Well, hello everybody and welcome to Redeemed Through His Blood.
In this podcast we discuss hope, healing and redemption through the Atonement of Jesus
Christ.
I'm Scott Durfey.
It's my pleasure to introduce my partner in this project and our teacher, Brother David
Durfey.
Say hi Dave.
Oh, it's so great to be here Scott.
I always look forward to being with you and sharing these things with others.
So thank you.
Yeah, it's good.
We look forward to today.
We've got some great stuff.
I'm really excited to talk about the things that we'll be talking about today.
Just a reminder, each of these podcasts sort of build one from the next.
And so to get the complete experience, which we'd encourage you to do, go back to episode
one.
In episode one, we talked about Holy Week.
We actually released that right around Easter.
In fact, it was Easter weekend where we released that and we talked about the life of the Savior
during that week.
And then from there, we start in a progressive way.
We start moving towards these great and wonderful things that we've been talking about.
So again, to have the complete experience, we'd encourage you to go back to those early
episodes if you haven't already done so.
We also know that there's been a lot of occasion because I've seen this in emails that we've
received and people that we've talked to that people are going back multiple times and listening
to the same podcast.
Dave, I know I've done that just to glean from your wisdom and to take notes better.
And anyway, we'd encourage you to continue to do that too.
So we want to thank you for your emails.
We've received several emails this week, wonderful, wonderful emails, comments and anecdotes
and experiences.
And we're just grateful for that.
Also, if you do have recommendations or suggestions for us, we're still new at this too.
We're just a couple of guys sharing our witness of the truthfulness of things that are important
to us.
We're not professional podcasters, but we do want to make this as a good of experience
for you as we possibly can.
And so we try to up our professionalism as much as we possibly can when we can and much
of that comes from your suggestions.
We encourage you to continue in that vein.
Our email where you can reach us for those types of things is, he redeemsusatgmail.com.
He redeemsusatgmail.com.
So encourage you to send those emails.
We appreciate it very much.
We get excited to hear from you, to be encouraged by you, to receive suggestions from you, to
receive questions from you that we try to integrate in our discussion.
And again, we'll be probably filling complete podcasts in the future with some of those
questions.
So keep those coming.
We appreciate it very much.
So Dave, last week, if you'll remember, we extended an invitation.
We extended an invitation to our listeners, and do you remember what that invitation was?
Well, we reminded everybody that it was an invitation to overcome their fears, to be
more sensitized.
I want to remind everybody of that invitation.
And then in regards to the last week's specific lesson, it was to just try to have a different
perspective, try to think of repentance a little differently.
And instead of thinking about it as far as changing yourself, try to see repentance as
being changed.
Approach our daily repentance, our repentance to prepare to partake of the sacrament on
Sunday as casting our sins upon the altar, giving them to Christ and allowing Him and
His atoning sacrifice and His blood to change us.
So again, it was just to change their perspective instead of seeing repentance as changing to
see it as being changed.
Right.
Yeah, and I think as we adopt that new view, which is going to take some effort and some
time, I think, for many of us.
I think that for so many years and for maybe even most, if not all of our lives, a lot of
us, myself, have in the past been included in this.
We've kind of seen it the other way.
And so I think this change of view as we put it more towards the effects of the Atonement
of Jesus Christ, our repentance.
And instead of thinking of it as I'm repenting of a sin, I think of it now as my repentance
just means that I'm more fully coming unto Him and as I more fully come unto Him, those
types of desires and the propensities that I may have had from who knows when start to
dissipate and I notice that the things that in my life preclude or don't allow the visitation
and the constant companionship of the Holy Spirit, which is, as we've talked about the
way that we put on the Atonement of Jesus Christ is through the administration of the
Spirit, those things that I have done that have offended the Spirit and have disallowed
the Spirit to be completely with me in my life, they go away.
And I no longer, and it's talked about throughout Scripture, that I actually have no longer
have a desire to do those wicked, that wickedness or those things.
And I think that wickedness sometimes can be harsh, but those things that have kept
the Spirit away from me as I now focus on being changed, changed how through the Atonement,
through the power of Jesus Christ, through His Atonement, with the relationship with
Him, all of those things change for me.
And I tell you that lifting doesn't quite feel so heavy because I don't feel like I'm
lifting alone anymore, Dave, and so very helpful.
