What if you haven’t confessed to your bishop all your past sins like having sex, but you have already gone through the process of repentance and it’s abeen a couple of years passed.. And you feel the blessings and guidance of the Holy Ghost again. Do you still need to confess to your bishop and be in the process again?
3 Responses to “What if you haven’t confessed to your bishop all your past s…”
WhiteEyebrows
2009-05-07 06:25:40
A missionary hugging a bishop in Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil.
The process of repentance involves both confessing and forsaking your sins. Confessing your sins means fully owning up to them, and standing up and being held accountable for them. Most sins can simply be confessed to God through prayer. For certain sins, however, full confession includes discussing them with your bishop. Why do you need to confess a sin to the bishop? Those sins that affect the agency of other people (fornication, adultery, abuse, abortion, murder, etc) are very difficult to fully repent of. Your bishop is best equipped to help you. He is a neutral person who can help you understand the scope of the problem, help you deal with the consequences of your mistake, give you guidance custom tailored for your circumstance, and help you make full restitution.
It may seem intimidating to share such personal information with your bishop, but you will find that as you do, he will become your greatest ally as you combat your sin. You might also be surprised to find that your repentance process will be easier than you anticipated. Each program is custom created for each person, to be comensurate with the seriousness of the sin, the duration it lasted, and the number of people it affected. Just be honest with your bishop about how you feel spiritually, and he will give you guidance on how to proceed.
Repentance is not complete without fully confessing your sins, when appropriate, to your bishop. The peace of mind that will follow is worth the stress of having to discuss your hurtful experiences.
Anonymous
2009-05-07 06:33:59
That depends on whether or not you confessed in the first place. For more grievous sins, like sex outside of marriage, you do need to talk with your priesthood leader. Beware here that you are not deceiving yourself. According to church standards a true confession and remittance of a serious sin needs to be taken through your priesthood leader. From what you wrote it appears you have taken personal steps to be ready to repent, so the process should be a simple go in, talk with bishop, and go from there. That being said, you need to make sure that your pride doesn't get in the way of counsel or limitations placed upon you by your bishop. A true repentance shouldn't have any problem with any further church discipline as we know that, as Paul puts it to in his epistle to the Hebrews:
"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
Go take the steps you need to and be justified in the sight of our God again.
Anonymous
2009-08-03 03:20:31
It is up to your bishop. I was inactive from the church for many years. During that time, I committed grievous sins. However, when I returned to the church and visited my bishop about priesthood advancement, he was only interested in anything that I did since coming back. Sins that I committed several years earlier were not important to him, even if it involved adultery, or fornication. I must point out here that all bishops' approaches are different. The Lord supports however your bishop handles it! Use the spirit!!! Ask your bishop how far he would like to go back! He will probably only want to know if you were ever invloved with murder.
It may seem intimidating to share such personal information with your bishop, but you will find that as you do, he will become your greatest ally as you combat your sin. You might also be surprised to find that your repentance process will be easier than you anticipated. Each program is custom created for each person, to be comensurate with the seriousness of the sin, the duration it lasted, and the number of people it affected. Just be honest with your bishop about how you feel spiritually, and he will give you guidance on how to proceed.
Repentance is not complete without fully confessing your sins, when appropriate, to your bishop. The peace of mind that will follow is worth the stress of having to discuss your hurtful experiences.
"For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
Go take the steps you need to and be justified in the sight of our God again.