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Godly Sorrow Vs. Worldly Sorrow

From a singles conference workshop I attended Nov. 6, 2004 in St. George, Utah.

How is Your Repenting Coming?

Hebrew for repentance = SHUBE
It means leaving unhappiness and despair behind, to turn back to God and live.

Greek for repentance = METANEOEO
It means a change of mind; a transformation.

These two words, when translated into Latin, somehow became POENITERE
It means hurting, cutting, whipping, etc.

Does this mean the same as the first two?? NO.

The focus of Worldly Sorrow is on the SIN, and the feelings are of guilt, failure, worthlessness, NO hope.

The focus of Godly Sorrow is on the ATONEMENT, and the feelings are the pure love of Christ and HOPE.

The Purpose of Worldly Sorrow:
to feel guilty, etc; accept responsiblity for the sin; to recognize the loss of the Spirit; to repent and turn back to God.

The Wrong USE of Worldly Sorrow:
to condemn oneself for sinning; continue to focus on the sin after repenting and relive it and other sins committed (over and over which leads to repeat the sin); to feel so bad about the sin that we don't feel worthy to repent and receive forgiveness. Satan uses this very effectively.

Godly Sorrow is a gift of the Spirit; Repentance brings Godly Sorrow. In pleading with Heavenly Father to forgive us, we feel these two emotions:
1. Godly sorrow for the Savior's suffering for our sins
2. The extending of Heavenly Father's love for us.

As we accept fully the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we seek to serve Him in all things and bring forth fruit meet for repentance. The power of the Atonement makes you clean and forgiven, and numbered among the righteous.

Scriptures referenced:
Alma 36:12-16
Enos 1-8
Alma 33:15-16
Mosiah 15:8-9

Repentance is the process to move into the light; Godly Sorrow is what keeps us in the light.

Edited: FarSeer on 15th Nov, 2004 - 4:47am

Sorrow Worldly Vs Sorrow Godly

That is an excellent way of looking at all of the process. This certainly is a subject that most of us could stand to revisit frequently.

Thanks for posting it. I will have to read it over a few times, just to make sure I start to get it.

Godly Sorrow Vs. Worldly Sorrow Studies Doctrine Mormon

I wish I could have a copy of the entire talk! Bro. James Cox presented this workshop, and he had several "overhead transparencies" that detailed what he was talking about. The bad news is, he would whisk them off the machine to put up the next one so quickly! I think I managed to get the "meat" of it in my notes.

This is the part I have the most trouble with:

Sorrow Worldly Vs Sorrow Godly

When you just wrote who the author of the talk was, it reminded me. I have a copy of his book, How to Qualify for the Celestial Kingdom, Today. It is an excellent book, with tremendous insights. That is probably why your summary of the talk seemed so familiar.

I think that what he was saying in the piece that you quoted is that we often beat up ourselves over our sins and iniquities, even after the Lord has forgiven us of them. We demand of ourselves that we suffer, even when the Lord doesn't. We aren't willing to believe that the Atonement really does cover us, that the Lord is willing, even anxious, to forgive us, and that the Atonement actually releases us from the suffering that we might "deserve" for our sins.

Sorrow Worldly Vs Sorrow Godly

I love what Elder Richard G. Scott said on the subject:

"Can't you see that to continue to suffer for sins, when there has been proper repentance and forgiveness of the Lord, is not prompted by the Savior but by the master of deceit, whose goal has always been to bind and enslave the children of our Father in Heaven? Satan would encourage you to continue to relive the details of past mistakes, knowing that such thoughts make progress, growth, and service difficult to attain. It is as though Satan ties strings to the mind and body so that he can manipulate one like a puppet, discouraging personal achievement.

I testify that Jesus Christ paid the price and satisfied the demands of justice for all who are obedient to His teachings. Thus, full forgiveness is granted, and the distressing effects of sin need no longer persist in one's life. Indeed, they cannot persist if one truly understands the meaning of Christ's Atonement."

('We Love You -- Please Come Back" Ensign, May 1986, 10)