Hey there everybody welcome back to another episode of Redeem Through His Blood.
We've got Scott and David Durfey here today.
Yes we do.
As always, what's up Dave?
How are you?
I'm good.
Yeah we're just starting on summer months here in the northern hemisphere and we're
seeing a little lighter step.
It's been a cold spring.
Spring and yeah it kind of has but you've been on the golf course plenty.
I have but I am you know yesterday when I golfed it was the first day this spring I've
worn shorts.
Really?
Because because it was the first day that was over 80.
Yeah.
I'm kind of cold-blooded and I won't wear shorts unless it's at least 75 or higher.
And it just hasn't been that all spring.
Well we will be looking back come August.
We'll be looking back and longing for these things I have.
True but it's kind of the way it works here.
But it's good that we're feeling the warmth of the sun.
Up until now the sun has either been hidden by the clouds or it's just been a prop.
A prop.
I like that but it has been a prop.
That's what they actually say at Minnesota Scott.
In Minnesota they say in Minnesota because it's so cold and the winters are beautiful
and the skies are so blue and the sun is so bright and shining and it's 20 below zero
when chill 40 below and they say the sun is just a prop in Minnesota.
When you first moved there I remember hearing about how cold it was and you were using terms
like 20 below and I think even once 40 below and maybe.
Oh it got 54 below.
And I think maybe that's what I remember.
That wasn't when chill.
That was not when chill.
It was at 54 below and I hadn't been to Minnesota until I started traveling for work about 20
years ago and this was prior to that that you were making those comments.
And then I went to Minnesota and I was downtown Minneapolis and I loved the sky bridges.
Yeah they're awesome.
Yeah every so that's that's cool.
All the major buildings and office buildings in downtown Minnesota you can walk miles downtown
Minnesota in the winter on these sky bridges that and and every second floor so every
second floor of every major almost every major building in Minnesota has stores in it.
So it's a downtown mall but a high rise of maybe 70 story high rise office building.
Yeah but the second floor is a mall because people can go down there and walk all around
downtown Minnesota and never go outside.
Which is amazing.
I thought I thought whoever came up with this idea is incredible.
I noticed that too that there is like a full city mall right all the stores and there's
a lot of restaurants which was great for guys that are there on business.
And I thought that was ironic because then just down the street is the largest mall in
America.
Yeah all of America is the largest.
At least there was at the time.
I think it still is.
I think it still is in in United States.
Canada the same people that built the one in in Minneapolis.
It's actually in Bloomington Minnesota.
The same company that built that built one just a little bit larger in Canada just a
little bit because they're a Canadian company.
They wanted to just do outdo it.
Well that's anyway but Minnesota is such a great place to live and raise a family and
I'll bet you miss it.
I miss it.
Minnesota ice and Minnesota nice.
The people are so nice there.
Such a great great state anyway.
We've spent the last three episodes talking about or maybe this will be the third but
talking about forgiveness as one of the manifestations of repentance.
We are getting towards the end of the course when we go through all of the steps and the
process.
Let's rephrase that the process of repentance and coming to our Savior Jesus Christ through
His Atonement.
We learn about the fall and how that has affected and why that plays into all of this.
I look forward to talking more about that tonight even in Institute.
But as Deb and I teach it but tonight or today Dave I think we're going to talk about maybe
one more time about forgiveness, how that plays into all of this, all that we've been
talking about why it's so important.
You made a comment to me earlier this morning that you taught this class for I don't know
a very very long time.
First off you wrote the class.
You're the author of the class.
We'll help design the course.
And then you taught it for many many years.
What did you tell me?
What was one of the...
It was really interesting to me.
It kind of caught me by surprise when I would sometimes ask students why did you take this
class and they would respond because I need to forgive somebody.
It wasn't so much that they connected...
We called it...
I wanted to call it infinite atonement but Elder Callister's book had just come out and
the church didn't want to have the course be connected to a book that wasn't written
by the church.
So they wouldn't let me call it infinite atonement.
That's what I wanted to title the course.
So they suggested that I title the course repentance and forgiveness.
So that's what the...
It's now called the divine gift of forgiveness and it is after Elder Anderson's book which
is awesome that the church feels comfortable that it can be titled after the book.
