“Repentance” by Robert Smith

A little more than two years ago, I wrote a blogpost about words and their definitions. In it, I said that we take words for granted. We really do. Language is quite an extraordinary gift when used properly, and it is an extraordinary stumblingblock when it is not.

I recommend clicking on the link in the above paragraph to read that blogpost, mainly because what follows, in many ways, will be a specific extension of my thoughts there. 

A serious study of scripture led me to realize that “repentance” was a word that had been ill-defined by my religious organization and, consequently, believed by those around me who belonged to it. Not only did their definition of “repentance” contradict the definition found in scripture, but its application as prescribed by that organization failed to yield the same outcomes of which scripture bears testimony. Those two witnesses were enough to get me to realize that what my church was offering was a fake bill of goods. (Here’s another blogpost that dives into that a little more.)

Sometimes we brush aside contradictions like this, thinking that it’s not a big deal to have minor discrepancies in our definitions, but when God is the one who is trying to communicate to us, it is a really big deal. Everything that he does is for our benefit, and the words that he uses to communicate ideas and concepts to our minds that are for our benefit are specific and intentional, limitations in our finite, mortal language notwithstanding.

An accurate understanding of the word “repentance,” then, is extremely, even critically, important. Repentance is what reconciles us to God when we would otherwise be enemies to him. Is it any wonder why the earth is in the hellish state it is right now? There isn’t an organized religion on the planet that preaches “repentance” as found in scripture. Within the ranks of those who ideologically belong to these “Christian” organizations alone, how many enemies to God do you figure that makes?

That needs to change. It is prophesied to change. And having said all of that, I come to my recommendation of the book mentioned in the title of this blogpost. :)

“Repentance” by Robert Smith is a concise, conversational, matter-of-fact, and true-to-scripture exposition on the topic of repentance. The first sentence of the book kicks off 129 pages of clarification on the subject:

To repent means to fully reconcile your ideas, desires, and actions to your sincere understanding of what is best. (pg. 1)

I’ve written about how I believe that repentance involves a commitment to be perfectly obedient—in this life—to everything that God tells you. It’s an idea that I have found to be unbelievably unpopular, even though it is the source of the greatest hope to my mind. This book takes this idea even further in making the case that what God tells you is communicated to you through your conscience—your model of the ideal human being, which is also your current understanding of God. It is something that is in the possession of every single person, regardless of whether they claim an explicit belief in God or not.

The power of the concept of ideal transcends all differences among all people. No matter the individual or their circumstances, or how often it changes, at any moment, each and every person has a concept of ideal.

A person’s ideal is not going to be an actual person they know. Every person they know will have some or many flaws—deviations from their ideal. Instead, their ideal is the synthesis of their experiences, their culture, and their capabilities into a hypothetical person. A person’s ideal is the composite of the best aspects of human character and action that they’ve witnessed or imagined. Though this ideal person exists only in their mind, as far as they know, their idea of him or her is so vivid that they can imagine what that person would do in every circumstance in which they find themselves.

This ideal that you, me, and everyone else has is one and the same as our idea of what God is like. This is just as true whether a person believes in God or not. God is the embodiment of the actual ideal. Your idea of God is your estimate of the ideal. Everyone, whether they believe in God or not, has an idea of what they imagine him to be like, and that is their model of the ideal human.

This idea is sure to be equally offensive to both the religious and the secular, and yet of vast value and importance to both. The religious would argue that it is blasphemous to relegate the unknowable infinity of God to the limited embodiment of a human. This is one of the many ideas that Jesus was killed for. Secularists will bristle at the fact that, in spite of claiming not to believe in God, they nevertheless judge themselves daily according to their idea of him. All the guilt they feel is actually as a result of their knowing failure to live up to a God they claim not to believe in. Offensive, indeed, yet true in both cases. (pp. 8-9)

The implications of what is being said in these paragraphs are numerous and far-reaching, and some of them are found in the book, but are far less important than the ways in which the book explains how we can best understand and apply this important principle of salvation.

The move from being enemies to God to being reconciled to him hinges upon our ability to clearly understand and willingly apply the principle of repentance. With the publication of this book, the former will not be wanting. Only the latter can remain undone.

Those who deeply study and practice repentance as set forth in this book, who willingly and completely submit to the ideal that God is communicating to them, will find themselves and the world around them greatly benefited.

Print version (sold at cost) can be found here.

Free Ebook download can be found here.

Other books by the author can be found in multiple formats on the sidebar of his blog, UpwardThought.