Well, that's described in the Book of Mormon, Scott, and it's the real miracle, I think,
in the process of repentance and relying upon Jesus Christ, learning, and there is great
effort in learning how to rely upon Jesus Christ and His Atonement.
But in the Book of Mormon, it talks about, I have no more disposition to do evil.
That's a miracle.
And that's not because of anything really I did.
That's because of the gifts of the Spirit that can flow into our life as we learn to
rely on our Savior.
So I think that's an important realization, that's an important work, is to be able to
learn how to apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ and access His power and receive that
gift of the Spirit.
Scott, in regards to that, I've been thinking about the importance of, we talked about the
godly sorrow that we need to feel in order to really repent, the broken heart and the
contrite spirit.
And you know, we've interviewed a couple of individuals who have definitely experienced
that.
I know you have experienced that.
I have experienced that.
And when an individual reaches kind of that point, and maybe some would call it a rock
bottom, their repentance comes rather naturally and it kind of flows where they are compelled
to be humble, as Alma describes it in Alma chapter 32, that the Zoramites who were cast
out of their homes and had nothing left and were starting from scratch, that they were
compelled to be humble.
Well, it's awesome and it's awful to have to be compelled to be humble and to hit rock
bottom.
And I reminded our listeners, this is in Elder Anderson's book, but I shared it because it
was a personal experience that I had, was the missionary who was being sent home who
kind of hit his rock bottom because he hadn't been honest and he hadn't taken care of his
sins before coming to the MTC.
And as his branch president, I told him that he couldn't come back to the MTC and tell
he had a broken heart and contrite spirit and he asked me, well, how do I break my own
heart?
And I knew by the spirit what to say to him that he would never be able to have a broken
heart and contrite spirit until he understood what his sins had cost Jesus Christ.
And I think, we didn't say this last time and so I wanted to say it today, was that
more powerful than us hitting our rock bottom, because not a lot of people hit rock bottom
Scott, they never really repent.
They never really tap into the power of Jesus Christ.
Some of those who hit rock bottom maybe don't even know about Jesus Christ.
But for us, more important than our hitting our rock bottom, we need to go to Gethsemane
and see him hit his rock bottom where he descends below all things.
Dr. Incomvenient section 88 verse 6, where he descends below all things, nobody could
have been lower or hit a lower rock bottom than Jesus Christ in Gethsemane and on the
cross when he paid the price, met the demands of justice and suffered for all of the sins
of all the world.
What really breaks my heart, Scott, and I think the most effective way to feel godly
sorrow and to come to contrition, the level of contrition that one must reach to repent,
they must see with an eye of faith Jesus Christ in his rock bottom and the role we played
to put him there.
That is the most humbling experience that I've ever received in my life that I continue
to experience in my life and that I hope all of our listeners can have that same experience.
Yeah, I'm with you.
We talk about rock bottom and I think that this is something that I have had some experience
with.
I think we all have potentially, but this is one thing that especially in the rooms of
recovery that gets talked about quite a bit, Dave.
Rock bottom, have you hit your rock bottom or he hasn't or she hasn't hit the rock bottom
yet?
There's some confusion, I think, my experience tells me this, that there's some confusion
about what that rock bottom really means sometimes.
As we go to Gethsemane, and for me especially the cross, as he's hanging on the cross there,
for me, bloody, beaten, any of the rest of us would be dead, it's his Godhood that's
keeping him alive.
As he fills the removal of our heavenly Father Spirit and is there completely alone, that's
a rock bottom that none of us can comprehend because we are never left completely alone,
even in our deepest and darkest turmoil.
Even if it's just because we experience the light of Christ, which we all do, even if it's
just from that, none of us are left completely alone.
Now, having said that, I don't want to minimize the feelings of loneliness that we sometimes
feel in that rock bottom because sometimes we do.
Here's the thing though, the thing about rock bottom is rock bottom is not a place, it's
not even an event, it's not even a series of events.
And this is I think the important thing for us to differentiate right now.
Rock bottom is a choice, it's where we decide at that point to turn and we talk about it
in the rooms of recovery, that's where we decide to turn our will and our life over
to the care of God as we understand him.
And that takes a lot Dave, to make that process, to make that decision to begin to turn, to
have that broken heart and contrite spirit as we would put it in our vernacular here,
that takes a lot of effort.
