I'm going to speak today about a bad word. This word has been used in every language, every time period, and every place in the world, to the consternation of all. It is hardly spoken out loud because everyone cringes. It is hateful, hurtful, and terrible. People frequently die for using it; indeed it has caused the death of many of the greatest men and women in the world, it even caused the death of God, the greatest of all. The prophets and apostles tiptoe around this word so as not to offend; even from the pulpit it is only spoken in euphemisms. It is found in nearly every scripture written by every prophet, but nobody knows what it means; and they don't ask. It's meaning is kept well-hidden, even from the righteous! Nobody wants to hear it, or understand it. When used properly even the faithful will walk out. Sailors who pepper every sentence with all sorts of foul gutter language will gasp and be angry if they hear this word. It's bad. Really bad. In fact, I think it's the only truly bad word that is found in every language. What is this terrible, horrible, hateful, hurtful, bad, mean, ugly, awful, and deadly word? It's a command:
Repent!
Today, I will boldly use this word, and give you the full meaning. I expect you all will either walk away, or stone me. Peter was crucified upside-down for preaching repentance to gentiles. Jesus was crucified right-side up for the same offence to His own faithful family. Jonah ran the other way! Many prophets were cast out, stoned, burned, and imprisoned for telling their own or other people to repent. So, do to me what you will, I'm going to tell you anyway.
"It's for you"
Nobody wants to hear that repentance applies to them; everyone wants to feel like they are OK. Repentance only applies to those people, out there. Rather than apply the principle of repentance to ourselves, we prefer to point the finger, either actually, or in our hearts, at others, even those we love. "He needs to change." "She needs to change." "They need to change." We will not acknowledge our own need to change. Couples who go to counseling invariably are pointing the finger at each other. Neither wants to repent. Neither wants to make the sacrifice, even for love. The heart of stone is stronger. Every religious and secular community is filled to the brim with people who use their own religion to justify themselves while pointing the finger of repentance at others.
We all want to feel like we are good just as we are. Only those who are humble will be able to see their own need to change. They look inward, like the apostles of Jesus, when revealed that one of them would betray Him, they asked, "Is it I?" They didn't look around the room, trying to guess which one of the others would do the dirty deed.
Even in church we are taught about the five steps of repentance and avoid actually learning what it means to repent:
1. Recognize that you shouldn't have stolen that candy from the store.
2. Feel sorry
3. Make restitution -- give it back... or pay for it!
4. Ask for forgiveness
5. Never do it again
I always thought that this was really cool! I never stole anything from the store so I had no need to repent! Ha Ha! Repentance wasn't for me, it was for all those shoplifters out there! I didn't commit adultery so I don't need to repent. I'm good! This is how I passed half a century going to church every week and never learning about repentance. Since none of my teachers had repented, they couldn't teach me about it. I had to start from scratch, on my own, first learning why we need to repent, or what we need to repent of.
"Look at me!"
From the very young to the elderly it seems that all have a basic need to be noticed. Parents are constantly being pulled in one direction or another to notice the work, words, play, or accomplishments of a child. The book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie begins with this step. People need to be acknowledged. We need to hear our name. We need to feel like we're a part of something bigger than ourselves. We are born with a foundation of what we are inside. We experience the world and become able to express ourselves in the various ways, through art, language, music, work, and so forth.
One of my professors in medical school was older and very wise. He talked about healing, basing his lecture on a song by The Who called Listening to You:
See me,
Feel me,
Touch me,
Heal me.
His philosophy was that a doctor needed to be able to do more than listen in order to heal, he or she needed to experience the patient in other ways, to notice, or to acknowledge who they are and give them significance, and then the healing would begin.
Life is vain
However, all of this that we do, our natural foundation, is not solid because in the world everything is constantly changing. We have to live with loss of all kinds. I know many who live in the past, their "glory days" because their present is not good for them. We are very unstable because we are in a world of corruption, a world "where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal." (3 Nephi 13:19) We could die any minute, we don't know when. Moreover, whatever we created could easily be destroyed, lost, or stolen. Any foundation of our hearts, whatever we have our hearts set on will be lost at some point. Thus, the existentialist philosophers have noted that without the concept of eternity, life is simply a cruel irony.
