Forgiveness

LDS Quotes on Forgiveness

Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the LDS church

“Closely related to our own obligation to repent is the generosity of letting others do the same. . . . In this we participate in the very essence of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. . . . We don’t want God to remember our sins, so there is something fundamentally wrong in our relentlessly trying to remember others’ sins. . . . It is one of those ironies of godhood that in order to find peace, the offended as well as the offender must engage the principle of forgiveness.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland  |  “The Peaceable Things of the Kingdom,” Ensign, Nov. 1996, p. 82

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“I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better.”

Abraham Lincoln

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Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the LDS church

“. . . there surely must be someone who yet needs your forgiveness. And please don’t ask if that’s fair – that the injured should have to bear the burden of forgiveness for the offender. Don’t ask if “justice” doesn’t demand that it be the other way around. No, whatever you do, don’t ask for justice. You and I know that what we plead for is mercy – and that is what we must be willing to give.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland  |  “I Stand All Amazed,” Ensign, August 1986, p. 72

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“Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we are saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint. Therefore we must be saved by the final form of love, which is forgiveness.”

David Brooks  |  The Road to Character

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“We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. I have heard others, and I have heard myself, recounting cruelties and falsehoods committed in boyhood as if they were no concern of the present speaker’s, and even with laughter. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of sin. The guilt is washed out not by time but by repentance and the blood of Christ.”

CS Lewis  |  The Problem of Pain

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“When you forgive, you in no way change the past – but you sure do change the future.”

Bernard Meltzer

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“If the time comes when you have done all that you can to repent of your sins, and have made amends and restitution to the best of your ability; if it be something that will affect your standing in the church and you have gone through the proper authorities, then you will want that confirming answer as to whether or not the Lord has accepted of you. In your soul searching, if you seek for and you find that peace of conscience, by that token you may know that the Lord has accepted your repentance.”

Harold B. Lee

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Spencer W. Kimball Portrait

“The Lord can judge men by their thoughts as well as by what they say and do, for He knows even the intents of their hearts; but this is not true of humans. We hear what people say, we see what they do, but being unable to discern what they think or intend, we often judge wrongfully if we try to fathom the meaning of motives behind their actions and place on them our own interpretation.”

Spencer W. Kimball  |  The Miracle of Forgiveness

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“We need to be kinder with one another, more gentle and forgiving. We need to be slower to anger and more prompt to help. We need to extend the hand of friendship and resist the hand of retribution. In short, we need to love one another with the pure love of Christ, with genuine charity and compassion and, if necessary, shared suffering, for that is the way God loves us.”

Howard W. Hunter  |  A More Excellent Way, Conference April 1992

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“The ordinary soul, struggling against temptation, failing and repenting, and failing again and repenting, but always determined to keep his covenants – can still expect to one day hear ‘Well done thou good and faithful servant.'”

Boyd K. Packer

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