But it's important for us to know that because it is a decision, I can choose my rock bottom
as high as I want it to be.
We sometimes talk about high bottom drunks and low bottom drunks and what that means
is some people come in beaten and bloody and some people come in because they just can't
hand, when I say come in, come into the rooms of recovery, they just come in because they
just don't like the disconnect that they're feeling in their life.
When these majors happened, nothing super negative, they didn't go to jail, they didn't lose their
family, those types of things.
So knowing that rock bottom, and we're getting into semantics here, I get that.
But knowing that that rock bottom is and can be a choice can kind of help us, especially
as we start to attune and make alignment with Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Dave.
Well even a higher and holier choice would be to choose to see Christ in his rock bottom
and to take the responsibility, to take responsibility for what we have done to put him into that
rock bottom.
Faith is also a choice.
Faith in Jesus Christ is a choice.
Faith to do the work necessary and to receive the gift of faith and the eye of faith, to
see our Savior Jesus Christ meet those demands of justice for us so that we don't have to
and receive his mercy and his grace is also a choice.
And I don't know that we need to, again this may be semantical as well, there is a difference
between receiving mercy and grace and it kind of goes back to what we were saying earlier
about having no more disposition to do evil.
You know mercy as I see it is to receive a forgiveness of sin.
We all seek mercy.
But also as a result of the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can receive his grace which is the
enabling power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ so it's not enough just to be cleansed and
forgiven of sin and receive mercy and redemption from sin but we can receive through the Atonement
of Jesus Christ and through his blood the enabling power which strengthens us to overcome
sin.
And we need to kind of understand I think that the Atonement of Jesus Christ does more
for us than forgives us and it does more for us than cleanses us.
It strengthens us and that also I think is an important understanding to fully appreciate
the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our life.
So maybe just again some review there and again how we should see what repentance is
instead of just again us changing I mean again atheists and agnostics and anyone can change
that being changed through the blood and Atonement of Jesus Christ that's more sacred, it's more
redemptive, it's longer lasting, it's a different level of change.
Yeah definitely a higher and holier way there's no question and I think that that's why we're
here that's why we are trying to go with this podcast and I think in our lives as well.
So Dave having all that in mind now I think we kind of set the stage for the next part
of our discussion and I'm going to go ahead and let you introduce what that's going to
be and start to we'll start moving in that direction.
Well again before we talk about any real specifics about what we need to do to be changed and
to get into the specifics of the process we call repentance we need to understand a quality
that we an attribute that we all need to focus on in order to complete the process of repentance
and I think that's called accountability for sin or honesty, complete total honesty in
Elder Anderson's book it's called uncompromising honesty in his book this is chapter 18 he
did a marvelous job in describing this attribute that we all must have in order to completely
and fully repent and to be able to go through the process of repentance.
I also have really loved over I don't know it's been probably five to ten years ago Elder
Lynn G. Robbins gave this amazing talk called being 100% responsible it was I think given
at BYU as the opening address of Education Week and I just really recommend that to
our listeners as well to read Elder Anderson's chapter and Elder Robbins talk called 100%
being 100% responsible and as we do that Scott we need to take 100% responsibility and we
need to understand what it means to be 100% blameless I love the phrase blameless in the
scriptures in the standard works and I think what that means is two things number one that
no one can blame us because we we have been forgiven of our sins we've been cleansed and
strengthened and we become 100% blameless that way but it also means in the scriptures
when it talks about being blameless that and our listeners should just look that up in
the index or it also means that we stop blaming others including ourselves that we we we don't
blame and we don't shame there can be no blame or shame when it comes to repentance we don't
blame others we don't blame ourselves we don't shame others we don't shame ourselves I think
blame and shame are really two two negatives that people pick up on and it holds them back
and it's I think the natural man in us to beat ourselves up then to beat up others and we
need to eliminate that which is the shame and we need to eliminate the blaming of others
or seeing ourselves as victims we need to take we need to take 100% responsibility and accountability
and exercise 100% honesty in the process or we will not complete the process if we start
looking at that list you know you say you say blaming others and there's a lot of other
things that kind of work into that that separate us or distract us or keep us from making a
complete repentance process or in other words completely turning under the Savior for rescue
and for all things that we need but you know as we start looking at these things David
I think that as I go through here you know and Elder Robbins he's got a pretty comprehensive
list there of 19 things we won't go through all of them here we'll encourage you to do
that but you know there's a lot of these as I go through each one of these I'll just maybe