"Dostoevsky once wrote: “If God did not exist, everything would be permitted”; and that, for existentialism, is the starting point. Everything is indeed permitted if God does not exist, and man is in consequence forlorn, for he cannot find anything to depend upon either within or outside himself." (Jean Paul Sartre)
Even Biblical philosophers, David and Solomon, noted the same:
"Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity." (Psalm 39:5)
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh..." (Ecclesiastes 1:2-4)
When we maintain a life based on our own hearts, our own wants, needs and desires, we can find no foundation, no rest, no peace, no love -- and we see that all our efforts are useless. Feelings change. People change. People die. We change. All we are inside is as passing as the sandcastles we built as children on the beach -- no matter how awesome they were. All is lost. All is worthless. Everything is nothing.
Seeking Eternity
When we come to realize the vanity of what is in our own hearts, that "all we are is dust in the wind," and all we have is temporary, then we may start to look outside of ourselves for something more permanent. To repent is to let go of what is temporary, and take on those things of Eternity. All the things we sacrifice are not really a sacrifice because they don't exist in eternity anyway. They will all be lost, sooner or later. Inscribed on the wall of the chapel at Stanford University is the following:
"An eternal existence in prospect converts the whole of your present state into a mere vestibule of the grand court of life; a beginning, an introduction to what is to follow; the entrance into that immeasurable extent of being which is the true life of man. The best thoughts, affections and aspirations of a great soul are fixed on the infinitude of eternity. Destined as such a soul is for immortality, it finds all that is not eternal too short, all that is not infinite too small."
What we gain through repentance is wonderful beyond imagination. It is real. It is solid. It is good. We go into a world of light, truth, and love. All things become possible. Life becomes full, rich, and fulfilling. There is value, huge value in life that is so far beyond anything the world has to offer. It is a foundation that is built on bedrock, the Rock of Eternity that lasts forever and ever, and will never be lost or shaken. We can have all that is eternal only as we give up all that is temporary.
"What is real?"
Alma preached repentance to a fallen people; "And it came to pass after he had made an end of speaking unto the people many of them did believe on his words, and began to repent, and to search the scriptures." (Alma 14:1) What were they searching for? The words of Eternal Life. The real process of repentance is giving up all that is temporary, and replacing it with things that are eternal in nature. It is the sacrifice of the heart. Nobody wants to hear about repentance because the sacrifice is too great, it's too hard. People will do all the performances, rituals, and sacrifice others such as friends, enemies, or their own children before they will sacrifice what is in their hearts. Instead of being recognized for our contribution, we must be humble and let go of all that we do, all that we are, and all that we ever hope to accomplish. False religion sacrifices others, while true religion is the sacrifice of our own heart, all we know and love, on the altar of God.
Preach repentance
The Lord told His disciples in the latter days, "I command you that you preach naught but repentance." (D&C 19:21) Some of them understood, and were hated and persecuted, driven and killed. Others didn't. We still don't really understand if we haven't repented ourselves. We will instead be found pointing the finger at the obvious need for others to repent. We don't want to be the bearer of bad news. We don't want to use the dirty word, the only bad word that nobody likes. We don't want to even know what it really means. However, it is the single most important word in the world. Without it, we are lost and fallen forever.
Without repentance we cannot reach our potential, or power, nor can we live. We can have nothing permanent; all we have and all we are is temporary without repentance. We will die with all that is in the world. All that we seek to receive recognition will be lost with us. The significant life has nothing to do with being a great artist, philosopher, philanthropist, or businessman, rather it is finding our eternal destiny.
Thus, this most important word is not just spoken by all the holy prophets down through the ages, not only Jesus, but the God the Father Himself said it: "the Father commandeth all men, everywhere, to repent!" (3 Nephi 11:32) How do we do this? I understand four steps are required.
