However, when young people often ask me how long the repentance process will take, what they mean is, how long will they have to go without some of the privileges of Church membership after they have committed serious sin? Heres my question: Im terrified by the possibility of how long the repentance process could take. I feel like a lot of people get confused about this topic. As servants of the Lord, we cannot be asleep while this battle rages. Tell him of your desire to serve a mission and see what he says. Yes, we will falter. You will be able to do that with constant prayer, scripture reading, and studying the words of the living prophets. I don't know if that's typical timing but it doesn't seem like an unreasonable wait to me. We pray for you. What does repentance entail? I was in a relationship with a guy, an inactive member, for about a year and ended it 3 months ago. Michelle, I hope the conversation with your bishop went well. Therefore, he should make plans to speak with his bishop as soon as possible. And did it again, but moved wards because of a move with homes. The adversary is quadrupling his efforts to disrupt testimonies and impede the work of the Lord. Good luck and God bless. Good luck and God bless. How serious is oral sex with a person of the same gender. About 3 years ago my boyfriend and I began to do some things that broke the law of chastity. Ultimately, repentance is a relationship with God. If your repentance is sincere and complete, there is no reason why this would make you ineligible to go on a mission. Alma recounted his experience of repenting from his sinful past: My soul was harrowed up [troubled] to the greatest degree and racked with all my sins. Hi, I have been a member of the church for 6 years but before that I broke the Law of Chastity. The evidence of repentance is transformation. I have been getting better and better at fighting and I have been talking with my bishop, but theres something that worries me more. But He does expect us to become increasingly pure. Annalisa, Im so sorry to hear about the situation. The length of the repentance process will vary from person to person depending on a lot of circumstances. mitchell gorshin; kentfield hospital staff; what to feed kookaburras in captivity kristie floren burgess best lds talks on repentance. Remember the words of Isaiah, Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18) and what the Lord told Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery Behold, your sins are forgiven you; you are clean before me; therefore, lift up your heads and rejoice.. Good luck and God bless. The power of sin is great. Every man must follow the same course whether he be rich or poor, educated or untrained, tall or short, prince or pauper, king or commoner (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: SpencerW. Kimball [2006], 38; italics in original). In that meeting, be sure to tell your stake president what has happened. You said you repented for braking the law of chastity a year and a half ago. It sounds like you are doing the right things to bring your life in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ. I encourage you to do as our prophet has counseled and stay on the covenant path as you strive to follow Jesus Christ each day of your life. The Lord has promised, I, the Lord, forgive sins, and am merciful unto those who confess their sins with humble hearts (D&C 61:2). In order to reach that goal, I encourage you to keep reading and studying the scriptures daily and keep praying daily and attending Church meetings. I wish I could offer more help than that. Get on your knees and pray each morning for strength beyond your own to resist sexual temptation, and I know the Lord will bless and help you in miraculous ways. Id love your advice on the matter, and your opinion on what is going to happen to me. Good luck, thanks for reaching out, and God bless. I want to go on a mission in January, and I dont want this is delay my mission. May God bless and be with you. Im also glad to hear that you have cleaned up your language and began adhering to the Word of Wisdom. Enoch and his city of Zion are powerful symbols among the Latter-day Saints, affirming that supreme righteousness can be attained on earth as it is in heaven. Thus many, if not most, of the temptations he puts in our path cause us to abuse our bodies or the bodies of others. It is time to thrust in [our] sickles, and reap with all [our] might, mind, and strength.17 The forces of evil have never raged more forcefully than they do today. Those whose marriages have failed because of what others have done can receive strength and comfort from the Lord, who promised: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Good luck and God bless you. It started with masturbation and pornography. I have been talking to my bishop and have told him everything. Rather, it is like decay that gradually and silently damages your teeth. She wrote: [My daughters and I] feel we are in fierce competition for our husbands and sons undivided attention, with 24/7 sports updates, video games, stock market updates, [and] endless analyzing and watching of games of every [conceivable] sport. But I have yet to do so. Will my process be long or will I be excommunicated? It will certainly help you to have her support during