Hebrews 12:18-29

Human beings are taught to extract lessons on morals, ethics, and proper behavior from both real and fictional situations from a very young age. Cultures all across the world have traditions and stories that try to convey, to their youngest and oldest constituents alike, principles and practices they believe will yield the best outcomes in the lives of individuals and in society at large. The story of the Lord’s dealings with Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai afforded the Hebrews one of the best such stories:

18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,

19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:

20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:

21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)

For millennia, believers of the Old Testament have been able to study the account of the children of Israel in Exodus 19. Moses was tasked to prepare them for an ascent of Mount Sinai to enter the Lord’s presence. To ensure the people were not destroyed, bounds were set, and the people were told not to touch the mount. Moses was also commanded to sanctify the people for three days. When the Lord’s presence descended upon the mountain, the attending fire, darkness, and tempest, posed a great threat—enough to cause Moses to fear. Because things of the spirit are eternal in nature and govern things that are physical, a spiritual sanctification was necessary before a physical ascension could take place. The account has always been intended to teach people what should happen in the Spirit in order to enjoy heavenly associations.

22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

The wording here is reminiscent of several passages of scripture, most notably D&C 76 and its description of things that are celestial. Those heavenly associations sound very nice and, to most, probably conjure up thoughts of bliss and eternal felicity. But the inevitable conclusion one must draw from the comparison made here to the events at Mount Sinai is as unmistakable as it is undeniable—“coming unto” those things that are celestial is exacting and stringent, demanding and even onerous, to the point of death.

25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Again, the predominance of things of the spirit over things of the physical world is key here. The superiority and eternal nature of things of the spirit make consequences for disobedience to commandments given by the spirit much greater than those of disobedience to commandments not given by the spirit. This principle must be understood and applied by those who would “receiv[e] a kingdom which cannot be moved.”

27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:17

17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.

I was going to include this scripture in my last post, but that didn’t feel right, and when I thought that I would include it in a post on the remainder of chapter 12, that didn’t feel right either. So, it gets a post of its very own. :)

The “he” in verse 17 is Esau. Verse 16 uses Esau as an example of a “profane person.” Noah Webster defines “profane” as “irreverent to anything sacred;” “irreverent; proceeding from a contempt of sacred things, or implying it.” That’s not a comprehensive list of definitions, but it will do for our purposes here.

Genesis 25:29-34 describes the account of Esau selling his birthright to his brother, Jacob.

29 And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the field, and he was faint:

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called Edom.

31 And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright.

32 And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me?

33 And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.

Esau, seeing no value in the blessings that were available to him by right of his birth, sells them to Jacob for a bowl of pottage. Those blessings were sacred and worth much more than the bowl of pottage he received in exchange. The fact that he sold them for such a cheap price demonstrated his irreverence for those sacred things, and the writer of Hebrews is absolutely correct in using him as an example of a “profane person.” He knowingly gave those blessings up for what was expedient in the moment.

Thinking that he could still obtain what he had expressly given away, Esau prepares meat for his father in anticipation of receiving his birthright blessing, only to discover that Isaac has given it to Jacob instead. Between these two accounts, we know of nothing Esau did to redeem what he had sold, further illustrating his irreverence for the birthright. In fact, he marries Hittite wives, “which were a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.” When the time comes to finally and fully receive what should have been his, there is no longer a way in which to reclaim it. Esau receives a lesser blessing, mourns his loss with weeping and bitter tears, and sets his mind to kill Jacob once his father is dead.

 

Hebrews 12:14-16

You know, I have a mind to go back and create blogposts on the whole book of Hebrews. What an absolute treasure!!

I have a draft of a blogpost that I entitled “Israel 2.0.”  In it, I intended to make a comparison of ancient Israel and the LDS church, highlighting the fact that, while God was willing to work with them to begin with, they both eventually fell out of God’s favor. There are, quite frankly, so many similarities, that it would undoubtedly end up a series of blogposts.

And in that same vein, Hebrews is such a great treasure to those coming out of a belief system that God, at one time, had a hand in—any belief system, not necessarily that put forth by a religious institution, though I believe that God has, at least twice, setup temporal institutions with religious rites and rituals that were only meant to draw our thoughts and devotions to something better.

The fact of the matter is that we grow in truth incrementally (the rate at which that happens being a separate matter), and it is always terribly unwise to find reasons to adhere to a level of truth we have already accepted when God wills to give us greater truth.

