Confessing Sins

Moses 4 and 5 provide an interesting contrast in accepting responsibility for our actions.  When the Lord asked Adam about eating of the fruit he said, “The woman thou gavest me, and commandest that she should remain with me, she gave me of the fruit of the tree and I did eat.”  While he did attempt to provide some justification or rationale for his choice—that he was trying to remain with Eve—he also owned up completely to what he did, saying simply, “I did eat.”  Similarly, when Eve was asked she said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.”  Again, she provided a reason for her choice, but she did declare also that she did it: “I did eat” (Moses 4:18-19).  On the other hand, Cain gave no such admission when the Lord questioned him about Abel whom he had murdered.  Cain responded first by lying, “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?”  Then he tacitly admitted it but took no responsibility, saying, “Satan tempted me because of my brother’s flocks.  And I was wroth also; for his offering thou didst accept and not mine; my punishment is greater than I can bear” (Moses 5:38).  In other words he was proposing that it was partially Satan’s fault and partially the Lord’s fault, but he himself was not at fault.  If Cain were to be believed, he was simply the victim of the Lord’s injustice and Satan’s temptations and had no responsibility in the murder he committed at all.

                The principle from these two stories is that we must be willing to confess our sins.  This is something that is easy to stress to children, but we have just as hard of a time as adults admitting our faults and mistakes and sins before others and God.  The principle is repeated in several passages in the Doctrine and Covenants.  The Lord declared, “By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them” (D&C 58:43).  Confessing is essential to true repentance.  The Lord promised to be merciful to those who do confess: “I, the Lord, forgive sins, and am merciful unto those who confess their sins with humble hearts” (D&C 61:2).  He reiterated, “Verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, forgive sins unto those who confess their sins before me and ask forgiveness,” and He commanded in particular to Martin Harris, “Confess your sins” (D&C 64:7, 19:20).  The Lord even suggested when we might confess: “But remember that on this, the Lord’s day, thou shalt offer thine oblations and thy sacraments unto the Most High, confessing thy sins unto thy brethren, and before the Lord” (D&C 59:12).  The Sabbath is, according to the Savior, a time when we particularly should look to confess our sins and repent.  All of these verses highlight the need we have to verbally acknowledge and admit our sins before the Lord as we continue to strive to improve through the Savior’s atonement.  Our first parents set a good example for us in being willing to take ownership for their actions, and in a day when confession of mistakes and weaknesses is almost taboo in the public square, we would do well to remember our own need to confess our sins to the Lord.