But when it's titled repentance and forgiveness students focused on the forgiveness part and
they didn't focus so much on personal forgiveness as they did.
Yeah, there's a lot of people I really need to forgive.
And that's okay because it's such an important part of the process really is that if you
do forgive I'll forgive you the Lord has said and if you don't forgive I won't forgive you.
So that's okay but that was just surprising to me how many people and these are young
adults are still wrestling, striving, working to forgive others and who need help with that,
who feel that they actually need help with that.
So it's such an important part Scott because I really take it pretty literally that if
we're not able to forgive others the Lord is not able to forgive us.
And I think it's not that he's not able but that as long as we hold grudges, as long as
we feel contention, as long as we don't forgive others I think it's really hard if not impossible
to forgive ourselves.
Because if you're not a forgiving person then you're not going to forgive yourself.
So it's just really critical that we see forgiving others including ourselves as an important
part of repentance.
And again I think it's more of a manifestation maybe that we have cried out to God, that
we have exercised our faith in Jesus Christ, that we have offered our sins to him, that
we have gone to him with a broken heart, that's kind of the core of repentance and then to
be able to forgive others including ourselves is kind of the evidence or the manifestation
of it.
And I really do love since I brought up Elder Callister's book I really did love reading
that I'm marking in I read it a couple times, recommend it to others.
And there's a statement in there in the chapter I think on forgiveness and forgiving others
and he says it's a quote from Elder Callister.
As our understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ increases our ability to forgive ourselves
and others increases.
I'm sure we've said that before I just really hope people will pause just a moment and think
about why is that.
Read that one more time.
As our understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ increases our ability and maybe even
our willingness to forgive ourselves and others increases.
I know that's true from personal experience Scott.
I know that it's been in my life.
I've been offended.
I've been hurt.
We've all been in some ways sinned against some of us abused and and when you begin to
really understand what the atonement of Jesus Christ covers what it actually is what he actually
did and how to access the power of Christ through his atonement in our life.
It is so much I won't say necessarily easier but it's so much more effective in being able
to forgive others and ourselves and I always I just this was always a part of my PowerPoint
in my in my course.
God I was going to read this from my PowerPoint and this may be an elder Anderson's book.
I'm not sure I titled it the efficacy and power of the atonement of Jesus Christ.
Christ not only paid for all the sins of all the world.
He also suffered for all the consequences of all the sin of all the world through Christ's
atonement.
Sinners may receive divine forgiveness from God if they repent and victims may receive
compensatory blessings from God if they forgive.
So how important is it for us to forgive?
Being as critical forgiving others is critical to receiving the compensatory powers the enabling
powers and redemptive powers of the atonement of Jesus Christ in our life.
And then I wrote therefore if we do not repent of our sins or forgive others we either lack
adequate faith in appreciation for or understanding of Jesus Christ in his atonement.
We may even make a mockery of it by not forgiving ourselves and others.
I just think that's really critical to think about that.
We may even be making a mockery of it by not forgiving ourselves and others.
So I just think this is such an important topic for us to spend a little more time on
Scott.
There's a phrase in the Doctrine and Covenants called grace for grace.
You shall receive.
It's a promise really.
This is Doctrine and Covenants section 93 verse 20.
You shall receive grace for grace.
I've often wondered and pondered, meditated to what that means.
Grace for grace.
I know we've talked about instruments of grace that as we do things that bless others as
we serve others.
In this case as we forgive others, as we give grace, as we offer grace, it is not just a
gift that comes to us but is more natural for us to give grace to ourselves.
People that cannot give mercy and grace to others usually lack that ability to offer
it to themselves.
That's not always true.
I know there are some people that think that they're totally innocent and they hate everybody.
There's exceptions to that.
I know but for most of us as we serve, bless, forgive others, we feel more grace in our life.
So I've always loved that concept and that promise given by the Lord and the Doctrine
and Covenants and there's just one more point that I think was amazing when I heard this,
watched this.
This was Elder Razzband.
This is not the apostle Elder Razzband.
This is Elder James R Razzband of the 70 and I don't think they're related but I love
Elder Razzband when I was in the stake presidency.
