Necessary confess to bishop if looked at one questionable picture on the internet?

[Palerider]

Boy....if every member of the church saw the bishop every time they had a lustful thought, the bishop would be a very tired man!

Based on what you shared, confession to a priesthood leader is not necessary. If you found yourself in a lustful moment, talk to God about it. Get yourself thinking on what's important....learning all about bridling your passions so that ye may be filled with love. Talking to God about it IS confessing. Then God can teach you the truth of all things....like tutorials on how to bridle.

Remember...grappling with lust is a sort of unavoidable part of sexual development on both temporal and spiritual fronts. Over reacting it's necessary or helpful.

You would be surprised at some of things people do bother Bishops with....:) Edited December 14, 2014 by Palerider

[PolarVortex]

You would be surprised at some of things people do bother Bishops with.... :)

 

No doubt.  I have never been a bishop and am barred from becoming one (I never married), but I get the idea that bishops are pretty smart.

 

A while back I recommended a podcast episode to someone else on lds.net.  It was about a Jewish lady who converted to Mormonism.  She moved to Utah and started sending anonymous notes to people in her ward.  They were short, uplifting little compliments about simple things, but they caused a jubilant uproar in the ward and soon everyone was asking who was leaving and mailing these notes. 

 

The woman finally decided to confess, so she went to her bishop and had a conversation that went like this:

 

Woman: "I have something to confess." 

 

Bishop: "You are the one who has been sending these notes?" 

 

Woman (astonished): "Yes, how did you know?" 

 

Bishop: "It was obvious.  You are the happiest person in the ward."

 

That story made me grin all day and reminded me that we should give away the things we want most for ourselves.

[Palerider]

No doubt.  I have never been a bishop and am barred from becoming one (I never married), but I get the idea that bishops are pretty smart.

 

A while back I recommended a podcast episode to someone else on lds.net.  It was about a Jewish lady who converted to Mormonism.  She moved to Utah and started sending anonymous notes to people in her ward.  They were short, uplifting little compliments about simple things, but they caused a jubilant uproar in the ward and soon everyone was asking who was leaving and mailing these notes. 

 

The woman finally decided to confess, so she went to her bishop and had a conversation that went like this:

 

Woman: "I have something to confess." 

 

Bishop: "You are the one who has been sending these notes?" 

 

Woman (astonished): "Yes, how did you know?" 

 

Bishop: "It was obvious.  You are the happiest person in the ward."

 

That story made me grin all day and reminded me that we should give away the things we want most for ourselves.

Thank you for sharing that.

I learned this....sometimes I felt like what I was listening to was a waste of my time. However it didn't take me long to see that what may have felt like a waste of my time was very important to the person talking to me. I always made it point to listen to what they had to say. It made them feel better when they left. That's what's important to me.

[Misshalfway]

You would be surprised at some of things people do bother Bishops with.... :)

Well, I'm a counselor so I might have a little idea.   People come to me to tell me what they say to their bishops.  And....what their bishops say back.  :)

[Palerider]

Well, I'm a counselor so I might have a little idea.   People come to me to tell me what they say to their bishops.  And....what their bishops say back.  :)

I was also surprised at what some would tell my wife on the phone. She could tell when it got to a point that she did want to hear or take any confessions. She would change the conversation if she felt it was going that way.

[unixknight]

It's a matter of judgement.

 

I remember a couple of years ago where a person posted that he was terrified that his new fiancee' might break up with him and that he'd be in hot water with the Bishop because he pleasured himself once in the shower.  And man, this guy came across as beside himself with stress and fear over it.  I don't know what part of that broke my heart more:  the fact that his discernment was in such a state of atrophy that he couldn't see that in a reasonable perspective, or the chance that his fiancee' might actually freak out about it so badly that she'd break off the engagement.  (I hope he was just being paranoid, but sheesh some people are so uptight his fears could have been justified.)

 

Guys... seriously... We're given discernment.  We're  given a library of scripture and a direct line to Heavenly Father through prayer and personal revelation.  We have a huge number of great and wonderful tools at our disposal and it seems like too often people want to just dump it on the Bishop 'cause he's got a cool title and runs things and if he says we're good then we must be.

 

I agree that  this would be a waste of the Bishop's time.  This is a chance to flex your own discernment muscles.  Pray about it, meditate about it, and unless it becomes a habit, let go of it and let your spirit grow.  Guilt is the single most effective weapon Satan can wield against us, and litigious thinking only makes it more powerful.

[NightSG]

Remember-your bishop has heard everything before. You can not surprise him. :-)

 

Oh sure, they always say that, but when you show up with roses and lingerie...