The spirit and guilt.

[Soccermom]

When I was in the MTC, it seemed like so much focus was on making sure nobody had any unresolved sins that I remember feeling a lot of guilt. At that time, I don't think anybody could compete with my kool aid drinking capacities. I bought anything and everything any leader said. So the guilt I felt in the MTC I attributed to the Spirit telling me I was not worthy and prompting me to repent.

Looking back, I wonder if it really was the Spirit or the environment or just that I am prone to guilt. I wonder because I had no unresolved sins. I had never done anything really bad in my whole life. So the guilt I felt was related to remembering the time I gossiped about a roommate or the time I borrowed my sister's prized outfit without asking. I remember actually writing letters about those things and mailing them off asking for forgiveness.

I still believe the Spirit can touch us and prompt us to be better, repent, etc., but I wonder if sometimes when we feel guilt, it is misguided guilt. I mean, I know I felt guilt borrowing my sister's clothes at the time I did it, but two years later in the MTC?

I think some of us are prone to feel more guilty than others. I know I can be made to feel guilty about pretty much anything. I'm definitely not the most righteous person. I try to be good, but I have a lot of doubts at times and act on faith, not sure knowledge. So why would a person like me feel so much guilt and others who have lived similarly or worse not feel so much? Do any of you believe all guilt is the Spirit prompting us to repent? Because feeling guilty all the time sucks. But so does feeling guilty about not feeling guilty. ;-)

[byu71]

When I was in the MTC, it seemed like so much focus was on making sure nobody had any unresolved sins that I remember feeling a lot of guilt. At that time, I don't think anybody could compete with my kool aid drinking capacities. I bought anything and everything any leader said. So the guilt I felt in the MTC I attributed to the Spirit telling me I was not worthy and prompting me to repent.

Looking back, I wonder if it really was the Spirit or the environment or just that I am prone to guilt. I wonder because I had no unresolved sins. I had never done anything really bad in my whole life. So the guilt I felt was related to remembering the time I gossiped about a roommate or the time I borrowed my sister's prized outfit without asking. I remember actually writing letters about those things and mailing them off asking for forgiveness.

I still believe the Spirit can touch us and prompt us to be better, repent, etc., but I wonder if sometimes when we feel guilt, it is misguided guilt. I mean, I know I felt guilt borrowing my sister's clothes at the time I did it, but two years later in the MTC?

I think some of us are prone to feel more guilty than others. I know I can be made to feel guilty about pretty much anything. I'm definitely not the most righteous person. I try to be good, but I have a lot of doubts at times and act on faith, not sure knowledge. So why would a person like me feel so much guilt and others who have lived similarly or worse not feel so much? Do any of you believe all guilt is the Spirit prompting us to repent? Because feeling guilty all the time sucks. But so does feeling guilty about not feeling guilty. ;-)

This will seem odd or humorous, but somehow I thought this as a kid. I was a firstborn and if I might say, pretty dang smart. I was also the first grandchild. Therefor praise came my way constantly. I loved sports, especially baseball and I developed an appreciation for girls at an early age. On the other side of the spectrum was the praise for being so good in church. Talks, testimony, doing right constantly. Deacon, Teacher President, etc. However, at the same time my nature was rebellious. Guilt trips were major as I became a teenager and felt I had betrayed this wonderful, spiritual, righteous little boy and had gone the way of the world.

I finally got relief when I realized how righteous and spiritual my brother 9 years younger was. God had sent him to replace me. For some reason a great burden was lifted from me and guilt wasn't a big issue after that.

[BlueHair]

When I was in the MTC, it seemed like so much focus was on making sure nobody had any unresolved sins that I remember feeling a lot of guilt. At that time, I don't think anybody could compete with my kool aid drinking capacities. I bought anything and everything any leader said. So the guilt I felt in the MTC I attributed to the Spirit telling me I was not worthy and prompting me to repent.