He came to our stake and I spent some time with him and he was an area 70 before he was
a general authority 70.
I have a lot of respect for him.
Very humble man, former professor of law, BYU.
I just want to read this if that's okay from a devotional that he gave.
Why is it that we sometimes have trouble accepting Christ's Atonement as recompense for the harms
we suffer at other hands?
He asks, the Atonement has two sides.
One first because of Christ's Atonement, mercy can satisfy the demands that justice would
impose upon us.
We are typically quicker to accept this side of the Atonement.
The idea that when we sin and make mistakes, the Atonement of Christ is available to pay
our debts.
But second, there's a second side to Christ's Atonement.
Christ's Atonement also satisfies our demands of justice against others to fulfill our rights
to restitution and being made whole.
We often don't quite see this side of the Atonement.
How it satisfies our own demands for justice.
Yet it does so.
The Atonement heals us not only from the guilt we suffer when we sin, but the Atonement of
Jesus Christ also heals us from the sins and hurts and abuse, we could add, of others.
Faith in Christ and His Atonement must include both His power to pay for our sins and His
power to pay for the sins of others.
If it's an infinite Atonement, Scott, just think about that.
If we really understand the Atonement, our ability, our willingness to forgive will increase.
And then he concludes, and this is from a BYU devotional back in October of 2012.
The Razband writes, It is critical to understand that forgiving others is not just a practical
virtue.
It is a profound act of faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the promise that the Savior
sacrifice repays not just our debts to others, but also the debts of others to us.
This does not mean minimizing the sin.
It means maximizing our faith in the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Or I would say faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
So I know that's true.
I just I really appreciate those ideas.
And again, I should have been prepared to give people just look up Elder Razband's General
Conference talk.
He kind of talks about that and talks about how the Savior's Atonement helps us make restitution
and how through our Savior we can have the power to forgive others and ourselves.
So something to go on from there.
When we're talking about forgiving others, and I love that quote, forgiveness doesn't
mean minimizing the sin.
It just it means maximizing our faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
I love that because when we talk about faith, when we talk about faith in Jesus Christ and
faith unto repentance and all that, there's a power that comes through that faith.
There's a power of faith when we get to certain levels of faith.
And that power is really required.
That faith of power is really sometimes required when it comes to forgiving others, Dave.
And when we talk about I don't know how to articulate this best, but I'm going to try.
When I think about how I've been sinned against and I have as have we all, I think about how
I've been sinned against and some of those things has been difficult for me to extend
forgiveness.
And I know that I've sinned against others and it's been difficult for others to extend
me forgiveness.
But when we talk about repentance and when we've done this over the last couple of weeks,
in fact, we've done this over the entirety of the podcasts that we've recorded here.
But when we talk about repentance, what we're really talking about is taking upon us Jesus
Christ becoming like Him.
Come unto me.
We talked I think last week that repentance is just an invitation to come to me, to be
like me, to take my oak upon you, but to be like me.
And that's one of the in Matthew 548, we know when he says be there for perfect or complete.
Even as I or your Father in heaven is this is one of the areas that in my estimation
can be a big stumbling block for us to becoming like Him.
We know He did.
We know that He forgave.
He forgave the vilest of sinners.
Those who killed Him.
Those who spat on Him and many, many, many others.
And so as we become like Him, as we strive to become more like Him through our deep love
and devotion to Him, these things that are sometimes really difficult for us to embrace
and engage in and participate in can become a little lighter to do if we are truly aligned
with Jesus Christ and His Atonement for us.
So it's even through the Atonement that our ability to forgive, it's even through Christ's
Atonement that our ability to forgive others is actually even made possible.
Absolutely, Scott.
And you kind of touched on this, but any any false ideas, perceptions, beliefs that we
have in regards to perfectionism or in a legalistic mindset where we where we think that they
owe it to me.
They, you know, I for an eye, I for two for two balance the skills of justice.
To have a legalistic view of the world and really keeps us from exercising as completely
as we should our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and off and extending mercy and grace to others
as well as believing in perfectionism.
That holds us back, but it also puts a pretty high standard on others, which which causes
us great resentment and contention oftentimes.