So, continuing on from the topic of the last blogpost...

Why does God chasten us? Because we are meant to become better than what we are and because, if we do not leave behind what we presently are, even if it was, at one time, an appropriate advancement from what we once were (but especially if not), we cannot become what he intends us to be.

14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

Gah! This verse!! This verse has allusions to the two great commandments. It actually admonishes us to pursue the natural consequences of keeping those commandments—love for our neighbor yields peace with all men and love of God yields holiness. It goes further to state that, without holiness, one is incapable of seeing the Lord—an experience that (anyone who has thoroughly read my blog should know) is a multi-faceted topic that is inexpressibly dear to my heart.

We know that “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:40)

15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

Verses 15 and 16 go hand in hand with verse 14 and set up, very well, the discussion found in later verses. But without jumping too far ahead, I will just say that “peace with all men” and “seeing the Lord” go hand in hand as a necessary step in our progression towards becoming like him. Verses 15 and 16 mention a few specific things that would prevent this progression from happening: failing of God’s grace, bitterness, sexual immorality, and profaneness—things that you will likely encounter and must overcome if you are to enjoy the blessing of associations that are higher and holier than those you presently enjoy.

Hebrews 12:5-13

Two nights ago, I had a conversation with someone I love very much. That’s what sparked this whole series of blogposts on Hebrews 12, actually, and verses 5-13 played a prominent part in our discussion. These verses focus on the subject of chastening.

Being able to endure chastening is a tight-rope walk in many respects. We easily misunderstand God’s purpose in sending it to us; we often don’t recognize it for what it is when it comes; even if we do recognize it, we are more than likely to be ungrateful for it; and for all of these reasons, we tend to react very poorly to it. Were we to understand, recognize, appreciate, and react positively to chastening, we would be greatly benefited.

5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

We are exhorted to “despise not...the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when...rebuked of him.”

So, let’s look up a few definitions.

DESPISE, v.t.

1.  To contemn; to scorn; to disdain; to have the lowest opinion of.

2.  To abhor.  

CHASTENING, n. Correction, punishment for the purpose of reclaiming.

“Despise” is a pretty strong word. We don’t really despise chastening, do we? Oh, yes we do! We don’t just undervalue chastening. We abhor it. It is our natural reaction to treat it with scorn and disdain. Why? Because it forces us to admit that we presently fight against God. Were that not so, we wouldn’t need correction and we wouldn’t need to be reclaimed, now, would we? And punishment? Some might be able to tolerate the idea of correction, but punishment? Not many people like the sound of that. But it is important to understand that there is a reason why the punishment is given—why he chastens us. It is to reclaim us. The fact is that, because of the role of man’s agency in salvation, he cannot reclaim us without chastening us.

Let’s look up a couple of more definitions before we leave verse 5:

FAINT, v.i.

2.  To become feeble; to decline or fail in strength and vigor; to be weak.

3.  To sink into dejection; to lose courage or spirit.

REBUKE, v.t.

3.  To chasten; to punish; to afflict for correction.

I only quoted the definitions that I thought were the most appropriate here. “Rebuke” is synonymous with “chastening,” but “faint” adds another dimension to the admonition in verse five. It introduces another way in which we might incorrectly respond to the Lord’s chastening. Even when, and perhaps especially when, we appropriately value the chastening of the Lord, it is easy to feel weak and feeble. It is terribly easy to sink into dejection and lose courage and spirit. You have to guard against that when you encounter the Lord’s chastening, and you have to muster a great measure of strength to correct whatever the Lord tells you needs correcting. Because of the role of man’s agency in salvation, you can’t afford to faint.

The Lord’s chastening is a natural consequence of his love for us, and those who want to be received by him should expect a scourging.

7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.

9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?

10 For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

The parent-child relationship is drawn upon throughout scripture as a likeness of the relationship God has with us. One property of a correct relationship we should have with God is our ability to endure his chastening.

Good fathers chasten their children. It is obvious that children need discipline, correction, and even punishment. A father’s withholding of these things when the child is in need of them is detrimental to the child. Likewise, the child’s rejection of the correction is also detrimental. Verse 8 even goes so far as to say it is so true that all sons partake of chastening that, if the relationship is without chastisement, it is illegitimate.

