Those who had sinned were “ready to comply with
any requirement no matter how hard . . . [and were] willing to pay penalties, to suffer even to excommunication if necessary.” (Repentance Beings
Forgiveness,” pp. 6-7)
Question #601: Before God forgives your sins,
must you “pay penalties” and “suffer”? (Sharon I. Banister, For Any Latter-day Saint: One Investigator’s Unanswered Questions [Fort
Worth, Texas: Bible Publications, Inc., 1988], 366)
Nathan went home, and the Lord afflicted the
child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and it became critically ill. David entreated God for the boy; David
fasted, and he went in and spent the night lying on the ground. The senior
servants of his household tried to induce him to get up from the ground; but he
refused, nor would he partake of food with them. On the seventh day the child
died. David's servants were afraid to tell David that the child was dead; for
they said, "We spoke to him when the child was alive and he wouldn't
listen to us; how can we tell him that the child is dead? He might do something
terrible." When David saw his servants talking in whispers, David understood
that the child was dead; David asked his servants, "Is the child
dead?" "Yes," they replied. Thereupon David rose from the
ground; he bathed and anointed himself, and he changed his clothes. He went
into the House of the Lord and prostrated himself. Then he went home and asked
for food, which they set before him, and he ate. His courtiers asked him,
"Why have you acted in this manner? While the child was alive, you fasted
and wept; but now that the child is dead, you rise and take food!" He
replied, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept because I
thought: 'Who knows? The Lord may have pity on me, and the child may live.' But
now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go
to him, but he will never come back to me." (2 Sam 12:15-23| 1985 JPS Tanakh)
The second
was to witness the rape and pillage of his other wives:
Thus said the Lord: 'I will make a calamity
rise against you from within your own house; I will take your wives and give
them to another man before your very eyes and he shall sleep with your wives
under this very sun. You acted in secret, but I will make this happen in the
sight of all Israel and in broad daylight.'" (2 Sam 12:11-12 |1985 JPS Tanakh)
If Banister
(and many other Protestant critics of “Mormonism”) is correct, the author of 2
Samuel is wrong vis-à-vis repentance
and suffering either to bring about “full” repentance or the temporal
punishments one suffers after the reception
of forgiveness. Indeed, there will be some individuals who will suffer posthumously to receive a full forgiveness
of sins, as seen in 1 Cor 3:11-15. For an exegesis of this text, see:
Another
important text is that of 1 Cor 5:5, where Paul writes that:
I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan
for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of
the Lord. (NASB)
Notwithstanding
the various interpretations, most commentators agree that, regardless of that
Paul means by "the destruction of the flesh," this person Paul is
commenting on has to suffer (whether extreme physical suffering or illness)
with the goal (the Greek is a purpose [ινα-] clause) that they will receive
eschatological salvation.
Further, the
typical Protestant critic, it should be noted, has a warped understanding of
true repentance due, in part, to holding to imputed righteousness, something
the Bible does not support. For a
full discussion, see:
Notwithstanding the objections of many critics, Latter-day Saint soteriology has strong biblical support, including our theology of repentance.
Further Reading
Christina Darlington, D&C 82:7, and the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