1. Humble yourself -- be willing to give up everything that is required of God.
2. Believe in Christ -- though I don't have the power to change, He can change me.
3. Let go of your wants, needs, and desires that are temporary.
4. Search for all that is Eternal, and hold fast to it!
Humility is hard-won
One important lesson I learned is that we don't choose our sacrifice, God does. I have sought repentance for many years. I realized that I needed to start with humility so I prayed for it and was soon in the middle of a lawsuit that I lost, and subsequently lost my medical licence, the business I had worked so hard to build from the ground up, and my income to feed my family. I was devastated! However, rather than "curse God and die" I decided to accept the lesson in humility and learn how to forgive, and let go. Later, my wife asked for a divorce and I even lost my family. I tried to put the pieces back together, but it was useless fighting. I had lost everything! I had no control. There was only one thing that the Lord actually asked me to sacrifice of my own will -- the house I had built with my own hands! The sacrifices I was asked to make just happened in the course of life. I didn't choose them, and all I could really do was to let go and accept the will of God as it unfolded.
All I had to do, really, was to see the hand of God in answering my prayers, and helping me to repent, and be grateful for the loss, for the pain, and for all I had to suffer because of it. Looking back, I can see that I had to give up all that I had my heart set on of the world so that I could begin to learn the things of eternity. In a short period of time, I had lost everything that was important to me. All the things that made me what I was. My art, my creativity, my uniqueness, my accomplishments, the very heart of me. I was broken. He broke my heart. Acceptance of the circumstance we are given is the process of letting go of control, our hearts, and the things of the world.
The story of repentance
I love The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel, because it tells the story of repentance so well. Pi hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ and wants to be baptized. Subsequently he goes through a process of losing everything, even his "tiger," and ends up with an incredible story to tell. These are the real stories of life. Everyone who has sought the Lord and repented has an amazing story. I think it is instructive that Pi had important decisions to make along the way, but mostly he had to let go and trust in God.
The greatest story of all is that of our Lord because He is our perfect example to follow. Most don't realize that He had to go through the process of letting go of the things of the world. "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." (Hebrews 5:8) Satan tempted Jesus with satiating His flesh, recognition, and power, but He had learned to submit to His Father.
Jesus explained His final submission, "I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning." (3 Nephi 11:11) To "suffer" means to "allow." In the Garden of Gethsemane he allowed the pain of all mankind to come to Him. He didn't cause it, He allowed it, "And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." (Matthew 26:39)
Because He did this, we can repent. We can change. We can leave our hearts on the altar of God, and take His heart. We can trust in Him, letting go of all that is temporary, and search for all that is Eternal. We can stop seeking our own, "look at me!" and start seeking His glory. It is a process.
Repent!
OK. Here goes. You can stone me if you want, but you need to repent! If you are a child (over 8) you need to repent. If you are poor you need to repent. If you have never done anything wrong you need to repent. If you are an ordained minister you need to repent. If you are Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, or atheist you need to repent. No matter who you are, no matter where you live, no matter what you believe, no matter what you think, you NEED to repent! I join the voices of all the holy prophets who every lived: Believe in Jesus Christ, have faith in Him, put your trust in Him, and REPENT!
Repentance is not about stealing, lying, or committing adultery. It is about getting rid of all that is temporary and replacing it with Eternal things. It's sacrifice. This is like birth. There is suffering, there is travail, and, yes, it's hard! No woman says, "I'm not interested in the baby, I'm just looking forward to labor and delivery!" That's why repentance is a bad word. However, on the other side of repentance is life, Eternal Life. Paul explains, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9) It's good! It's really good! Those who have never had a child can never know the pain, nor can they know the joy of bringing a new life into the world. Don't focus on the pain of a broken heart, look instead to the joy of Eternal Life!
I commend all who read this to repent, to seek life, to make the change, to make the sacrifice. Search the Scriptures for all that is Eternal, and then allow the will of God to take over. Pray for repentance. Let go of your desires, or your heart. Allow the temporary to crumble, and build on the Rock of Eternity. Do only those things that are Eternal. Seek only things that are forever. Live life to the fullest. It's worth it! If you do, the universal bad word will become the greatest, most wonderful and glorious word ever spoken!
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