins

We Must Make Restitution

We Must Forgive Others

We Must Keep the Commandments of God

Do them all - then you will have repented. And one way you'll know, is that you knock off with the sinning.

LM

[rameumptom]

Don't forget that apologizing to God is only the beginning of repentance. Remorse, restitution, and staying faithful unto the end are all necessary for repentance to be complete. If you fall back into sinning, it means you got lazy along the way and stopped repenting.
We think that repentance is something we need to do occasionally. But it isn't. Repentance means change. And it means we need to be actively changing towards Christ, Becoming Christ-like, or we cease to repent and fall back into pride and sin.

Pleasure and pain are what guide us towards or away from things. Ponder the pain of your sins, and how it causes Christ to also suffer with you. Then think of the pleasure and eternal joy he promises to give you, if you fully repent and turn to Him. Let both feelings sink deep inside you, so you will hate sin and love repentance and righteousness. Allow yourself time to do this daily, so that it becomes ingrained within you, and becomes a part of you.

[Just_A_Guy]

While the process of repentance includes a number of essential components, it's very easy to boil it down to a series of steps that, when complete, give us a clean slate.

But when all is said and done, to repent is to change--to become a new person in Christ Jesus. Nothing more, nothing less. Just as it's possible to go through school without really learning anything, it's possible to mechanically go through the steps Loudmouth Mormon outlined above and still never really have applied the Atonement.

If you repeat a sin thinking you'll just "repent" later, then you never really repented in the first place.

This is not to say that true repentance from an addiction means you'll never experience relapse. But there should still be a fundamental shift in your overall attitude towards the behavior.