mention a few but that was definitely with the first one was blame the second one's rationalizing
or justifying the other one's making excuses I go down the list there's rebelling I go
down the list even further there's indulging in self pity and the victim mentality I go
down even further procrastination allowing fear to rule we talked about that a couple
of weeks ago on our podcast that was released just recently and then enabling and you know
as I go through each one of these David they all fall under one category and that's the
category of ego they're all about me they're going pride ego and pride and and you know
driven by fear insecurities insecurities and all those other things which are all tools
of the enemy I see all of this you know when we talk about ego there's a lot of traditions
that I've studied that when we talk about ego that go right come right out and say ego is
nothing more than a separation of ourselves from our Heavenly Father we do not see our
connection with our Heavenly Father that's ego I think I can subscribe to that definition
and and I think I'm not according to present Ben exactly pride is eminent he eminent he
between us and God especially and ourselves and others and thereby we're separated and
that separation makes the repentance process not only confusing and difficult but it can
throw up barriers that make it impossible to be complete in that process Dave yeah absolutely
I just want to read a paragraph from Mildred Anderson's book there is no true repentance
and no true forgiveness without complete honesty in our desire to repent honesty becomes critically
important first and foremost we must be honest with our Heavenly Father and with ourselves
any dishonesty and deception are at the foundation and root of almost all sin that it's just
so true I love my favorite definition of sin is is not just breaking commandments my favorite
definition of sin is it's a form of self deception it's a form of not being honest with ourselves
not being honest with our conscience not being honest with the light of Christ sin is a form
of dishonesty and self deception elder Anderson continues sometimes when someone begins to
repent he or she begins by exposing and this can be in personal prayer or confession to
a church leader but they begin by exposing only a part of a larger issue sometimes we
fool ourselves into thinking the whole picture need not be told or that part of what occurred
was someone else's fault good people can deceive themselves and be deceived any deception delays
the repentance process yeah yeah I love that you brought that up self deception you know
and we won't get into a whole lot of detail here but many years ago I was certified to
teach and present a concept called leadership and self deception and so for those of you
who are interested I would go out and look up Arbinger group the Arbinger principles
because there you will get a real concise definition of what self deception is in a
nutshell what self deception is is horrible icing other people or horrible icing other
events or making them blaming but always blaming always blaming others we say that in there
always always blaming others and as we're doing that what we're doing is we're justifying
and extolling our own perceived and sometimes manufactured virtues around those things so
in other words that's so bad and I try so hard and you know I guess what it distills
down to Dave is almost a victim mentality around that stuff well I love the book that
I read so many years ago called leadership and self deception and I've been always grateful
for the great work that Terry Warner has done in this regard and some of his work in publication
on what it means to be blameless that's how I see it anyway we don't want to minimize
either here Scott those who have been abused those who have been hurt truly those who have
been victimized and we don't want to minimize or discount the downward spiral that abuse
being abused by others can put an individual in and so we're not minimizing that discounting
that or in any way making light of the reality that some of our listeners no doubt and again
to some small in some small way all of us are victims victims to Satan victims to sin
victims to others that's part of mortality that's part of life but to to live in that
realm and to rationalize our behaviors by putting ourselves in a place where we are
not responsible and we're not accountable is double abuse right we are now beginning
to abuse ourselves right and it becomes a form of self abuse through self deception
yeah that's exactly right and for for reasons that are complex and sometimes difficult to
understand but even in those even in those states that we find ourselves you know those
of us who have been abused those of us who have had things perpetrated against us that
are ugly and unspeakable and and and all of that even those of us who have gone through
that have the ability to own a little bit of what is ours and what is not and and owning
that little bit of what is ours even then we still have the ability and therefore the
responsibility to attach ourselves to the principles of hope healing and redemption
through the Atonement of Jesus Christ exactly right and I want to again emphasize we did
a whole podcast almost on this on the effects after we spoke about the events we spoke about
the effects of the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our life and one of those effects which
is completely unconditional is the compensatory powers and blessings that flow into our life
through the Atonement of Jesus Christ for those who have been abused right and to accept
that unconditional gift even though it's unconditional it must be accepted and to accept that helps
us to move on from victimization to receive the blessings of the Atonement of Jesus Christ
and the compensatory powers that can flow into our life to have faith in that and to accept
it helps us then to move on from abuse and and those any ugly form of crime criminal
activity abuse at the hands of others it helps us to to move on from that right.