So you know, false, false ideas, philosophies, perceptions that we that we carry throughout
our life and many of these have been learned from our parents.
Many of these are generational blind spots that we have, Scott, that we need to be able
to recognize, kind of bring bring them out into the sunlight and and really kind of break
those down and and see see things the way God sees them.
I I really feel sorry for those who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints who still believe in I for an eye and a tooth for tooth.
I mean, the law of Moses was fulfilled.
The law of Moses has been replaced.
In his sermon on the Mount, I mean the greatest sermon we all, you know, we all know that
that was the greatest sermon ever given.
And one reason we know that's because he not only gave it in the old world in Jerusalem.
Well, you didn't give it in Jerusalem.
He gave it in Galilee, but he repeats it to the people in the Americas.
For some some significant changes, it's recorded in the Book of Mormon and and I that's an
amazing that's an amazing three chapters in the Book of Mormon, three chapters in the
Bible in Matthew five through seven.
And he says, you know, it's it's been said of old I for an eye, tooth for tooth has been
said of old that you do this or you do that.
What I say unto you, turn the other cheek, if a man takes your coat, give him your cloak
also.
I mean, the law of the gospel of Jesus Christ God is the perception that's the philosophy
that we all need to adopt in practice.
It's a higher law.
It's a higher it's a holier way.
And there's just still too many people in the world today who call themselves Christians
who are stuck in the Old Testament and who are demanding an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth.
But that's not the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There's I'm not I'm not giving any political statement here, but there's just way too
much of that in politics.
There's way too much of that on television and legal legal suing them suing him suing
her.
I'm not I'm not making the same there.
I'm not saying you should or you shouldn't.
But I think one really needs to just evaluate their motives and and make room for grace and
for mercy.
So you're right about that, Scott.
There's there's things that we need to kind of change our world view on.
I don't think we said this maybe as strongly as Elder Holland said it.
I think we touched on this, but there's another aspect to forgiving that I I hope all of our
listeners will understand.
And this comes from a conference talk in October 2018, Elder Holland.
Elder Holland wrote, forgive and ye shall be forgiven.
Christ taught that in the New Testament.
And in our day, quote, I the Lord will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required
to forgive all men.
That's in doctrine covenant section 64.
Then he says Elder Holland, it is however important for some of you living in real anguish to
note what he did not say.
He did not say you are not allowed to feel true pain or real sorrow from the shattering
experiences you have had at the hand of another.
Nor did he say in order to forgive fully, you have to re enter a toxic relationship or return
to an abusive destructive circumstance.
But not withstanding, even the most terrible offenses that might come to us, we can rise
above our pain only when we put our feet onto the path of true healing.
That path is the forgiving one walked by Jesus of Nazareth.
Well I love that.
So I hope all of our listeners understand that forgiving doesn't mean that you don't
feel some pain.
I do love what Elder Anderson wrote in his book, the Divine Gift of Forgiveness.
And one of the definitions he gave of forgiveness is that it's not forgetting the sin or the
abuse that was committed against us.
I think God blesses us to not forget it.
So I would say forgiving is not forgetting because I think it's a great blessing and protection
to us that we not forget.
And Elder Anderson wrote forgiving is remembering with peace.
Now I know you can't think back upon your experiences that you've had and feel peace.
But when you think about the individuals or when you think of others who have perhaps
been perpetrators against you, you can let it go and know that God is a God of not only
mercy but a God of justice and that all judgment the Father has given to Jesus Christ and that
justice will be done and carried out.
And God is the God of justice.
We're not necessarily the ones who have the assignment or responsibility to make sure
that that's carried out.
Even though one should not ignore the laws of the land and when certain sins have been
committed or certain criminal acts have been committed, certainly those should be reported
and those individuals should face the consequences of perhaps the law of the land in which they
live.
So, Scott, some things to think about in regards to forgiving others as we kind of wind that
part of this up.
I think I'll just end my contribution to this with this, Dave.
It's not easy.
You know, I know that forgiving others can be a big, inseamingly insurmountable task
sometimes and with great reason.
