Sin

You know, When I was younger, about high school age, I remember learning a lesson about the worst sins and how the worst sin is to deny the Holy Ghost and after that to murder and coming in third place was adultery (See Alma 39). The way this lesson was taught to me I seem to remember thinking that sin came in different degrees or levels of severity.

As I grew older I heard saying like "The worst sin is the one you are struggling with right now," or I read passages in the scriptures that say, "...He that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin." (D&C 64:9). As you can see this isn't exactly in line with how I understood it from before.

I remember reading about God in the following passage, "...no unclean thing can dwell with God; wherefore, ye must be cast off forever." (1 Ne. 10:21) and it helped me to change my perspective a little. I imagine God's house and kingdom to be immaculately clean. I think we are either clean or unclean. We can't dwell with God even if we only have the least severe sin on our heads. EVERY and ANY SIN make us ineligible for his kingdom. I think that each sin is different and has it's own process to remove. Some processes take longer and require more effort but all sin requires a broken heart given to the Lord.

For those of you who read this my message for today is simple, please realize that we are all sinners. We are all spotted and unclean in God's eyes.

"But behold, ye cannot hide your crimes from God; and except ye repent they will stand as a testimony against you at the last day." (Alma 39:8)

Not one of us can return to live with God on our own.

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot." (Moroni 10:32-33)