Well I think that you know as we as we start talking about becoming more honest and and
completely honest and I think the level to which we can practice honesty in our lives
and especially in our repentance most especially in our repentance process and again just reiterate
meaning to turn away from that which is not of God and turning towards a relationship
with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to help eliminate the things in our lives that keep
the spirit away but as we embark on this effort to become more honest I think Dave there's
a chapter in the big book of Alcoholics Anonymous it's called it's chapter six into action and
in a portion of that I'm just going to read it and I'll modify it to fit us more than
most people it says the alcoholic but I'm going to say more than most people the fallen
man the natural man leads a double life he is very much the actor to the outer world he
presents his stage character this is the one he likes his fellows to see he wants to enjoy
a certain reputation but knows in his heart he doesn't deserve it to a degree Dave that's
that can be all of us at least at some points in our lives because sure we try we fail we
try we fail the failure is embarrassing you know we through because of guilt and mostly
because of shame we begin to develop we can begin I did develop a stage persona if you
will that I wanted others to believe where deep inside there were things that were not
congruent with that which allowed the enemy to be more in control of what was going on
inside my heart then I was able to give my life and my will to to my Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.
Well Scott goes back to Adam and Eve when he says Adam where art thou Eve where art
thou and he could have asked who art thou right anyway we all have this natural man in
us since the fall of Adam and Eve where we where we hide you know we have a place when
we sin that we all go to and we try to hide our real selves are our true identity is covered
up and we hide and we become an actor and we we act out and we become actors we become
two faced we we're all hypocrites when we sin whenever we sin we become hypocrites
because that's not who we really are right but we are all sinners helping sinners and
we should understand that and understanding that should help us to forgive ourselves and
others well have we said enough about honesty taking 100% responsibility being 100% accountable
and taking accountability and being blameless and shameless we'll we'll say more about
these things but Dave what if we talk just for a second about what we talked about barriers
to repentance what can be some of the barriers to our honesty and I think that you identified
some of those just then right with we all have is a role we want to play we all have
the actor a little bit in us we're all two faced to a degree we all can become hypocrites
but what are some of the barriers and how do we overcome those do you think I think
the the major barriers to honesty accountability responsibility are the same that that we identified
that are barriers to to repenting in general Scott and I think it's number one fear and
number two pride I mean we're all afraid of of really being found out that's right we're
being caught yep in a lie we all love and make a lie that's such an interesting description
for those who go to the celestial kingdom that's two places in the scriptures in doctrine
and covenants I think 64 and I know it's in 76 doctor and come to 76 and describing the
quality or attributes of those who go to the celestial kingdom it says and those who love
us and make us a lie yeah lying not being true not being congruent makes up that the
large part of those who go to the the celestial kingdom or hell as we might as we might call
it so I think that the great roadblocks or stumbling blocks to again repenting and to
being 100% accountable responsible and honest are fear that you fear that's that whole description
is given in in fact I think I want to read it Scott if I can find it real quick yeah
is this is this passage of scripture here it is in section 63 of the doctrine and covenants
beginning with verse 16 it reads and verily I say unto you as I have said before he that
looketh on a woman to lust after her or we could say man or we could say any other sin
here they commit adultery in their hearts or they sin in their hearts they shall not
have the spirit number one but shall deny the faith number two and shall fear where
for I the Lord have said that the fearful and the unbelieving and all liars and whosoever
loveth and maketh a lie shall have part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone
yeah which is the second death I love that because we think you know my first response
to that is who loves a lie that's ridiculous nobody loves a lie but then if you give further
attention to that to that concept he who loves lie we all love lies you know lying I really
believe that lying or not being a hundred percent truthful if you want to soften it a little
bit which I don't care to do so I think lying is a universal sin we all participate at some
point because all of us and maybe I should speak in the eye form I I have a certain idea
in my mind about how the world sees me and I've developed that idea based on the inputs
of others especially those who are important to me and sometimes that hasn't been the most
accurate or most holy or most benevolent way to see myself but I see myself in a way again
creating that stage actor right and so you know I hope that as we hear that well I don't
love a lie I hope that's not our attitude I hope that's not our thought process because
you know what yeah we all kind of do and in that we find separation from our heavenly
Father so when we are able to overcome that and move in a direction where honesty is more
prevalent and prevails more deeply in our lives that's when the repentance process can
actually gain traction and put us in a in a posture where we are more inclined to our
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His powers and healings that come through that.