this process. But if not then Id go on mission. But if we are striving to repent, we can then use the sacrament to aid us in the repentance process. When I go to the MTC and confess, will they send me back home? I just dont feel comfortable. I have a question. Engaging in fornication breaks one of God's most . It's about 1 he 40 minutes from hitting the button to the end but the time it takes doing the veil varies according to how many patrons there are. Repentance means to surrender one's lifeone's whole being, both mind and bodyto God's will as expressed in His revealed Word. Regardless of what happens with the mission, you will be more blessed and happy if you stay clean and pure before the Lord, so either way, thats what you are going to want to do. I am also planning to apply for a mission by next year but would i have to open this up for my mission prep? What happens when you have went a certain amount of months without pornography and masturbation and receive a mission call and you report in lets say 2 weeks and you violate the law of chastity and youve already talked to your bishop? Im talking with my bishop tomorrow. I wish you well in your spiritual journey of life. I am willing to put those on the shelf for now because of my testimony. Ive never had the desire to serve a mission, but yesterday the idea came to me. What a mighty force for good you are! I am a YSA and I broke LOC when I was 20, I confessed it to the bishop and repented on it now Im 23. How do these couples go from ecstatic levels of love and happiness to frequent conflict, bitterness, and in many cases, divorce? The priesthood leaders I have known generally have felt that a month, maybe two or three, of refraining from masturbating would be necessary repentance for that transgression. Matthew 9:1013; Luke 13:3; Ezekiel 18:30 (repent or perish), Alma 7:21 (no unclean thing can dwell in Gods presence), Isaiah 1:18; Mosiah 26:2832 (repentance brings forgiveness), 2Nephi 9:23 (repentance necessary to salvation), 2Nephi 2:21 (repent while in the flesh), D&C 19:1520 (the Lord has commanded us to repent so we will not have to suffer as He did). There are some scenarios where divorce may be the proper choice. So will this delay my mission at all? Forgiveness is the perfect antidote for the poison of resentment. I have an engineering degree, a very mathematical, logical science, and I have worked as an analyst, a very data-driven, logical profession, for most of my career. This obedience includes actions we might not initially consider part of repentance, such as attending meetings, paying tithing, giving service, and forgiving others. Repentance Begins with Faith in Jesus Christ In order to repent, we need to believe that God will forgive us, and then take the actions needed for us to change. Thus, step one to truly repenting is to experience godly sorrow, grief over our sin. Coming from one who has had a sexual impurity problem since childhood and am now in my 30s. Im losing my hope of marrying in the temple because of the sin I committed and what my teacher told us? It is only with serious sin that repentance takes so long l, and so renewing covenants must be delayed to give us that time. Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. But me and her have broke the law of chasity 3 times. At times, we should fast for special blessings. Jesus Christ calls His disciples to repent. It was something terrible, something terrific.. If it is something where I would need to wait a year, I would rather not ask or tell anyone I had the idea and I would stop considering it in the mean time. As for breaking up or keeping your relationship, usually priesthood leaders dont tell us specifically who we should date, only that we should date people of our same high moral standards. My dear brethren, you were chosen by our Father to come to earth at this crucial time because of your premortal spiritual valor. We need to get up off the couch, put down the remote, and wake up from our spiritual slumber. Sometimes we sin because of ignorance, sometimes because of our weaknesses, and sometimes because of willful disobedience. The first thing youve got to do is to halt the inappropriate behavior. My friend didnt confess to the mission department, rather to his priesthood leader. The privilege of repenting is made possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I say that to let you know that logic and reason are not in contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a recent convert in April, I was planning on waiting my year then leaving for my mission the next April Having recently breaking the law of chastity, would I still be able to go in April?? They often enjoy having long conversations, going for walks, and spending time together. In your case, if you just had a serious law of chastity violation, it will likely be a year before you get your temple recommend back. You may have already confessed to Heavenly Father and He may have already forgiven you, yet I still think that with the serious nature of these transgressions, you should talk it over with your bishop. Is pornography included in this? I do know of any statement from the Church or any general authority of the Church stating whether or not pornography addiction specifically needs to be confessed in order for repentance of it to be complete. Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me., And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more.. Become one with her. That is why the Lord said, All men, everywhere, must repent (Moses 6:57). Am I allowed to be a missionary in my older age, to serve in the Church, or to even reach the highest degree of Celestial glory? Good luck and God bless. Weve been having those sexual relations a lot during the whole time we dated. It neutralizes our hurt feelings and makes room in our hearts for love to flourish and grow. If these steps have been accomplished, where does a 1 year waiting period fit in? For I am able to make you holy, and your sins are forgiven you. D&C 60:7 (see my post Missionary Work Cleanses Sin). The first principles and ordinances of the gospel are four items long. So my questions are: Is this a serious sin? It could be a month. If i tell this are they gonna cancell my recommend again? even if it means all you can do is lay down and cry yourself to sleep. Lets say you broke the law of chasity for about a year, then you decided to go on a mission and started a repentance process, but after 6 months you started comittimg the same sins again for about 7 months. You may not be able to serve a mission, but it is quite possible that you could still go. In many of these cases, the young people have developed their testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and they desire to serve a mission. And also the words of Isaiah, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18). Through the years, I strive myself to repent. Encourage Understanding and Application: Explain that because of Jesus Christ, when we do something wrong we can repent, which means we stop sinning and turn to God. You can do this!! Then you can like Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to whom the Lord said in D&C 110: 5 Behold, your sins are forgiven you; you are clean before me; therefore, lift up your heads and rejoice. Good luck and may God bless and be with you. And I ended things with the guy because I dont want to end up messing up again. When we get up in the morning, we should examine ourselves to see whether the Spirit of God is with us. After months, we met and started dating and decided to marry in the temple unfortunately my parents didnt agree. He is a convert and he thinks he just need to be good with the lord, how can I make him understand we need to talk with the bishop? We must maintain an unyielding, permanent resolve that we will never repeat the transgression. Please help us. Cami, I know it is embarrassing to talk to your bishop about this, but trust me when I say that it is the right thing to do. Then one day, she invited me to go to their house and play with their computer. Scott, I would give you similar advice that I have given other young men in your situation. Youre Heavenly Father loves you and has provided the way for you to change and improve through the Atonement of His Son Jesus Christ. We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. The short answer to your questions is no, you do not need to confess all your past sins when you join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as an adult convert. I have already quit smoking after 13 years, drinking coffee, watching any entertainment media and video games, and a few other things. You may try reading a book called Will Power is Not Enough. It was written by an LDS author and talks about tapping into the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to overcome addictive behavior. President Joseph Fielding Smith said of this: I have suffered pain, you have suffered pain, and sometimes it has been quite severe; but I cannot comprehend pain that would cause the blood, like sweat, to come out upon the body. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! We went to the Mission Office together and we were placed on a repentace process,we spent about 7days reading the Book of Mormon and having interviews with the Mission President,he said that he has forgiven us since we have the desire to change,but the 8th day,we receive our flight ticket to go home..Infact I have been in a shocked state ever since. But usually, from what I have heard, the waiting period is a matter of weeks, perhaps a couple of months, in a situation like this. During this time we all sin (see Romans 3:23). Confession. I just got a girlfriend 3 months ago and I love her a lot and shes gunna wait for me when I get of my mish. Dalin, Thanks so much for reaching out and sharing your thoughts and feelings. This is done under the care of a bishop or branch president and possibly a stake or mission president, who serve as watchmen and judges in the Church. 2. Repentance can't occur unless we sense the defilement of our unrepentant sin in our hearts. In addition to recognizing our sins, we must feel sincere sorrow for what we have done. Just curious. God bless. Good luck and God bless. Church discipline is a process that helps the individual feel that change of heart and change of behavior necessary to bring full forgiveness and peace. The Lord needs selfless men who put the welfare of others ahead of their own. Thanks. JoeJ. Christensen, One Step at a Time: Building a Better Marriage, Family, and You, 39. 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