Hank Smith: 00:00 Hello, everyone. Welcome to followHIM Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I’m here with the wonderful John. By the way, we are the co-host of a podcast called followHim. This year, our followHIM Favorites is taking on a specific question given to us from youth of YSA, someone younger, who just has a question about the Gospel, and we’re going to answer that specific question.

Hank Smith: 00:22 And the question we received this week, John, is this idea of, if I repent of something, and then do it again, can I repent of the same sin, basically, over and over? Is that allowed? What does God think about that? I’ve received that question before from students, or young people, who feel, “Man, I’m no good at repenting, because here I am repenting, but I’m repenting for the same thing.” What would you say to them?

John Bytheway: 00:47 Oh, man, that’s a good question. I think I had it as a kid. But one of my favorite synonyms for “repent” is “to turn”. One of the things that I find fascinating, Stephen Covey talked about it once, is that an airplane is off course about 90% of the time. You fly across the Pacific Ocean, New York to London or something, you are off course 90% of the time, but the airplane just keeps turning, turning back. The autopilot just keeps-

Hank Smith: 01:12 And it crosses the correct … Yeah.

John Bytheway: 01:13 … It just keeps turning back on course, finally lands on the numbers, pulls up to the gate, and you walk out the jet-way, exactly where you’re supposed to be, which you is incredible. You can be off course 90% of the time and get where you’re going? Yeah, because you keep on turning. And that’s why I like that synonym of “repent” is to turn.

Hank Smith: 01:33 I like that. And that’s a daily-

John Bytheway: 01:34 Yeah. It’s a process. Just like a journey, like a flight is a journey, yeah.

Hank Smith: 01:39 There’s a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that confuses people sometimes, John. It’s Section 82, verse seven, where the Lord says, “But unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith the Lord your God.” And we’ve taken that to mean, oh, well, if you repent of a sin and then do it again, that’s like you never repented, and now you’re guilty of all those sins, which, that’s not really what the Lord says in that verse. We were kind of implying some things.

Hank Smith: 02:08 It reminds me of a great parable Jesus told, where He said, “Listen, if a man casts an evil spirit out of his house,” He says. Really, he meant his life. “If a man casts an evil spirit or a sin out of his life, but then he doesn’t do anything else, he doesn’t fill his house, that evil spirit or that sin is going to come back, and he’s going to find a vacant house.”

Hank Smith: 02:32 He hasn’t filled his life with anything, and so he’s going to invite this sin back, and six of his evil spirit friends. So, He said, “And now, that that man is worse off than he was when he started.” I think that’s what the Lord is referring to here in Section 82 is the idea of, if you sin and you repent get, rid of that sin, and you don’t do anything else, you don’t fill that spot, that void in your life, then something else is going to come and that sin’s going to come back and return back to your life.

Hank Smith: 03:05 So, I would say, to anyone who’s worried about this, keep repenting of that same sin, keep casting that spirit out, but also put good things into your life, start inserting more scripture study, more temple attendance, more prayer, all these basics, insert them into your life so those former sins can’t return.

That’s how I read that verse, anyway. And I found it to be a little more empowering than discouraging for students.

John Bytheway: 03:36 Yeah. Do you know what’s also encouraging to me, Hank, is that Jesus would tell, when the disciples are, “Hey, how many times do I have to forgive my brother? Seven times? Is that enough?” And He is, “Well, actually …” And hyperbole is what, seven times 70 or whatever.

Hank Smith: 03:52 Yeah. 490.

John Bytheway: 03:55 So, keep a tally, take a little notebook with you. No, that’s not what he meant. He just meant, always. And I think if the Lord’s going to ask that of us, He’s equally forgiving, and-

Hank Smith: 04:06 Absolutely.

John Bytheway: 04:07 … He knows that we’re going to need to keep course correcting a lot. So, that gives me a lot of hope, and hopefully it’s helpful.

Hank Smith: 04:14 In fact, John, you pretty much quoted the book of Mormon there, Mosiah 26:30, the Lord says, “Yay, as often as my people repent, will I forgive them their trespasses against me.” So, how many times can you repent? It seems that when the Lord says, “As often as my people repent,” meaning, He knows we’re going to need to repent often. He’s saying, “Oh, this isn’t a one time thing. This is a daily thing. As often as my people repent will I forgive them.” We have a very merciful Lord.

John Bytheway: 04:48 Yeah. And it’s got to be real, it’s sincere, really, it’s repentance. And I think you’ll make progress when you keep repenting, and those sins will become less enticing to you.

Hank Smith: 05:01 That’s an important point is to say that, just because you returned to a sin doesn’t mean that first repentance wasn’t sincere. It was. It was sincere. And you just keep trying. Wasn’t it Brad, our friend, Brad, Brother Wilcox, who said, “Listen, worthiness is not flawlessness.”

John Bytheway: 05:19 That was the title of his talk. And it’s called “being a disciple discipline”, discipline, disciple, same word. That you keep getting back on track. Now, you don’t plan this in. No, that’s not what we’re after, you’re trying, you’re sincerely trying. And that’s also what Brad said, you’re not trying to hide it, you’re seeing your Bishop, you are trying to make those course corrections.

Hank Smith: 05:42 John, what you just said reminded me of something that Elder Renland said in the April 2015 General Conference, he said, “Even if we’ve been a conscious, deliberate sinner, or have repeatedly faced failure and disappointment, the moment we decide to try again, the atonement of Christ can help us.” This is the idea of the Lord understands even the deliberate sinner. “Oh, I made a mistake.” It’s the idea of, I actually willfully went after this sin. Now, I don’t. I’m sad I did that. I want to turn it around. The moment we decide to try that, the atonement of Christ steps in, we tapped into that power.

John Bytheway: 06:26 Yeah. That’s why I like that it’s “turn”. Just keep getting back on course, and you’ll get to your destination with the help of the Savior.

Hank Smith: 06:34 Yep.

John Bytheway: 06:34 But you’ve got to keep getting back on course.

Hank Smith: 06:37 The idea is I just won’t stop trying. I can’t say I’m never going to commit a sin again, but I can commit that I won’t stop trying to become like Him-

John Bytheway: 06:46 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 06:46 … And do what He wants me to do. And I’m honest in that, I won’t stop trying.

John Bytheway: 06:49 And over time, Joseph Smith says, we lose desire for sin, but he said, “It’s a station to which no one ever arrived in a moment.” So, it’s a-

Hank Smith: 07:01 That’s true.

John Bytheway: 07:01 … Life-long process. Just keep trying, and hopefully and prayerfully, that sin will become less appealing to you, and less and less, and you’ll taste the bitter and know the price, the good, as we learned in Moses: 6.

Hank Smith: 07:13 It doesn’t happen in a moment.

John Bytheway: 07:15 Yeah.

Hank Smith: 07:15 It doesn’t happen in a moment. And that’s okay. The Lord understands you. He gets you. He knows why you do what you do. He’s not disgusted by you. He’s not, “What were you thinking?” He gets you. He understands your childhood, your personality, your DNA, your genetics, He understands all of it. So, go to Him, the one who understands you. Well, John, let’s take on another question next week-

John Bytheway: 07:40 Sounds great.

Hank Smith: 07:40 … We hope all of you will join us for followHIM Favorites.