THE MECHANISM OF FORGIVENESS

I do not purport to know all things - but I sure like to figure out how things work.  I wrote the following to a sibling about another sibling who is laboring under sin and who is having a hard time being charitable towards our father.  All I can say is this:  its a good thing he saw this particular sibling in her spirit form before she was born (and in her glory), otherwise it would be one hard pill to swallow (if it were me), being her father.  She has been vicious and mean towards him since she rebelled and went off the deep end over 30 years ago.  It has gotten particularly bad as of late:

Yeah – no sweat.  _______ really labors under a lot of anger.  These are my private thoughts only and not to be shared with other siblings; I think there is much unrepented sin there and as she ages and her mortality becomes more and more evident, she is faced with having to deal with it and come clean with her Maker (as we all have to).  As she has rejected the Church, she has no outlet to go through to obtain that forgiveness.  The correct path is through her (Heavenly) Father and earthly Priesthood reps.  Our father is a token of her Heavenly Father and also has the Priesthood (but obviously is not a Bishop).  Her rage is directed in that way towards our dad for that reason.  It is the M.O. of many people in that boat – and is the reason that they raged against Dad about ____________.  The very things they were accusing an innocent man of, they are guilty of themselves.  I picture the Savior bent down and writing in the dust of the street where the woman taken in adultery was being stoned.  In our accusations, many times, we reveal our own secret sins.  When we are casting stones through the windows of others’ abodes, we reveal the fragility of our own glass mansion.

Just some thoughts.  I pray more and more lately that they will be brought down to the depths of humility – if it must needs be by the things that they must suffer – so that they can begin their journey to healing and bettering themselves.  Until they recognize and confess their own weaknesses and are stripped of ALL pride, they cannot begin to be partakers of the salvation which Jesus offers.  The atonement is simply null and void until that point is reached.  This is why so many around us struggle in tragedy and difficulty.  God is being merciful in offering them a chance to come to Him and be humble in order to achieve greater spiritual things after they have passed through the valley of the shadow of death.

A last thought about not being respectful to our elders - including Church leadership.  The command is given and a promise.  One of the few of the 10 commandments that also contains a promise like the Word of Wisdom does.  We are promised that if we honor our elders, our days will be long on the land.  Translation - we will not be swept from off the face of it for insolence.  Could it be that right before ancient Israel and Nephite civilizations perished from the face of the land, that there was much discord and breakdown of the family as the children began to dishonor their parents (so long as the parents were striving for some sort of righteousness)?  Interesting to think about today, in light of how mouthy and insolent children are towards their parents......