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Posted

This week's General Conference Talk is:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/the-ministry-of-reconciliation?lang=eng

This is one that I personally have a weakness in. I do my best to forgive people.  The best tool I've used in forgiveness is look for my own hypocrisy.

I find that if I look hard enough and think about it long enough, about 99% of the time I discover that I either HAVE done or AM STILL doing the same thing that I was offended by.  When I discover such, I feel an overwhelming desire to forgive that person of the wrong that was inflicted on me.  And often times, I even go tell that person so, if they are willing to listen.

I'm still having problems with a couple of other things.

  • I have difficulty forgiving those who have wronged me in a way that I simply don't do to others.  There are some wrongs that have been perpetrated on me that I find so abhorrent that I would never do them.  So, it is difficult for me to find that sympathy and forgiveness for others who do that which I find so abhorrent.
  • Toxic people.  Elder Holland does offer a "work around" for toxic relationships.  No one expects us to simply walk back into an abusive relationship just because we "forgive".  But for me, it is not just about the avoiding toxic people.  For a few cases, I'm having difficulty with the forgiveness part of it.

I'm going to keep working on this because I know that I need to be forgiven of many things, myself.  If we compare to the Savior's Atonement, I certainly do many things that are abhorrent to the one person who lived a perfect life.  So, if that's the basis of being forgiven myself, then I'm damned already.  And I wonder sometimes, if anyone who sins is really "toxic" to a perfect person.  The Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.

All I can say is that, as imperfect as I am, I'll keep trying.

Posted
48 minutes ago, Carborendum said:

This week's General Conference Talk is:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/the-ministry-of-reconciliation?lang=eng

This is one that I personally have a weakness in. I do my best to forgive people.  The best tool I've used in forgiveness is look for my own hypocrisy.

I find that if I look hard enough and think about it long enough, about 99% of the time I discover that I either HAVE done or AM STILL doing the same thing that I was offended by.  When I discover such, I feel an overwhelming desire to forgive that person of the wrong that was inflicted on me.  And often times, I even go tell that person so, if they are willing to listen.

I'm still having problems with a couple of other things.

  • I have difficulty forgiving those who have wronged me in a way that I simply don't do to others.  There are some wrongs that have been perpetrated on me that I find so abhorrent that I would never do them.  So, it is difficult for me to find that sympathy and forgiveness for others who do that which I find so abhorrent.
  • Toxic people.  Elder Holland does offer a "work around" for toxic relationships.  No one expects us to simply walk back into an abusive relationship just because we "forgive".  But for me, it is not just about the avoiding toxic people.  For a few cases, I'm having difficulty with the forgiveness part of it.

I'm going to keep working on this because I know that I need to be forgiven of many things, myself.  If we compare to the Savior's Atonement, I certainly do many things that are abhorrent to the one person who lived a perfect life.  So, if that's the basis of being forgiven myself, then I'm damned already.  And I wonder sometimes, if anyone who sins is really "toxic" to a perfect person.  The Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.

All I can say is that, as imperfect as I am, I'll keep trying.

In the last conference Elder Eyring gave an excellent talk on trying.  It is my opinion that we can count any effort as trying when we do not give up if it failed.  We cannot really say it failed if we don't give up.

 

The Traveler

Posted

This reminds me of this article I read not too long ago (emphasis mine)...

Quote

Let me ask in a different way. We know that our Father in Heaven loves us. Is it “good enough” if God simply loves us because, you know, he’s God, and that’s what God does? Or do we still want him to know us personally, deeply, intimately, and love us because of our individual traits and despite our many imperfections? Of course we do. We worship a God who loves us beyond our understanding, and not merely because it’s his “job” to love us or because he’s “supposed to”.

....

Right now, we can’t live with God. We are not ready. We are not yet made perfect. But that’s where we’re headed. We want to be like him. We seek to be like him. And that means we need to love people without demanding that they measure up to our standards first. ...

...pretty much the same thing, I think - forgiving, learning to love without demanding someone first become lovable.

Posted (edited)
56 minutes ago, zil said:

This reminds me of this article I read not too long ago (emphasis mine)...

...pretty much the same thing, I think - forgiving, learning to love without demanding someone first become lovable.

Yes, and that's what I'm still struggling to learn.  I still believe I've made progress.  As a child, I never understood why I had to love someone that "wasn't deserving of love".  At least now, I understand the principle.  Now, I've just got to apply it.  It'll take a while.  But I'll keep trying.

Edited by Guest
Posted
9 hours ago, Carborendum said:

This week's General Conference Talk is:

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/the-ministry-of-reconciliation?lang=eng

This is one that I personally have a weakness in. I do my best to forgive people.  The best tool I've used in forgiveness is look for my own hypocrisy.

I find that if I look hard enough and think about it long enough, about 99% of the time I discover that I either HAVE done or AM STILL doing the same thing that I was offended by.  When I discover such, I feel an overwhelming desire to forgive that person of the wrong that was inflicted on me.  And often times, I even go tell that person so, if they are willing to listen.

I'm still having problems with a couple of other things.

  • I have difficulty forgiving those who have wronged me in a way that I simply don't do to others.  There are some wrongs that have been perpetrated on me that I find so abhorrent that I would never do them.  So, it is difficult for me to find that sympathy and forgiveness for others who do that which I find so abhorrent.
  • Toxic people.  Elder Holland does offer a "work around" for toxic relationships.  No one expects us to simply walk back into an abusive relationship just because we "forgive".  But for me, it is not just about the avoiding toxic people.  For a few cases, I'm having difficulty with the forgiveness part of it.

I'm going to keep working on this because I know that I need to be forgiven of many things, myself.  If we compare to the Savior's Atonement, I certainly do many things that are abhorrent to the one person who lived a perfect life.  So, if that's the basis of being forgiven myself, then I'm damned already.  And I wonder sometimes, if anyone who sins is really "toxic" to a perfect person.  The Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.

All I can say is that, as imperfect as I am, I'll keep trying.

Skipping ahead a bit "Try, Try, Try!": https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/try-try-try?lang=eng

Posted
8 hours ago, Traveler said:

In the last conference Elder Eyring gave an excellent talk on trying.  It is my opinion that we can count any effort as trying when we do not give up if it failed.  We cannot really say it failed if we don't give up.

1 minute ago, CV75 said:

I think I'm seeing a pattern here.

Yes, I'm wondering if they will skip over Eyring's talk because we all seem to be linking to this here.  There are somewhere around 30 talks and only 26 weeks between conference.  So, they either switch them out in less than 7 days. Or they will skip over some.  I don't know.

Posted
13 hours ago, Carborendum said:

I think I'm seeing a pattern here.

Yes, I'm wondering if they will skip over Eyring's talk because we all seem to be linking to this here.  There are somewhere around 30 talks and only 26 weeks between conference.  So, they either switch them out in less than 7 days. Or they will skip over some.  I don't know.

A lot will be skipped over because what is discussed is supplemental (not congregant) to personal study . 

 

The  Traveler

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