Article September 25, 1915 Issue

What Leadeth to Repentance

WILLIS F. GROSS

The teaching that repentance is necessary to salvation is so generally accepted by believers in the Christian religion that there has never been any occasion for controversy on this point. It may indeed be said that repentance is the first step to be taken; that it is the very beginning of a man's religious experience, but if not honest and sincere it will avail nothing. Mortal man may profess much, but if he does not sincerely repent of the evils he has indulged, it is impossible to experience the saving power of Truth. If it be true that there can be no salvation without sincere repentance, it is very important that one should have a clear realization of the meaning of the term. In the nature of the case, one cannot be obedient if he does not understand what is required of him. Hence the question, What is repentance? or, What is it that causes a man to repent?

To many repentance means little more than sorrow for the suffering which attends wrong-doing; they have no deep feeling that they have not done right. The consciousness of having done according to one's highest sense of good always brings joy, even though one's effort may not be clearly recognized and appreciated. Since good is "not to be repented of," it follows that repentance has to do with the turning away from evil. If there were no evil, or no belief in evil, there would be no occasion for repentance, for there would be nothing from which one could desire to be saved. Mortal man clings to whatever he believes is necessary to his enjoyment. He desires only to be delivered from that which causes him to suffer, or which disturbs his sense of harmony while indulging what he believes to be good.

It is apparent that in the beginning of his transformation, or regeneration, a man desires only to be saved from his sense of evil. From a material point of view all that confers pleasure is to be desired and enjoyed, and it is in this way that mortal man determines what is good and what is evil. He seeks to avoid that which he calls evil, and so turns naturally to what he believes to be good. It is always the mortal belief that there is pleasure in material living which is responsible for the indulgence of evil. When this belief is destroyed, evil is no longer a temptation; when accepted for what it appears to be, materiality seems to bring pleasure or gain, and so long as this continues, mortal man thinks it is good for him at least.

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