A Beautiful Word And A Marvelous Refuge

When Wayfarer contacted me about writing for the blog, I wasn't sure where to start. What subject will interest people? What wisdom do I really have to share? I decided to make my first contribution about something all of us can benefit from, indeed THE key to all the problems plaguing us.

The topic I have chosen is repentance.

Before you groan, and move along I'd like you to consider the negative feelings you might associate with the word repent. I'll get you started with some negative words that have come to my mind when I’ve thought of the word repent:

Guilt
Sorrow
Shame
Punishment
Sadness
Hurt

We could probably all list dozens of words like this. Some time ago, my brother sent me an article which convinced me I had it all wrong. The following is an excerpt from that article. It was given in 1988 by Theodore M. Burton, of the Seventy:

Just what is repentance? Actually, in some ways it is easier to understand what repentance is not than to understand what it is.

As a General Authority, I have prepared information for the First Presidency to use in considering applications to readmit repentant transgressors into the Church and to restore priesthood and temple blessings. Many times a bishop will write, “I feel he has suffered enough!” But suffering is not repentance. Suffering comes from lack of complete repentance. A stake president will write, “I feel he has been punished enough!” But punishment is not repentance. Punishment follows disobedience and precedes repentance. A husband will write, “My wife has confessed everything!” But confession is not repentance. Confession is an admission of guilt that occurs as repentance begins. A wife will write, “My husband is filled with remorse!” But remorse is not repentance. Remorse and sorrow continue because a person has not yet fully repented. Suffering, punishment, confession, remorse, and sorrow may sometimes accompany repentance, but they are not repentance. What, then, is repentance?

To find the answer to this question, we must go to the Old Testament. The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the word used in it to refer to the concept of repentance is shube. We can better understand what shube means by reading a passage from Ezekiel and inserting the word shube, along with its English translation. To the “watchmen” appointed to warn Israel, the Lord says:

“When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from [shube] it; if he do not turn from [shube] his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. …Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from [shube] his way and live.” (Ezek. 33:8–11.)

I know of no kinder, sweeter passage in the Old Testament than those beautiful lines. In reading them, can you think of a kind, wise, gentle, loving Father in Heaven pleading with you to shube, or turn back to him—to leave unhappiness, sorrow, regret, and despair behind and turn back to your Father’s family, where you can find happiness, joy, and acceptance among his other children?

That is the message of the Old Testament. Prophet after prophet writes of shube—that turning back to the Lord, where we can be received with joy and rejoicing. The Old Testament teaches time and again that we must turn from evil and do instead that which is noble and good. This means that we must not only change our ways, we must change our very thoughts, which control our actions.

The concept of shube is also found in the New Testament, which was written in Greek. The Greek writers used the Greek word metaneoeo to refer to repentance. Metaneoeo is a compound word. The first part, meta-, is used as a prefix in our English vocabulary. It refers to change. The second part of the word metaneoeo can be spelled various ways. The letter n, for instance, is sometimes transliterated as pn, and can mean air, the mind, thought, thinking, or spirit—depending on how it is used.

In the context in which meta- and -neoeo are used in the New Testament, the word metaneoeo means a change of mind, thought, or thinking so powerful that it changes one’s very way of life. I think the Greek word metaneoeo is an excellent synonym for the Hebrew word shube. Both words mean thoroughly changing or turning from evil to God and righteousness.

Confusion came, however, when the New Testament was translated from Greek into Latin. Here an unfortunate choice was made in translation; the Greek word metaneoeo was translated into the Latin word poenitere. The Latin root poen in that word is the same root found in our English words punish, penance, penitent, and repentance. The beautiful meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words was thus changed in Latin to a meaning that involved hurting, punishing, whipping, cutting, mutilating, disfiguring, starving, or even torturing! It is no small wonder, then, that people have come to fear and dread the word repentance, which they understand to mean repeated or unending punishment.

The meaning of repentance is not that people be punished, but rather that they change their lives so that God can help them escape eternal punishment and enter into his rest with joy and rejoicing. If we have this understanding, our anxiety and fears will be relieved. Repentance will become a welcome and treasured word in our religious vocabulary.

The entire article can be found here:

Guilt, shame, and the other words we listed above are necessary indicators that something is out of balance and which motivate repentance, but beyond that they have no apparent place in the process. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to forgive ourselves.

Have you ever forgiven someone who has wronged you, only to have that person continually apologize and dwell on it? I have. It’s frustrating to feel as though someone will not accept your forgiveness. I can only imagine how saddening this must be to our Heavenly Father. He and the Savior have extended the priceless gift of the atonement, and it must grieve them when we cling to the notion of wading through that sorrow ourselves and completely miss the point… even rejecting His gift.

Recently, the church put out this Mormon Message for the New Year:

It briefly discusses the story of Lot's wife. Of course Lot was warned to take his family, leave the land of Sodom and Gomorrah and not look back, lest they be destroyed. Lot's wife looked back and became a pillar of salt.

The point? Don't look back. The Lord wants us to repent, to flee to Him and be free. Are we truly repenting if after our cries for repentance we hitch the yoke of our sins upon our shoulders and carry it along with us?

As a political junkie, I've spent a great deal of time pondering about philosophy and trying to understand the motivations behind certain political movements. Through all of history man has tried to make sense of the world in a secular way. We are homesick for the peace we knew in our pre-mortal life, even if we don’t realize it. It’s no wonder there are so many political philosophies. No wonder war rages on the earth. The plain answer is found numerous times in the Book of Mormon. Repent. There is no political philosophy (no, not even free market capitalism) that can provide answers to our problems in absence of this principle. We repent and have peace, or we dwell in Gomorrah and die. It's really that simple (and that hard).

I pray that all of us who desire peace will begin by accepting the Lord's invitation to shake off our burdens and take His yoke, which is, in fact, light. I pray that when we have found that peace, we will share this message with those we love and help to move along the one political movement which has a guaranteed formula for success.

I’m not a person to get sentimental about the New Year, but the message I share is one of true joy and peace. It is the Christmas message. May 2011 be the year that we stop looking back and truly accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. Lay your burdens at His feet, for he’s already suffered them for you. Accept His gift to you, and amidst all the turmoil and chaos the word brings to bear, find peace.

Chelsea