You know, in Alcoholics Anonymous and the other recovery programs, and I've mentioned
this before, when we're talking about not being able to forgive somebody, what we're
really talking about in a word is a resentment.
A resentment is something that stops us from forgiving others.
And we have a resentment and we fan the flame of that resentment sometimes because we need
justification and our inadequacies or our own failures in life, et cetera.
And in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous, there's a story towards the very end of the
book that talks about a person who is dealing with a major resentment.
And I'm not going to get into any more detail really than that, except for that, I guess
I will say this, the resentment was against a mother.
And in fact, I'll read this paragraph.
This resentment was against my mother and it was 25 years old.
I had fed it, fanned it, and nurtured it, and it had become as much a part of me as
breathing.
It had provided me with excuses for my lack of education, my marital failures, personal
failures, inadequacy, and of course, my alcoholism.
And though I really thought I had been willing to part with it, now I knew I was reluctant
to let it go.
I used to in the hospital, I'll just kind of skip ahead and somebody comes in and talks
to him and this is what was said.
If you have a resentment and you want to be free of it, if you will pray for the person
or the thing that you resent, you will be free.
If you will ask in prayer for everything you want for yourself to be given to them, you
will be free.
Ask for their help, their prosperity, their happiness, and you will be free.
And you will realize that where you used to feel bitterness and resentment and hatred,
you now feel compassionate, understanding, and love.
You know, the principles for recovery were taken from Matthew 5, chapter 5 through 7.
They were taken from the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount.
And right there in Matthew 5, 43, it hath been said that thou shalt love thy neighbor
and hate thy enemy.
But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you and pray for them, which despitefully use you and persecute you.
I don't know if you've ever tried doing that.
But that's not an easy task.
You know, that is a very, in and of ourselves and by our own power, that's a very difficult
task.
And it's not a suggestion.
That's right.
You know, that's a commandment.
That's right.
And not easy to do.
And it may take time to do it.
But we have time.
I think you're touching on something else, Scott.
And that that is that just as our faith in Jesus Christ is a gift of the Spirit.
It's also true that our ability, willingness to forgive others is a gift.
It's not something we just do on our own.
It's not something that we just make up our mind to do it.
It comes as a gift from the Holy Ghost as we understand Jesus Christ and his Atonement,
what it covers, how it covers me, how it covers them and how it covers all of the evils.
And sins.
I think we've heard all of us, most of us have heard stories of individuals who have
really suffered some terrible things at the hands of others.
And what has helped them forgive others is to sometimes go to the individual or communicate
with the individual if you can't if you can't go be with them.
And that's understandable in some cases.
But to communicate to some individuals that I hope that you'll forgive me because of the
feelings that I've had towards you.
I mean, I think sometimes we become guilty of what's what's the word, Scott, of perpetuating
the sin by not forgiving others.
And as long as we don't forgive others and the sins of others continue to cause us to
lose peace, to cause us to affect our relationship with God or our relationship with others,
then we become, I mean, it's just so I think one of the most sickening statistics that
we read about is that abusers abuse others.
I mean, that's just well, I think what you meant is up with that those who are abused.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Yeah, so those who are abused.
Yeah, it's pretty typical that abusers.
Others.
I what's up with that?
Yeah.
And I think part of that is that they never work through forgiving their abuser and the
atonement of Jesus Christ, the gift of forgiveness and the atonement of Jesus Christ has never
really kicked in or become a part of their life.
And therefore they perpetuate it.
So it's just so critical that we we learn how to forgive others.
And there's a story that we've told and I think we probably should probably tell it
again today.
Corey Temboom.
Do you want?
Yeah.
Do you want to kind of recap?
Do you have a children's book?
Right here.
So I just I don't want to just tell it.
I think it's worth actually quoting a line from the from the book.
And this is based on her experience in the prison camp with her sister.
I think she had like four members of her family die at the hands of of the Nazis and how she
was able to forgive and this is a story that was actually if you want to read more about
this, you can you can definitely read the book, which is called The Hiding Place, which
is an amazing book.
I love reading that book and then recommend it to all of you if you haven't read The
Hiding Place by Corey Temboom.
But Bishop Keith McMullen told this story in General Conference in in April 2010 and
Elder Anderson chose to quote from that in in the book.
