Question
Gramps,
For the process of repentance, Pres Kimball stated in his “Miracle of Forgiveness” book that a person should or MUST cry with grieveness and a broken heart to earn forgiveness from the Lord. What exactly is a broken heart and do I have to hurt my heart for that? I do not have a black heart or have an attitude problem. I just am not the kind of person to cry with a broken heart. I can’t humble myself either. How or where do I get started? Are there any good quotes or scriptures I can benefit from?
No Name
Answer
Dear No Name,
It seems to me that you have an attitude problem. You admit that you are not the kind of person who can be humble. A person who is not humble is proud. So you admit to being prideful. My question is, of what are you so proud? You seem to think so much of yourself that you cannot feel sorrow nor sadness for the wrongs that you have done, (that is what is meant by having a broken hearth and a contrite spirit) by which you have offended the God of the universe and the Savior of mankind, who accepted your faults as if they were his own, and by his suffering, paid the price demanded by the eternal law of justice that retribution must be made for violating the commandments of God. If you cannot feel broken hearted for having put the Savior through all the pain and suffering required to pay the price for your sins, you must be a rather crass and callous person, putting the Savior, as the scriptures say, to an open shame.
Repentance is much more than a recital of our sins; it requires the changing of a person’s character to the degree that he is actually ashamed of what he has done, and would never be caught dead doing the same thing again. Only by this change of heart can we qualify for forgiveness by the Lord. Otherwise we must suffer for our own sins as if there had been no Savior. He has admonished us–
Therefore I command you to repent–repent, lest I smite you by the rod of my mouth, and by my wrath, and by my anger, and your sufferings be sore–how sore you know not, how exquisite you know not, yea, how hard to bear you know not.
For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent;
But if they would not repent they must suffer even as I;
Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit–and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink. (D&C 19:15-18)
Gramps
