Overcoming the Consequences of Sexual Sin

NOT MEANT TO BE A COMPREHENSIVE LIST!

Things to know:

1. Strong attraction to the opposite sex is NOT a sin. This attraction is God-given for a specific purpose.

2. The Atonement can help you. Jesus wants to help you. He already knows what you’ve done and He knows how to heal you.

3. You don’t “overcome” this without Him. If you “go it alone” you will fail alone.

4. The repentance process simply unlocks the power of the Atonement. You are not “healing” yourself.

5. The guilt and suffering you feel is NOT payment for your sins. That’s not possible. (D&C 19:15-20)

6. You can’t do it without confessing to your bishop.

7. Jesus will take it away when He wants to.

 Things to do:

1. Never start. Check your lustful desires immediately. Don’t dwell on inappropriate thoughts. Crash and tell!

2. Get help early/now. Otherwise, it gets more difficult and the sins become more serious (2 Samuel 11:14-17).

3. Never quit. Get up when you fall down.

4. Ignore the lies of the adversary. "You can't do it, you're a loser, God doesn't love you, you're hopeless," etc.

5. Pray, pray, and pray some more. You cannot pray too much. We typically pray too little. Be specific.

2 Samuel 11 David and Bathsheba

President Gordon B. Hinckley, when working for a railroad early in his career, received a call from a railroad worker in the state of New Jersey. He said a passenger train had arrived without its baggage car. President Hinckley said,

“We discovered that a baggage car that belonged in Newark, New Jersey, was in fact in New Orleans, Louisiana—1,500 miles from its destination. Just the three-inch movement of the switch in the St. Louis yard by a careless employee had started it on the wrong track, and the distance from its true destination increased dramatically. That is the way it is with our lives. Instead of following a steady course, we are pulled by some mistaken idea in another direction. The movement away from our original destination may be ever so small, but, if continued, that very small movement becomes a great gap and we find ourselves far from where we intended to go” (“Words of the Prophet: Seek Learning,” New Era, Sept. 2007, 2).

1 Samuel 3 Rocognizing the Holy Ghost

President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who described one way the Lord communicates with us through His Spirit:

“The Spirit does not get our attention by shouting or shaking us with a heavy hand. Rather it whispers. It caresses so gently that if we are preoccupied we may not feel it at all. …

“Occasionally it will press just firmly enough for us to pay heed. But most of the time, if we do not heed the gentle feeling, the Spirit will withdraw and wait until we come seeking and listening” (“The Candle of the Lord,” Ensign, Jan. 1983, 53).

Judges 1-2 Evil Influences

President Spencer W. Kimball:

“One man who had been a slave to alcohol most of his adult life became convinced … that he must give up the habit and prepare himself for the temple. … With great effort he quit drinking. He moved many miles away from the area where his drinking friends lived and, though his body craved and ached and gnawed for [alcohol], he finally conquered. He was at all his Church meetings, and was paying his tithing. His new friends in the Church seemed to fortify him. He felt good in the new activity, and life was glorious. His wife was beaming, because now the whole family were always together. This is what she had dreamed about all their married life.

“They got their temple recommends and the happy day arrived and they drove to the temple city for this great event. They arrived early and each had some errands to do. As it happened, the husband ran into some old friends. They urged him to go with them to the tavern [where alcohol was served]. No, he would not, he said, he had other important things to do. Well, he could just take a soft drink [soda], they urged”

With the best of intentions he finally relented [and went to the tavern with his old friends]. But by the time he was to meet his wife at the temple he was so incapacitated [or drunk with alcohol] that the family went home in disgrace and sorrow and disappointment” (The Miracle of Forgiveness [1969], 170–71).