It's it's always been funny to me that we describe small lies as white lies right like
like they're okay yeah that's okay you know and I know there's different degrees of being
dishonest or being honest but this just seems there's nothing white about any lie and it's
interesting to me Scott that the way the enemy as you choose to call him and the devil or
Satan or Lucifer as I'll call him is 90% honest in everything that he whispers to us and is
10% dishonest and that's how he gets us yeah that's how he gets us yeah and and that's
how we that's that becomes our downfall I mean I think all of us as sinners we whisper
these part truths that we rationalize and we tell ourselves things that may be even
true but it's that that's that 10% part that's untrue in the Garden of Eden you know when
when Satan is whispering to Eve that you need to you need to learn the difference between
good and evil and this is how you become gods and and he's telling he's speaking all of these
truths and then he gets to this one lie you shall not surely die but because he's told
her already whispered 90% truth and then he gives her the one lie she buys it and that's
the way we are with ourselves I mean even in even in my own sins you know he whispers
to us or we whispers to ourselves well it will feel good or it will hide my pain or
cover my pain or it will be comfortable or it will be fun or it will be whatever whatever
whatever right yeah it even moves into you're not hurting anybody else yeah you're only
hurting yourself hurting yourself which is a complete lie because no one can sin in a
bubble because as soon as we sin we lose the spirit and that hurts everyone else that
we know everyone else that we touch or have a relationship with I mean it's just so easy
for us to buy a lie and the lie which can then destroy begin to destroy us from within
which then begins to affect everyone else that is important to us so I just there can
be no in all lies there is nothing but darkness and in all truth there is nothing but light
and I think one of the greatest lies that Satan pours into us is that you're not who
you really think you are that you're something or someone else and that you must be like
someone or something else or that to be comfortable or to to find pleasure and and happiness you
have to do this or be like them and he whispers that to us but the lie that he also whispers
to us and you will not surely die or be accountable and then he's got us yeah well I think that
you know as we talk about this and you know we could we could continue to talk about this
the concept of honesty and complete honesty for a long time but I think that you know
we have done a sufficient job and kind of putting forth our thoughts around it the importance
around it and I hope that the the witness of the spirit I trust that it is that the
witness witness of the spirit is touching our hearts as we consider this and as we think
about this and as and here will be my invitation today and as we start to have thoughts about
where can my honesty be made better where can I be more complete in my honesty or more true
in my dealings with myself first with with my heavenly Father first with myself to and
with others you know I think that if we as we start to identify those and ask for his
help in moving past those through the atonement through Jesus Christ power through the atonement
of Jesus Christ those things can be made right and healed and we can then begin to move into
a more more peaceful life here in this planet Dave yeah so then I would like to maybe begin
to transition from being totally honest accountable blameless responsible to maybe another part
of the process of repentance which is confession confessing to ourselves being honest and recognizing
a need confessing our inadequacies to ourselves confessing our sins recognizing 100% our accountability
confessing our sins to God our heavenly Father in private and personal prayer laying it out
for him no more hiding telling him about all of our inadequacies and all of our sins this
is kind of interesting because when we confess to our heavenly Father it's not like he doesn't
know what we've done right and who we are who we really are yeah he knows it already
yeah but there is a power in us being accountable and confessing it to him coming clean right
I mean that's I know that's important in our personal prayers to him in our confession
and I think it's really important in in addiction programs right yeah 100% right I mean I mean
everybody knows why you're there but yeah but but but here's the thing with that though
you know everybody knows that we're there but as we come we come with those and it and
it's rarely been the exception I've never seen the exception to my 23 years of sponsoring
people and sitting through what we call a fifth step inventory where they read or we
talk about all of our defects of character with a fearless and searching moral inventory
to having done that first there's never been an exception to this where we just have something
that I'm just gonna take to my grave you know I just don't want to talk about that and we
find that yeah so yeah yeah I've had people tell me that yeah Scott yeah in the church
who have confessed to me who have said you know I I had just decided I had come to the
conclusion that I was gonna be the best person I could be and I was just gonna never confess
that sin and take it to my grave and trust that I could work that out on the other side
or that Heavenly Father would eventually or that I would suffer for my sins which I think