So Corey survives a prison camp or sister or best friend and sister does not and other
family members are are killed and die in the atrocities of the gas chambers and prison
camps of Germany.
So Corey Temboom, what page on this is page 230.
OK, the story is told on 229 and 230.
She's she's actually in Ravensbrook and she's she gives us talk at a church and she's talking
to them about how Jesus, you know, helps them and help them in the prison.
Now this was many years after the release and the end of World War two and all of that.
She's going around giving giving talks about this and in all in many Christian churches,
she even comes over the United States and talks about this Scott and how horrific the
suffering was and how through Christ she was able to to find peace and to and to be forgiven.
And so let me start maybe paragraph before in Ravensbrook.
She and Betsy, that's her sister, learn that God helps us to forgive.
Following the war, Corey was determined to share this message.
And on one occasion, she had just spoken to a group of people in Germany suffering from
the ravages of war.
Her message was God forgives.
It was then that Corey Temboom's faithfulness brought forth its blessing.
A man approached her, she recognized him as one of the cruelest, meanest guards in the
camp.
And he said to her, you mentioned Ravensbrook in your talk.
He said, I was a guard there.
But since that time, I have become a Christian.
He explained that he had sought forgiveness for the cruel things he had done.
He extended his hands, his hand, and asked Corey, will you forgive me?
Corey then said, quote, it could not have been many seconds that he stood there.
Hand held out.
But to me, it seemed ours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to
do.
The message that God forgives has a condition that we forgive those who have injured us.
Help me, I prayed silently.
I can lift my hand.
I can do that much.
But God, you have to supply the feeling.
Suddenly, mechanically, I forced and thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me.
As I did, an incredible thing took place.
The current started in my shoulder like an electrical current.
It started in my shoulder.
It raised down my arm.
It sprang into our joined hands.
And then this healing warmth seemed to flood over my whole being, bringing tears to my
eyes.
I forgive you, brother, I cried, with all my heart.
For a long moment, we grasped each other's hands, the former cruel guard and the former
prisoner.
I had never known God's love as intensely as I did then.
I love that that she explains or she expresses how she had never felt God's love more intensely
than she did in her moment of forgiveness.
I wonder if that's if that's an experience that we can all have.
Yeah, you know, she could.
Why can't we?
It's a gift, the point of that story, really, that the ability to forgive others doesn't
come from you or me.
It comes as a gift from the Holy Spirit.
But that gives only available to us after we've recognized that we need to that it's important
that it's available to us.
I think it takes as much.
I know it does.
I know it takes as much faith in Jesus Christ and his Atonement to forgive others, God, as
it does for us to be forgiven.
I love this scripture in D&C 8833.
For what doth that prophet a man, if the gift is bestowed upon him and he received not the
gift, be healed he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him
who is the giver of the gift.
Yeah, yeah, it is a gift and that gift has to come to us.
But that gift is only available to us through our alignment and to not receive it.
Yeah, is also a rejection of the giver of the gift and his Atonement.
Something to think about.
You know, Scott, the Prophet Joseph Smith wrote in the teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith, the near we get to our Heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion
upon perishing souls.
We feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders and cast their sins behind our backs.
If you would have God to have mercy on you, have mercy on one another.
I love that the closer the nearer, the closer in the nearer we get to our Heavenly Father
and to our Savior, Jesus Christ and to the Holy Ghost, the more we are disposed and able
to look with compassion upon them to offer forgiveness to them even if they receive it
or not.
And you know, he was such a great example of that.
So one of the great stories told in church history is, you know, this Conver W W Phelps
who is so talented, who's who's, you know, I don't know how many hymns he has in the
hymn book and such a writer and editor and and brilliant man W W Phelps.
But in them in the mobs of Missouri and in the persecution of Missouri, W W Phelps, uh,
or sick the prophet turned his back on the church and he he bore some false testimony
and and said some really mean things to get out of a lot of trouble.
And it really hurt the church and it was, uh, it really hurt the prophet Joseph Smith
and it caused caused him personally in the church.
A lot of a lot of heartache and pain.
