Repentance and confession

[MikeWaters]

Bishops aren't perfect. Many grow into their callings. The views they held prior to their calling and after are not always the same.

I believe the Lord has a way of bringing people around to His point of view.

[Robin]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Bishops aren't perfect. Many grow into their callings. The views they held prior to their calling and after are not always the same.

I believe the Lord has a way of bringing people around to His point of view.

It sure worked that way with me. Unfortunately, the Lord's NT reminder to his disciples, "I come not in peace, but with a sword," has proven somewhat true. A sword to divide families and friends as the various parties choose sides... to either trust the spirit as it directs them in their individual lives, or to place their spiritual welfare into the hands of others, and the interpretation of the direction of the spirit as it is dictated by others.

[jay santos]

Originally Posted by Fumamota McChopperdave

One thing that I've always wondered about, why is it necessary to confess to a bishop/GA a sin that one has already overcome, prayed about, and felt a confirming spirit that he has been forgiven?

Personal story: before the mish in my youth, I was a lover of the ganja and the pale ale. It kept me out of the mission field for awhile; I continued to attend church, but felt continually niggled by guilt that I had a horrible habit that was holding me back spiritually. I struggled for a couple of years, and finally put the stuff away.
I read the BOM, found myself spiritually, gained a real testimony, and decided to file mission papers. It had been 8 months since I'd touched anything when during pre-paper sending bishop interviews I disclosed my Word o' wisdom breakages in my youth. I was ashamed to admit these things I'd hidden from the ward community for years. I felt awful about things... and the bishop responded by giving me the b**** slapping of my life. He said that I had no honor, and that if he had his way I wouldn't be allowed to serve a mission. He laid into me like no other.
I told myself after that experience, never again. Before the interview, I had felt that I had worked on the problem and found repentance and help through the spirit. Afterwards, I felt like Judas. I decided that from then on, repentance would be between myself, loved ones possibly affected by my actions, and the Lord.
So, why is a confession necessary in these situations? What is the doctrinal basis for speaking to a bishop about any particular sin? It is between the Lord and the sinner, no?

You learned a valuable lesson. Too bad you couldn't have learned it outside the school of hard knocks. This is a principle I want to teach my children. But it's very tricky.

I have come to the conclusion that confession, except for rare instances, is for the weak minded who can't manage guilt. Most of the cases I hear about someone going to the bishop for help, it always backfired.

I want to teach my kids how to come to their parents when they're in trouble, not the bishop, and to manage the guilt trips that inevitably come to the youth of the church as an outcome of normal teenage experiences. But at the same time not to harden them against the spirit and the desire to comply with what the church teaches.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by jay santos

I want to teach my kids how to come to their parents when they're in trouble, not the bishop, and to manage the guilt trips that inevitably come to the youth of the church as an outcome of normal teenage experiences. But at the same time not to harden them against the spirit and the desire to comply with what the church teaches.

Hey Jay. If you figure out how to teach that effectively, please post a primer here for the rest of us.

Thanks in advance.

I love your moniker, BTW. I am thinking of changing mine to SteveBosell. Or LloydBonafide. Or perhaps SteveDoolie, VernonDozier, RCCollins. What think ye?

[DrumNFeather]

I think in some ways we just have to understand that it is part of the process as outlined by the church. As Mike noted, bishops aren't perfect, they're not supposed to be. It is similar to mission presidents...some mission presidents are hard liners who send Elders home for things that other mission presidents might not.

One of the reasons that boundaries are so important in the church (geographic) is because there is only one person at any given time designated by the church to have stewardship over us...that is the bishop.

I remember talking to my bishop one time about things I considered to be minor, but I wanted to double check and so I went in and talked to him about it and asked the very important question: Am I fooling myself? He told me that I had to be careful about fooling myself into thinking that I don't need a bishop to help me understand that I was forgiven.

Obviously, the repentence process is very personal and the feelings of forgiveness that we feel are very much our own. The bishop is simply the person we have to confess to as part of that forgiveness process.

It is truly unfortunate when a bishop mistreats a repentant sinner, but they will be held accountable for those actions as much as we are held accountable for our own actions...one of which might be not going through the proper authorities when certain sins occur and steps of repentence are needed.