is is complete false doctrine because Jesus paid for all the sins of all the world but
they were gonna suffer and then God would forgive them with a few stripes and they would
be able to to go to heaven yeah but you know what we find we find that we all have those
and yeah there you know Deb my wife has she has a lot of great saying she was raised by
a wonderful mother who had sayings on the fridge every day in fact we get every year
we get a calendar a family calendar and you know each family has a month and there's almost
enough fact there are enough kids in the family to do that each family has month but there
are sayings all over this calendar they call them surely isms because she came up with these
sayings as they were growing up and they were raised on these sayings and so surely there
you go I know you listen to this I love you and power the word that's exactly right and
I want to give you credit for some of the greatness in your sweetheart your sweet daughter
my sweetheart but Deb always says we're only as sick as our secrets our secret our secrets
will keep us sick I love that yeah they will keep us ill they will keep us separated from
our Heavenly Father they will keep us separated from being true to those around us and we
can feel that Dave we can feel when somebody's incongruent living outside of their integrity
sometimes we don't know why sometimes we can't put words to it sometimes it's unexplainable
to us but there's that thing that just fills off yeah and and we create that when we try
to hide our secrets when we try to keep those things that secret that keep us from our Heavenly
Father we are only as sick as our secrets as our secrets well I love that yeah well I
amen and so in in moving forward as we confess to our Heavenly Father we need to be just
completely honest I've always been impressed with evangelicals who confess their their
sins now I'm not I'm not saying it's completely accurate or or complete or the best way I'm
just saying I'm impressed I'm touched I respect evangelicals very much who confess that they
are sinners right and it seems as though I know we all know we are but it seems like
there's a lot of members of the Church of Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints and and others
and many others who have that have a hard time doing that yeah going before their Heavenly
Father and calling upon him and and and just crying out I am a sinner I I just think that's
an important step in the process of repentance is the the crying out yeah that I not only
have I sinned but that I am a sinner and recognizing our complete utter total need and dependency
upon him and that that we're fallen this goes back to the doctrine of the fall knowing that
we are sinners and that we need him is a really important realization and point that we must
all all experience to be able to repent and we need we need to talk about why we confess
and not only to our Heavenly Father but maybe the two to the proper priesthood leaders in
the church who we confess to and what should be confessed so maybe those are the three
questions Scott that we can talk about when it comes to confession and we probably don't
have time to get into those three and so maybe that's just a little bit of a teaser yeah
what we can definitely do that with our next podcast for sure for our next podcast is to
to answer those those questions and begin to explore the role of the church when it comes
to to repentance but maybe we can kind of conclude today by just talking about the importance
of complete honesty and accountability and even when it comes to confession and the scripture
that I think is really awesome in this regard in being accountable being honest is doctrine
covenants I think it may be one of the ultimate scriptures on repentance actually and we'll
explore it in some depth especially in our next next episode doctrine comes 58 verses
42 and 43 behold he who has repented of his sins the same is forgiven and I the Lord remember
them no more by this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins behold he will confess
them and forsake them I I choose not to see confession and forsaking of sin as steps
of repentance but rather Scott I see them as signs of our repentance and that's the
way this reads by this or this is how you'll know right right by this you may know if a
man repenteth of his sins yeah he'll confess them all of them be be completely honest he
will confess them and he will forsake them so that those I think are the evidence of
repentance the evidence of repentance the manifestations we could call them of repentance
that we confess that we come clean and doing that precedes our ability to forsake them
and put them behind us and maybe we can explore that in the next episode absolutely I and
I think that we need to because you know Dave as we go through life and in life in the church
for those of us who have been raised in the church and those of us who have come to the
church later in life and those of us who have taken hiatuses and come back to the church
you know in the church we're encouraged to be our best selves and the best that we can
and I think sometimes we view it's and it's it's it's been an age-old problem and it
will probably continue to as long as ego and is alive and well among us I think that there
can be a problem of we feel like going back to the actor on a stage type of scenario we
need to at some point in order for us to be completely in the fold you know taken like
a hen takes her chicks under her wings with we want to become one of those chicks we definitely