Only when he came back a few years later, he wrote, he writes this long letter to Joseph
Smith about, uh, you know, what was going on and how he was deceived and how he was
sorry and asked for forgiveness from the prophet Joseph Smith and the prophet Joseph
Smith.
This is what he wrote back.
It is true that we have suffered much in consequence of your behavior.
The cup of gall already full enough for mortals to drink was indeed filled to overflowing
when you turned against us.
However, the cup has been drunk.
The will of our father has been done and we are yet alive.
Believing your confession to be real and your repentance genuine, I shall be happy once
again to give you the right hand of fellowship and rejoice over the returning prodigal.
Your letter was read to the saints last Sunday and it was unanimously resolved that w w Phelps
should be received into fellowship.
Come on, dear brother, since the war is past for friends at first our friends again at
last, I mean, we can't comprehend the harm that he did and the pain that he caused and
to be so quick to forgive and to forgive him back in fellowship and and you know, as w
w Phelps who wrote to him, praise to the man because of the love, affection, respect,
and testimony he had of the prophet Joseph Smith and his prophetic call.
I mean that that was the prophet Joseph Smith.
The greatest example of all Scott to conclude our podcast today is of course Jesus Christ,
right?
Nobody has suffered more.
Nobody has been more of a victim.
Nobody has been more innocent.
Nobody has been more persecuted, suffered innocently at the hands of others than Jesus
Christ.
And what does he say from the cross?
Forgive them father.
He not only forgives them, but he prays that God will forgive them.
That's maybe maybe that's part of the key to being able to forgive Scott is not only that
we forgive others, but we pray to God.
We pray that our heavenly father will forgive them.
Maybe it's not just enough that we not demand justice, but to to I mean, I know justice will
be done.
God is a God of justice and mercy, but also to pray to God that he might show them mercy.
Jesus Christ is the perfect, most powerful example of all of that.
So some things to consider as we try to complete the process of of our repentance and receive
the full access and power of Jesus Christ and his atonement in our life.
Because I consider all that Jesus Christ has done for me, for each of us, you know, I love
to always go back to Alma chapter 7 because the reminder there for me is that he did it
all and why he did it.
He shall go forth suffering pains and afflictions verse 11 and temptations of every kind.
And this that the word might be fulfilled, which says he will take upon him the pains
and sicknesses of his people and he will take upon him death that he may lose the bands
of death which bind his people and he will take upon him their infirmities that his bowels
may be filled with mercy according to the flesh that he may know according to the flesh
how to sucker his people according to their infirmities.
And I know that he did that for me.
And it's a little easier, I guess.
I don't know if that's the right term to use, but it's a little more comfortable, a little
easier for me to accept that he did that for me.
He loved me.
I can feel that and I can apply that.
He did that to those who have offended for those who have offended may as well.
Yeah, and and and provided compensatory blessing Scott out of the says the negative all the
negative consequences that we have all experienced because of sins committed against us or committed
against our loved ones.
You know my experience Scott is.
It's been easier for me to forgive others who hurt me.
Right.
It's harder for me to forgive others who have hurt my loved ones.
I don't know why that is.
I probably just being a dad husband.
Those have been the hardest ones for me is to forgive others who have hurt people that
I love the most.
However, we have to do that.
We have to do that too.
But I think I think again the key to all of this is to understand the Atonement of Jesus
Christ exercise faith in Jesus Christ is atonement and receive it as a gift.
It doesn't come by just gritting our teeth and just I forgive you and you know it.
Yeah, it has to kind of it has to flow through us Scott through the spirit influence gift
of the of the Holy Ghost in our lives.
Hey, thanks for being with us this week gang.
We we we hope and pray that the things that we talk about are adding to your lives.
We hope that through these three soon to be four episodes on forgiveness.
We know that we're talking and sharing a lot of experience and not getting into steps
or techniques or processes or those types of things.
And just as a reminder that the process behind all of this is to come on to him to take upon
us his Atonement to go to the garden to go to the cross to understand the blessings and
redemption that can that can come to all of us through the resurrection and to know that
it was done for all of us as a gift.
May we accept that gift.
We may we accept the giver of the gift and all that we do is our prayer.
We look forward to being with you again next week.
Can until then be well.