2 Nephi 9:45-48

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Reference Search: 2 Nephi 9:45-48

45 O, my beloved brethren, turn away from your sins; shake off the chains of him that would bind you fast; come unto that God who is the rock of your salvation.

46 Prepare your souls for that glorious day when justice shall be administered unto the righteous, even the day of judgement, that ye may not shrink with awful fear; that ye may not remember your awful guilt in perfectness, and be constrained to exclaim: Holy, holy are thy judgments, O Lord God Almight—but I know my guilt; I transgressed thy law, and my transgressions are mine; and the devil hath obtained me, that I am a prey to his awful misery.

47 But behold, my brethren, is it expedient that I should awake you to an awful reality of these things? Would I harrow up your souls if your minds were pure? Would I be plain unto you according to the plainness of the truth if ye were freed from sin?

48 Behold, if ye were holy I would speak unto you of holiness; but as ye are not holy, and ye look upon me as a teacher, it must needs be expedient that I teach you the consequences of sin.

Quotes for Discussion

Is it better to repent or to not sin in the first place?

If a person has determined that sin can easily be wiped out,…with an idea in his mind that repentance will…place him on a level with his fellow who has kept in virtue the commandments, from the beginning—time will wake him up to his serious and great mistake. He may and will be forgiven, if he repent; the blood of Christ will make him free…but all this will not return to him any loss sustained, nor place him on an equal footing with his neighbor who has kept the commandments of the better law. Nor will it place him in the position where he would have been, had he not committed wrong.

Joseph F. Smith, Gospel Doctrine, 374

I am convinced that we must impress you young people with the awfulness of sin rather than to content ourselves with merely teaching the way of repentance.

Harold B. Lee, Decisions for Successful Living, 88

[Ozone]

Giving my life to service in the heart of my sole and being human is to sin but my inner voice calls with peace in knowing that the devil hath not obtained me nor has bound me in my agency to be free.