God’s goodness far exceeds that of any earthly father, so it should be easy to subject ourselves to his correction and discipline. Earthly fathers are capable of making unintentional errors in judgment, at best, and of extending correction to their children for their own benefit, not necessarily for that of their children, at worst. God doesn’t do that. He is only ever interested in our betterment—our sanctification. For this reason, he is that much more worthy of much more of the honor we are commanded to give our earthly fathers. We shouldn’t need a commandment to honor God. Anyone who catches a glimpse of God’s goodness in offering to us what is always in our best interest and what comes at great cost to himself ought to forever honor and praise God for doing so and should eagerly subject themselves to him.

11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

There is a magnificent key to both avoiding unnecessary and unending grief and obtaining lasting happiness and joy in this verse. I know so many people who live their lives with grief running in the background. They make the “present...grievous” because they never move to “afterward.” The only way to get to “afterward” is to be “exercised” by the chastening.

People make the grievous present last way longer than it needs to by failing to fully employ the chastening that God has given them. God’s desire is not to make us miserable. That’s Satan’s desire, and he does that by causing us to despise or faint at God’s chastening. God wants us to appropriately value and quickly employ his correction so that the present becomes joyous, yielding “the peaceable fruit of righteousness” that can only be had when you submit yourself to his chastening. 

12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;

13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

In the Greek, “turned out of the way” is translated as “put out of joint.” In other words, if you don’t respond appropriately to God’s chastening, things get worse. You don’t start reading Genesis and make it past the story of Cain’s rejection of God’s correction before you realize that. God would have us take what is weak in us and make it stronger. He desires for those things to be healed in us. He desires for us to be perfected and whole. 

Hebrews 12:3-4

3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 

4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

For anyone who is not a true disciple of Christ, I think that one could easily minimize this type of argument to a “you-need-to-eat-everything-on-your-plate-because-there-are-starving-children-in-China” line of reasoning and lose out on much wisdom, insight, and potential growth in the process. Many who claim to be disciples of Jesus like to keep themselves far removed from the works of Jesus, just as a child likes to look for the many ways in which their situation is different from that of a starving child in China. But a true disciple doesn’t keep himself far removed from the Master; he seeks to draw near to him and to emulate him in all things. A true disciple understands that true discipleship requires one to apply Jesus’ teachings in every action, following in the very footsteps of the Master. True disciples absolutely draw comparisons between themselves and their masters, and differences discovered are seen as signals for improvement in their discipleship.

True disciples know that because the Master has done something before them, they are capable of doing the same. The example of their Master gives them the reason to marshal the courage and inner strength to run that “race” mentioned back in verse two—one that the Master has run before. One realizes that he has to marshal that within himself, because development comes incrementally and because the challenges faced now are nothing compared to what lies ahead. There is a strange and only temporary solace in verse 4—“Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”

Hebrews 12:1-2

I get so excited about things that I learn. Honestly, I think that I am totally weird in that respect. I am never happier than when I am taught by the Spirit—or perhaps I should say that I am never happier than when I see God’s purposes being brought to pass, and I don’t know of many things that are greater in doing that than his influence on a person when he gives them unadulterated information in the Spirit. And I’ve never seen another person react the same way I do when taught by the Spirit. I am normally a pretty serious and sober-minded person, but when I learn things that bring me or anyone else closer to God, I feel very child-like—like when you see a child laughing at the newness of seeing bubbles, or riding a bike, or frolicking through an open field for the first time.

Hebrews 12 is such a wonderful passage of scripture!

1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 11 is one of the greatest chapters on the topic of faith in all of scripture. In it are listed several well-known biblical personalities, as well as brief recountings of ways in which each them exercised great faith.

It is on the heels of that chapter that we read verses 1 and 2 of chapter 12. The “cloud of witnesses” mentioned in verse one are those individuals listed in chapter 11. They are witnesses to the fact that one must live a life of faith if they are to find favor with God, and if filled with faith, we should be able to reasonably expect ourselves to be able to set aside those things that “so easily beset us.” So many people don’t believe this! And yet, in order for the gospel to be efficacious in our lives, we have to believe this! We have to believe that every weight and every sin can be laid aside. Who does the “laying aside?” We do. We do this when we completely repent and agree to keep his commandments, at which point “the race” we are to “run with patience” starts. The resulting spiritual rebirth marks the beginning of that race, and the language used in verse 1 to describe the race, as well as that which moves into verse two, is reminiscent of Nephi’s admonition to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ” in 2 Nephi 31—to steadily move forward along a course of improvement, “looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” His place “at the right hand of the throne of God” is a consequence of his enduring the cross and the shame that comes with it—something that he willingly chose to do “for the joy that was set before him.”