List of Doctrines on "Sin: Sexual Sin - Repentance"
784. Those who persist in sexual sin shall not inherit the kingdom of God (yet there is mercy for the sinner who repents).
784. Those who persist in sexual sin shall not inherit the kingdom of God (yet there is mercy for the sinner who repents).
Melvin J. Ballard
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
President Spencer W. Kimball
Paul
Paul
President Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, N. Eldon Tanner
Joseph Smith
President Spencer W. Kimball
Melvin J. Ballard
Certainly our teachers were right when they held up an ideal that virtue was as sacred as life itself, and that we had better lose our lives than lose our virtue. . . . [N]ext to the crime of murder itself is the crime of sexual impurity. . . . [T]he devil is apt to [make the sinner believe] that now he or she has committed this sin they are lost forever. Repentance is in order always, and mercy for the sinner. CR1929Apr:69
Elder Spencer W. Kimball
If adultery or fornication justified the death penalty in the old days, and still in Christ's day, is the sin any less today because the laws of the land do not assess the death penalty for it? Is the act less grievous? There must be a washing, a purging, a changing of attitudes, a correcting of appraisals, a strengthening toward self-mastery. And these cleansing processes cannot be accomplished as easily as taking a bath or shampooing the hair, or sending a suit of clothes to the cleaners. There must be many prayers, and volumes of tears. There must be more than a verbal acknowledgement. There must be an inner conviction giving to the sin its full diabolical weight. "My sins are disgusting—loathsome" one could come to think about his baser sins, like the Psalmist who used these words: "My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness." (Psalms 38:5)
There must be increased devotion and much thought and study. There must be a re-awakening, a fortification, a re-birth. And this takes energy and time and often is accompanied with sore embarrassment, heavy deprivations and deep trials, even if indeed one is not excommunicated from the Church, losing all spiritual blessings. (The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 155) TLDP:74
President Spencer W. Kimball
To be specific, let us postulate clearly and unmistakably that all sexual life outside of the proper marriage association—I said the proper marriage association—are evil and forbidden by God, and the unrepentant and those who indulge in these will be disillusioned. ACR(Sydney)1976:54
Paul
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
10. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (Letter to the Church at Corinth, Greece, 55 B.C.) 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Paul
For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. (Letter to the Saints at Ephesus in Asia Minor, about A.D. 62) Ephesians 5:5
President Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, N. Eldon Tanner
(First Presidency)
[Church] leaders should generally approach these unhappy [homosexual] people in the true spirit of the gospel of love and understanding rather than of condemnation. They are sons and daughters of God and made in the image of God, and intended to become like God in righteousness and honor and integrity and virtue.
They should be convinced through kind persuasion that a total continuing repentance could bring them forgiveness for the transgression. They can also be assured that in spite of all they may have heard from other sources, they can overcome and can return to total normal, happy living.
Many of these people have reached their present depressed state on a long road of gradual deterioration and cannot be expected to perfect themselves instantly. Consequently, high ideals and positive programs should be suggested to them and frequent visits will help them gain self-mastery.
The inspiration of the Lord will generally bring happy solutions to these problems. (His Servants Speak, pp. 157-58) TLDP:73
Joseph Smith,
receiving the Word of the Lord
receiving the Word of the Lord
And he that looketh upon a woman to lust after her shall deny the faith, and shall not have the Spirit; and if he repents not he shall be cast out.
24. Thou shalt not commit adultery; and he that committeth adultery, and repenteth not, shall be cast out.
25. But he that has committed adultery and repents with all his heart, and forsaketh it, and doeth it no more, thou shalt forgive;
26. But if he doeth it again, he shall not be forgiven, but shall be cast out. (Revelation "embracing the law of the Church," Feb. 9, 1831) D&C 42:23-26
Related Witnesses:
President Spencer W. Kimball
"Vice is a monster of such heinous mien," someone has said. But it is a monkey on your back. Its satisfactions are momentary, but the reaction is always disappointing and frustrating. Rationalization may sear the conscience, but the product of unchastity is remorse and sorrow. A clean conscience with a chaste body and a virtuous mind bring power, happiness, and peace which no unvirtuous person can or ever will enjoy to the same extent. [See Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man:
"Vice is a monster of so frightful mein,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."]
ACR(Sydney)1976:54
