When do i need to see the bishop

He will be shocked if I tell him what I did. I promise you he will not condemn you. As a servant of the Lord, he will be kind and understanding as he listens to you. He will then help you through the repentance process. When you confess and forsake your sins, the Lord will forgive you. You will not have to account to Him for those sins when the time comes for you to be judged. Sometimes a person will stop doing wrong but never confess, when it is needed, to his or her bishop. As a consequence, the person continues to carry the burden of sin alone, instead of letting the Savior take away the burden.

Let me give you an example. One evening a few years ago, I was interviewing adults for renewal of their temple recommends. A middle-aged woman came in for her interview. She had been married in the temple and was active in the Church all her life. I sensed a deep sadness in her soul. As the interview progressed, I received a spiritual impression. Would you be willing to tell me about it? She immediately began to cry. She told me that was true, but she had always felt too embarrassed to confess it to a bishop.

As she confessed what she had done, she shared sufficient detail for me to make a determination of her worthiness. The confession of her sin to a priesthood leader marked the end of her repentance process rather than the beginning. She had unnecessarily carried the burden and sorrow of that sin for more than 30 years.

Because she had completed the final step of repentance, her guilt was swept away. So why does the church teach that it's different for us than it was for her? Why is there a double standard in regards to this in the church? I don't get it. Masturbation, while it can be classified as a sin, is considered normal by medical standards and isn't that big of a deal. Masturbation IS a violation of the law of chastity.

You are concerned about it because Go and confess and forsake. Jesus Christ CAN forgive sin The Lord has established that for some sins Normal by medical standards? So is sexual intercourse whether you are married or not. Masturbation involves control over the physical and most often is accompanied by sexual fantasy and even pornography. The next step is So it is serious and that is why confession is necessary.

There are probably bigger fish to fry but I must say I believe "self mastery" of all things is probably a very positive thing in the eye's of the supreme being. The bigger question here is how come all the "angels" on the LDS.

NET header appear to be caucasian? Is that a sample representation of the church or just a statement that you can only go to heaven if you are caucasian? In the whole scheme of things, masturbation is relatively minor. We Mormons get too hung up on the little things. Like Coke-a-Cola, for example. We also tend to go WAY too hard on ourselves. There are more important things to be worried about in this world, and the poor OP is worrying himself sick over masturbating.

This should not be. He should be worrying about other more pressing matters instead. Did you really compare drinking caffeinated soda and masturbation as being similar "little things" in the eyes of the LDS leadership?

No, and that was not my intention. I was trying to make the point that some people in our religion tend to blow certain things out of proportion and guilt trip all over the place about them. Is masturbation wrong? Masturbation is wrong. I don't think so. Masturbation only becomes a problem if a person lets it control their life. The OP has no problem at all. In fact, I would venture to say that he is probably a less sinful man than the majority of people writing on this forum.

I just want to add something a little more positive. None of us here has the authority to put your mind and soul at rest.

The only thing we can possibly do is create more or less intellectual turmoil. If you have doubts, talk to your bishop. That's what he's there for, and he has the authority to speak on behalf of Christ. As a point of doctrine, the law of chastity states that sexual relations are only to be had between a man and a woman when they are legally and lawfully married.

It is difficult to imagine a situation where a single man could masturbate and fit that definition. Whether it requires confession to a priesthood leader or not is a matter I'm not resolved on. My ill-informed advice is that if your actions make you feel you aren't receiving a full portion of the Spirit, then go meet with your bishop. It's wrong and I haven't been conditioned : Whether or not confession is required isn't really the issue.

The issue is whether you want to wonder whether you should have confessed to it or not when on your mission. They are all caucasion And they are all brunettes and mostly women and skinny women at that. And what about the bald guys? No heaven for them?

Let's be careful how we word such things on this site. We have many investigators and many people who lurk. I would not want anyone reading this and taking it as a blanket statement that masturbation isn't that big of a deal.

As Spencer W. It always amazes me to read on this site people saying or justifying things by saying "Don't worry, it's only a little sin. I have to agree with what someone said earlier Let him be the judge because he is after all to decide if anything needs to be done. But if I hadn't confessed to the bishop, would I have then still been forgiven by God?

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