Studying Repentance Part 2 | The Red Headed Hostess
This post is part of a series of tutorials of different ways to use your TOPICS journals.
All of the tutorials will be about REPENTANCE.
I am hoping to show you different ways you can be creative in your studying, and keep things fresh and fun. (Even if you don’t have one of these journals… I hope this will still show you some ways to consider studying your scriptures.)
This is the second of the tutorials, here is the first.
I started by putting “Repentance” right in the middle of the right side of the page.
I printed that off on my computer, but if you look closely, you can see that I am covering up my own writing that I wasn’t so happy with.
By the way… this is a good technique you can use as you are teaching a class or your family.
Have them write, or glue, the topic right in the middle of their journal page and as you discuss the topic, they can write all around the topic what they are learning.
This could also be great for family scripture study.
You could have a CHAPTERS journal dedicated to family scripture study,
and you could write down thoughts your family had as you study, and you could have a TOPICS journal dedicated to Family Home Evening.
What a great way that could be to record those family moments.
After I put “repentance” in the middle of the page, I just started writing things around the topic.
I thought of things I may want to use or share
if I were to teach about this topic in a lesson or talk sometime.
Also, I think about one day when my children inherit this journal,
these are some things that I would want them to think about.
And last, if my children ever come to me with a question about this topic,
we can just turn to my journal page together and read what is there. Because, lets face it, when they come to me I may not be having the best day, but clearly they are ready to learn, so I need to help them because they are ready. I really believe the Spirit can prepare us far, far in advance, and by writing down what we have learned, we have it at our fingertips and we can learn, again, what the Spirit had taught us long ago.
Above you can see that I wanted to differentiate between being sorry we were caught doing something wrong
with having godly sorrow for having sinned. Underneath each attitude I thought of fruits of that attitude.
For example, if I am repenting because I was caught,
then I fear man’s judgment of me and that is my motivation. I am probably not yet being motivated by what God thinks of me. Embarrassment could be one of my main feelings. I probably had no intention of confessing had I not been caught. I may feel sorry that the sin has been made known to others.
Godly sorrow is very different.
What God thinks of me is far more important than what others think of me. I feel sorrow that Christ had to suffer for what I did. I feel sorrow for the damage I did to my spirit. I feel sorrow for damage I did to others’ spirits. I feel sorrow that I loved what the world offered more than what Heavenly Father had been wanting me to do. And I start to understand the eternal perspective of my actions.
You could list a lot more things here.
This could be a great conversation to have with your family.
I also listed some talks on this page that I know have excellent stories or teachings about repentance.
I just included a brief description along with the reference so I can find it quickly.
Here is another one. Such a GREAT talk!
Here I just did a simple breakdown of the consequence of Sin and if we do or don’t repent.
If you look closely, I think you can read most of what is there.
This is a GREAT conversation to have with your children.
Somehow, Satan makes people think that when they are rebelling and sinning that they are “tough”. That couldn’t be a greater lie, and this list helps reveal that.
This question stemmed from the breakdown in the previous picture.
“What characteristics or qualities must someone have in order to truly repent?”
I think it is so important that we all realize that those who repent are strong and courageous. They aren’t “sinners”, they are “repenters”.
The Celestial Kingdom is going to be full of them.
Here I wrote down 6 elements of repentance.
Every year we would give the seminary kids a doctrinal competency test that would be sent to seminary headquarters. We would get the results back and I could use them to know what things I needed to focus on more directly in class. The only short essay question was about repentance and what must be involved in order to have full and complete repentance. These are the six elements they were looking for:
- Faith in the Atonement
- Godly sorrow
- Confession
- Abandonment of sin
- Restitution
- Righteous living
Here is where you can record appropriate quotes and scriptures.
“I readily confess that I would find no peace, nor happiness, nor safety, in a world without repentance. I do not know what I should do if there were no way for me to erase my mistakes. The agony would be more than I could bear.” (President Boyd K. Packer, Memorable Stories and Parables, p. 30)
“What a sweet, personal victory it is to recognize misdirection in one’s own life and to pay the price that then lets us walk in His paths.” (Elder Marvin J. Ashton, Ensign, May 1982)
“You know, the devil is very cunning in his approach, and when a boy or girl has done something wrong he whispers in their ears, ‘Now you have committed an unpardonable sin, there’s no hope for you in the future.’ And he tells them that they might as well go on sinning, because they have taken the first step and there is no turning back. I want to say to you, … that is a lie from the champion of all liars. God wants you to be forgiven. He wants you to change your course. He wants you to call for help, and he stands ready and willing to help.” (Elder Hugh B. Brown, BYU Fireside, October 8, 1967)
“The enlarging of the soul requires not only some remodeling, but some excavating.” (Elder Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1990, p. 34)
And finally, you can see here that there is a place where you can write down scriptures and what it teaches.
Again, I was looking for scriptures that taught the same principles as my notes on the adjoining page.
I hope this helps.
I know that these pages will prove to be very valuable to me. Not only by what I gain from studying the topic right now, but to have them available to me in the future, as well as available to my posterity.
Thank you for sharing such thought provoking ways of studying, both by principle and by chapter. I am excited to be studying my scriptures with new eyes and am often surprised when my hour is up, and I don’t want to quit. Love the tools you provide so I can not only see your insights, but dig and ponder and receive my own.
Totally awesome! Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful talent!
Thank you so much for sharing! I am so inspired by your posts!
This is such a great idea. I’ve recently been drawn to creative journaling and want to incorporate that with the journaling prayers I started in college.
Just a curious question here. Wondering if you’ve ever given thought as to why the Book of Mormon doesn’t give as much weight as to the penalty of sin pre-Jesus as the Old Testament does. For example, sin stood between God and man in the old Testament, keeping them from the relationship God desired. For that time period, God allowed a substitute of animal sacrifice to pay the price for sin until a perfect sacrifice could be found in Jesus, after which time, no blood sacrifice was needed, as Jesus was the perfect one, meeting the requirement fully. Yet, the Book of Mormon when I read it did not seem to give any discussion to sacrifices pre-Jesus. This seems a significant discrepancy between the two.
Thanks so much for the inspiration and for sharing! I love your handwriting, too! It’s stunning! I have several pages opened to read and can’t wait to find my way into my own journals! I love what you said about scripture being the main thing you wanted to leave behind for your kids!
I just finished my first journal page with your guidance. It was so fun and I’m happy to have this for my children in the future.
I am loving these scripture topic posts. Thank you SO much for sharing your gifts/talents with all of us! It truly is making a difference in my life.
Thank you so much for sharing! My husband and I are both giving talks on repentance this Sunday and I love how you broke down your study method and the references you have. This has been a great resource!
-Mackenzie @ http://www.fridaynightdatenight.blogspot.com