“Lord, help me to forgive others who sin differently than I.”
| BYU Education Week 2000
Forgiveness
LDS Quotes on Forgiveness
“Benevolence in its fullest sense is the sum of moral excellence, and comprehends every other virtue. It is the motive that prompts us to do good to others and leads us to live our life for Christ’s sake. All acts of kindness . . . of forgiveness, of charity, of love, spring from this divine attribute.”
| “Christ, the Light of Humanity,” Improvement Era, June 1968, 4.
“I believe that our Heavenly Father wants to save every one of his children. I do not think he intends to shut any of us off. . . . I believe that in his justice and mercy he will give us the maximum reward for our acts, give us all that he can give, and in the reverse, I believe that he will impose upon us the minimum penalty which it is possible for him to impose.”
| Conference Report, October 3, 1953, p. 84
“Our vision is completely obscured when we have no mirror to hold up to our own faults and look only for the foibles of others. When we follow the instructions of the Lord, we are kept so busy perfecting ourselves that we come to realize that the faults of others are small in comparison.”
| The Miracle of Forgiveness
“The repenting sinner must suffer for his sins, but this suffering has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is to change.”
God doesn’t care nearly as much about where you have been as He does about where you are and, with His help, where you are willing to go.
“People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.”
| “Anyway”
“Who is righteous? Anyone who is repenting. No matter how bad he has been, if he is repenting he is a righteous man. There is hope for him. And no matter how good he has been all his life, if he is not repenting, he is a wicked man. The difference is which way you are facing. The man on the top of the stairs facing down if much worse off than the man on the bottom step who is facing up. The direction we are facing, that is repentance; and that is what determines whether we are good or bad.”
| "Funeral Address"
“Christmas is a time for remembering the Son of God and renewing our determination to take upon us his name. It is a time to reassess our lives and examine our thoughts, feelings and actions. Let this be a time of remembrance, of gratitude and a time of forgiveness. Let it be a time to ponder the Atonement of Jesus Christ and its meaning for each of us personally. Let it especially be a time of renewal and recommitment to live by the word of God and to obey his commandments. By doing this, we honor him far more than we ever could with lights, gifts or parties.”
| "Seeing Christmas Through New Eyes"