Admitting that many Latter-day Saints view repentance (errantly) as a “check
list” as opposed to being “an all-encompassing process of being, changing,
feeling, and doing,” Brent L. Top
wrote:
The remarks of Elder
Theodore M. Burton of the First Quorum of the Seventy seem to confirm that this
is a fairly common misconception in the Church:
Just what is repentance? Actually it is easier for
me to tell you what repentance is not
than to tell you what repentance is.
My present assignment
as a General Authority is to assist the First Presidency. I prepare information
for them to use in considering applications to readmit transgressors into the
Church and to restore priesthood and/or temple blessings. Many times a bishop
will write: “I feel he has suffered enough!” But suffering is no repentance.
Suffering comes from lack of complete
repentance. A stake president will write: “I feel he has been punished enough!”
But punishment is not repentance. Punishment follows disobedience and precedes
repentance. A husband will write: “My wife has confessed everything!” But
confession is not repentance. Confession is an admission of guilt that occurs as repentance beings. A wife will write:
“My husband is filled with remorse!” But remorse is not repentance. Remorse and
sorrow continue because a person has not
yet fully repented. (Theodore M. Burton, “The Meaning of Repentance,” Brigham Young University 1984-85 Devotional
and Fireside Speeches [Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1985], 96)
A “checklist”
approach to repentance might also be called “recipe repentance.” A bread recipe
contains a listing of all of the ingredients, but merely placing the
ingredients in a mixing bowl does not constitute making bread. A successful
bread baker knows that in addition to using high quality ingredients, he or she
must carefully mix them, knead and work the dough, and then allow the yeast to
cause the dough to rise adequately. Without this careful attention to the
nurturing and working of the dough, the bread will be less than desirable
regardless of the quality of the ingredients. Similarly the “Rs of repentance”
or any other combination of “ingredients” must be coupled with careful
nurturing and leavening that is obtainable only through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Elder James E.
Talmage described how the “ingredients” of repentance are dependent upon the
leavening of faith.
The term repentance .
. . as representing the duty required of all who would obtain forgiveness for
transgression . . . indicates a godly sorrow for sin, producing a reformation
of life, and embodies (1) a conviction of guilty; (2) a desire to be relieved
from the hurtful effects of sin; and (3) an earnest determination to forsake
sin and to accomplish good. Repentance is a result of contrition of soul, which
springs from a deep sense of humility, and this in turn is dependent upon the
exercise of an abiding faith in God. (James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith, 50th ed. [Salt Lake City: The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1970], p. 109) (Brent L. Top, Though Your Sins Be as Scarlet [Salt
Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989], 32-34)
Continuing, Top then discusses the deficiencies of “Checklist Repentance”
as well as how true repentance is
powerfully Christocentric:
When we view
repentance as a mere checklist of items that must be completed for every sin committed, we fall prey to the
spiritual dangers and doctrinal deficiencies of such a superficial approach.
Three main deficiencies, with their potential pitfalls, are evident.
First, under such a program
a person may never really get “caught up.” As one goes through the “requirements”
of repentance, he will find that he has committed other sins that also need his
attention. To apply the “checklist” to every sin ever committed would be like
taking one step forward and two septs back. It would be impossible to
conscientiously go through the process for every sin. This creates the very
real dilemma of discouragement for someone who is trying to repent from a “recipe
card.” Reflecting this quandary, questions often arise such as “How can I
repent for things I did years ago? How can I recognize, confess, or make
restitution for sins I can no longer remember?” In such a situation it
would be easy for one to become so discouraged about repentance that he may
actually give up in despair and slip deeper into the quicksands of sin.
A second deficiency
of “recipe card repentance” is that for some sins and situations there are not
enough “Rs of repentance.” For other sins there are items on the “checklist” of
repentance that cannot be completely fulfilled. President Spencer W. Kimball
wrote that “there are some sins for which no adequate restitution can be made,
and others for which only partial restitution is possible! (Spencer W. Kimball,
The Miracle of Forgiveness [Salt Lake
City: Bookcraft, 1969], p. 194). The underlying premise and logic of “checklist
repentance” would make repentance appear futile under such circumstances. Bruce
C. Hafen, former president of Ricks College, warned about the pitfalls of this
mistaken thinking when he taught:
Many, for whom the
repentance process asks more than they can give, take for granted that they are
fully responsible to compensate for their own sins; then they discover
hopelessly that they lack the power to make full compensation by themselves . .
.There aren’t enough “Rs” in the steps of repentance, not enough power of
restoration within the limits of human ability . . . Until those in such
predicaments find the Savior at the heart of the Atonement . . . there is no
complete escape and final relief. Because we lack the power to compensate fully
for the effects of our transgression, we are utterly dependent upon Christ, no
matter how earnest our repentance. (Bruce C. Hafen, “Beauty for Ashes: The
Atonement of Jesus Christ,” unpublished transcript of an address delivered at
the general session of the 1988 Religious Educators’ Symposium on the New
Testament, 11 August 1988, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, p. 12)
President Hafen’s
thoughtful statement also exposes the third and most important deficiency of “checklist
repentance.” When we overemphasize “steps”
or outward actions we tend to elevate man’s doings at the expense of Christ’s
cleansing power. We make repentance appear as though it is something that we
can do by ourselves. Such a serious misconception minimizes the
miraculous atonement of Jesus Christ and the grace of God that grants us
forgiveness. When we focus all of our attention and efforts on the things we must do to repent, we tend to
overlook what he did to make
repentance possible. “Repentance is one of the gifts of God to fallen man,”
wrote Elder Orson Pratt. “The great and infinite sacrifice, made by the Son of
God, for the sins of the world, has purchased for man the gift of Repentance,
which, if properly received and exercised, will give him claim upon the mercy
of God against whom he has sinned” (Orson Pratt, “True Repentance,” chapter
2 in A Series of Pamphlets by Orson Pratt
[Liverpool: Franklin D. Richards, 1852], p. 17). Moroni taught that perfection
and remission of sins do not come merely from our own actions, however
important these acts are. They only have efficacy “through the shedding of the
blood of Christ.”
Yea, come unto
Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if
ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might,
mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye
may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ,
ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
And again, if ye by
the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye
sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of
Chris, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins,
that ye become holy, without spot. (Moroni 10:32-33.)
An emphasis in “checklist”
or “recipe” repentance personifies “pseudo-self-reliance.” As Robert L. Millet
has insightfully stated, “We must never allow the need for self-reliance to rob
us of the power of Christ which we might enjoy” (Robert L. Millet and Joseph
Fielding McConkie, lectures on cassette tape, Great Doctrines from the Book of Mormon [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft,
1988]). Thus the worst danger of this
narrow view of repentance is that it all too often causes us to leave out the
most important element, the most important “R of repentance”—Redeemer. (Ibid., 34-36, emphasis in
bold added; on Moroni 10:32, see Moroni
10:32 (and various New Testament texts) as being aspirational and Keeping
the Commandments: Mission Impossible? Aspirational Only? Call to Sinless
Perfection?)