Comments on: Change Your Mind

By: sharq

sharq — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 21:17:52 +0000

Every statement I make is a lie.

By: LDS Recovery » Blog Archive » How do you model repentance?

LDS Recovery » Blog Archive » How do you model repentance? — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 14:50:16 +0000

[...] This post by Kevin Barney at By Common Consent is a couple of days old, but it seems pertinent to the goals of this blog.Â I’ll have a post up later today, too. Posted by John Anon Filed in LDS Blog Links, General Recovery [...]

By: Lynnette

Lynnette — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 05:08:33 +0000

When they asked for the steps of repentance in Primary, I remember always being the smart-aleck who pointed out that step #1 must be “sin,” or the rest would be unnecessary. ;)

One of my favorite definitions of repentance is that it’s a response to the awareness of being loved. I like that model because then it’s not so much about us attempting to achieve sufficient change or remorse for God to be involved again in our lives, but perhaps rather the “change of mind” which arises when we glimpse that God is already there in the trenches with us.

By: Eve

Eve — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:14:13 +0000

S, you mean telling only part of the truth counts as deceit? Just kidding, I’m back in the liars’ club, it turns out.

By: s

Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:06:01 +0000

I was actually never good at outright lying. I was always one of those tell-only-part-of-the-truth deceivers.

And Amri, I would say that repentance that takes a lifetime is still repentance. I’m guessing there are some sins I’m going to be changing my mind about well into the next life. :)

By: Eve

Eve — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 01:02:44 +0000

Amri, Yay, a liars’ club!

I gave up lying many years ago, partly because I’m such a lousy liar. And now I’m so out of practice that I doubt I could pull it off. Even at the height of my lying powers in my teens I wasn’t very good at deceit. The discerning could, I suspect, see right through me.

By: Amri

Amri — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:51:49 +0000

I’ve decided that there are some sins that take a lifetime to change my mind about.

That’s still repentance right?

S and Eve, I have a little group of friends that have bonded together over our lying habits. It’s funny because our lies that work on other people never work on each other.

By: julie

julie — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:27:01 +0000

Thank heavens I never actually remembered the 5 Rs or it seems like sometimes it was 7 steps or other random numbers–I wouldn’t know, because I don’t remember! Mnemonic devices never helped me learn anything, so I have thankfully been spared the doctrinal confusion. The most useful definition for me has come from Elder Holland, who said that “repentance” is the most hopeful word in the Gospel because it’s an invitation to change. He also said that all you have to do is say “I’ll change” and mean it. Of course, he adds, you do spend the rest of your life proving your sincerity, but the concept of repentance is really easy to understand. (I think this is from _However Long and Hard the Road_)

By: s

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:08:01 +0000

Ditto what Eve and Amri said! I was also horribly traumatized by the five Rs approach in Primary (for much the same reasons as they outlined). It tied my brain in mental knots and left me feeling utterly hopeless about the possibility that I could repent in the ways God wanted me to.

As others have noted, models such as the “change your heart” one have been a much more effective model for me as I’ve tried to figure out how to actually go about repenting in a way that is meaningful (and trauma-free, aside from the pain of making hard changes) for me.

By: Eve

Eve — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 21:02:36 +0000

I was absolutely traumatized by the five Rs approach in Primary. I quickly realized that I couldn’t even remember all of the sins I’d committed and that it would take me more than the rest of my life just to go through the five steps for every single one. So I gave up on the spot and resigned myself to hell.

The change of mind/turning back approach would have been much more meaningful to me even as a child, I think. I still really dislike the idea that repentance is some little list that you go through, as if its stages and completion could ticked off in a day planner.

Oh, and Amri–I was a chronic liar too. Chronic.