Today I read Alma 34. This is the chapter that contains Amulek's portion of the teachings to the Zoramites. It is generally referenced for several different things, usually prayer and repentance. The part of this chapter that usually sticks out to me is in verse 34 where Amulek teaches against the doctrine of death bed repentance.
He doesn't label it as such, but that is the gist of what he is saying. The verse itself says, "Ye cannot say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis that I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world."
We have already talked about this concept before in my blog. The reason death bed repentance does not work is because true repentance is a changing of attitude, a changing of how we handle things and of who we are. Even if we could repent on our deathbed, we wouldn't want to. Sure people might think they want to live with God again, but if they were that type of a person that they lived their life in debauchery and sin, they would be extremely uncomfortable.
I remember when I attended BYU - Idaho, I had a Book of Mormon class and we were talking about the tender mercies of God and I raised my hand and mentioned that it was a tender mercy of God that He doesn't force us to come back and live with Him, because for some people, that really would be hell. They could not imagine a worse fate than being around someone that good all the time. I think I have mentioned this before today, I honestly can't remember.
Today in Elder's Quorum for our lesson we talked about building a pattern in our homes, a pattern of prayer, learning, love and testimony. I was thinking about it then and even more now, that those things are things that most people don't find come naturally to them. They have to work on it to make it part of themselves. The Spirit is what changes our very nature. It is only the Spirit that can make things look unappealing to us. Despite intellectually knowing that wickedness never was happiness, there are certain things that I know for a fact are horrible and I should not partake of them, that I must admit at certain times of my life I have been attracted to them. Nothing I did on my own changed that fact either, it was only when I turned to the Lord and enlisted His help did I start to make headway in overcoming that desire to sin.
But that is what true repentance is, it is having the faith to reach out to God so that He can help you. That is why you cannot truly repent without first having faith. You can say you're sorry and that you will never do it again, but chances are that you will fail. It is only with His help that you can truly overcome it, because it is only with His help that you can change who you are in order to change.
It is a wonderful thing to make those changes in your life too. It is a wonderful thing to be confronted by the sin that has been your stumbling block and be able to laugh in its face and walk away with your head held high and know that it is no longer that stumbling block it was in your life. Just as the scriptures say, it really is line upon line and precept upon precept. As we learn to place our trust upon Him, we will WANT to change ourselves. Then, as we strive to become better, we don't need to even worry about death bed repentance because we will have changed our Spiritual nature, and as Amulek taught us, that same wonderful spirit and desire for righteousness will still inhabit our body. I look forward to that day with gladness in my heart, as I hope all of you do too. Until tomorrow.
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