need to have the ability to confess and can say now or forsake now that doesn't mean I
wear my sin like a badge of honor that doesn't mean that I show up everywhere I go and I'm
talking about my sins and and all of those things but what it does well anyone who does
that Scott hasn't forsaken it that's my point what it does mean is that I put on I have
put on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and because of that my nature has changed when we confess
them and we come clean with them especially with the Lord and with our Heavenly Father
then we will forsake them confessing and forsaking go together we confess them we're honest we're
accountable responsible right and then we put them behind us and we don't do not continue
to beat ourselves up or to shame ourselves or to blame ourselves they're in the past
they're in the past if we've been honest if we've been accountable responsible we can
forsake them and to and tell we are honest they're always in front of us they're always
before us we can lie to ourselves and our Heavenly Father and others but those those
lies or those those sins and deception is always in front of us when we are honest and fully
confess they move behind us we put them behind us and that's what it means to forsake them
and anyone who goes around confessing their sins over and over and over again have obviously
not either been totally honest or accountable or confess them and I think that there's an
order to this that there must be complete confession in order to for there to be a complete
forsaking of sin right I do too I do too well I think you know we have spent almost a complete
podcast talking about some very important things specifically how do we begin the repentance
process you know we we talk about honesty being completely honest with who we are I think
that as we do that that it's important for us to that we also give credit and are honest
about our the good things in our lives you know we we should acknowledge the things in
our lives that are working for us we should acknowledge my prayers are substantial that
I'm working towards moving closer to my Heavenly Father because my prayers are good or because
I participate or I serve or whatever the case may be we can't let the things that are keeping
us from him overrule us you know ladies and gentlemen I think that this is a good time
for us to extend it yet another invitation an invitation to look into our own lives where
are we completely honest and maybe even more importantly than that where do maybe we compromise
our honesty about who we are not just to others but especially to our Heavenly Father we invite
you to do a complete and I'll say it in the you know in the vernacular of recovery a complete
moral and searching inventory of ourselves identifying those character defects those defects
of character in our life that propagate and perpetuate those types of things that keep
us from him it's been a great podcast Dave I'm going to let you say a few final words
here and then we'll go ahead and close out today well I hope everyone will will take
that invitation given by Scott seriously and just do a really honest open our hearts and
our minds the review review our past and to be able to see things that maybe only the
spirit of the Lord can help us to remember I know that this promise in the scriptures
is sure that he who has repented of his sins that the Lord will forgive them and that he
will remember them no more he'll remember them no more it's not like he forgot them he'll
choose not to remember them however for us Scott I think it's hard for us to I know that
we'll never forget our sins and that's that's actually a gift right so that we won't repeat
the same sins that will I think it's good for us to remember the pain and it's good for
us to remember the process of repentance and remembers our serious sin more serious sins
that we commit so it's a gift that we don't forget but I think it's really important
that in our honesty as we seek to remember even the sins that we have not repented of
that we make that inventory as you invited us to do that we that we maybe write down
some things and that we take care of those things and then we burn them or like the anti-nephi
leis in the Book of Mormon that we dig a big hole in the in our heart or in the ground
the sometimes hard ground of our heart and that we bury them that we bury them and that
they're gone that we bury our weapons or our sins and that we leave them always buried
so hope you'll take that invitation seriously to take an inventory and to be honest and
I testify that I know that that'll that'll help us to move forward as we look backward
and we're honest with ourselves then we can move forward putting those things behind us
and I absolutely love how you paralleled that to burying our weapons of war because these
can truly be weapons of war you know maybe just an extension on that invitation would
be let's identify how some of those things have become weapons of war to us and how we've
used them as weapons of war in our life and how burying those weapons of war might make
our lives different thanks so much Dave it's been awesome to be with you as always ladies
and gentlemen it's been awesome to be with you as always another great podcast I feel
that we've had here today we want to just remind you of our love for you of his love
for you and most importantly remember that you have been redeemed through his blood we
look forward to being with you again everybody take care and have a great week.