Looking back, I wonder if it really was the Spirit or the environment or just that I am prone to guilt. I wonder because I had no unresolved sins. I had never done anything really bad in my whole life. So the guilt I felt was related to remembering the time I gossiped about a roommate or the time I borrowed my sister's prized outfit without asking. I remember actually writing letters about those things and mailing them off asking for forgiveness.

I still believe the Spirit can touch us and prompt us to be better, repent, etc., but I wonder if sometimes when we feel guilt, it is misguided guilt. I mean, I know I felt guilt borrowing my sister's clothes at the time I did it, but two years later in the MTC?

I think some of us are prone to feel more guilty than others. I know I can be made to feel guilty about pretty much anything. I'm definitely not the most righteous person. I try to be good, but I have a lot of doubts at times and act on faith, not sure knowledge. So why would a person like me feel so much guilt and others who have lived similarly or worse not feel so much? Do any of you believe all guilt is the Spirit prompting us to repent? Because feeling guilty all the time sucks. But so does feeling guilty about not feeling guilty. ;-)

I guess I never thought it about it before now, but the Holy Ghost is supposed to be the Comforter, not the Guilter.

[beefytee]

I guess I never thought it about it before now, but the Holy Ghost is supposed to be the Comforter, not the Guilter.

That is a great point.

I think the guilt comes from us. Overcoming it comes from the Holy Ghost and the atonement.

I'm pretty much the same way. I feel guilty pretty easily, and I'm very self conscious of stupid things I do, even when they aren't sins.

[beefytee]

I think Alma the younger is a good example of this. When he went into his funk after the angel appeared to him, he couldn't shake it until he remembered the atonement and prayed about it:

http://scriptures.lds.org/en/alma/36

[Surfah]

God forgives us far faster and easier than we ever forgive ourselves. I like to believe that this is why Christ will be our intercessor, not because of God's exacting justice, but rather our own.

I too suffer from a tremendous guilt complex. My experience mirrors much of that shared by byu71.

[RobinFinderson]

God forgives us far faster and easier than we ever forgive ourselves. I like to believe that this is why Christ will be our intercessor, not because of God's exacting justice, but rather our own.

I too suffer from a tremendous guilt complex. My experience mirrors much of that shared by byu71.

I forgive myself even faster. If it were a race, between me and God, to see who could forgive me quicker, God would be eating my dust.

[KillerDog]

My wife and I have an ongoing discussion about why she seems to feel guilt and I never seem to. I wonder if I'm a sociopath. Is there a way to tell?

[smokymountainrain]

My wife and I have an ongoing discussion about why she seems to feel guilt and I never seem to. I wonder if I'm a sociopath. Is there a way to tell?

Yes there is. Do you enjoy playing volleyball? Second question...are you any good at volleyball?

If you can answer yes to either of those questions, you are a sociopath.

[Clark Addison]

My wife and I have an ongoing discussion about why she seems to feel guilt and I never seem to. I wonder if I'm a sociopath. Is there a way to tell?

We do as well. I will say that my lack of guilt is mainly in church-related issues. I can have guilt over family relationships, etc. Our Sacrament Meeting a few weeks ago was all about how important FHE is, which we suck at. She came home feeling tremendously guilty. I came home feeling tremedously hungry. She is actually jealous of my ability to not feel guilt about things like this.

[Solon]

To a large degree, I think it's hard-wired. Some people are just more prone to guilt than other (just my opinion - I'm not a psychiatrist).

I think the LDS church could do a lot more to reduce the feelings of guilt and emphasize other, more uplifting emotions. Surely, guilt is not entirely negative, but most stuff just doesn't matter. It really doesn't.

[wuapinmon]

All sexual jokes aside please, when I do something bad, especially if I've not wronged another person, so God's the only person who can grant forgiveness, I still feel like I need to be punished. My wife doesn't like this 'quality' about me. I can't seem to forgive myself for stuff done even before I was baptized.

When I was 13, my mom's parents, who were then in their early 80's, came down to see us. I was too cool for everyone, and I wanted to go to a baseball-card show one Saturday. My mom, sister, and grandmother all got ready and left, and I didn't pay attention and thought my grandpa had gone. We left, because I was hurrying my dad to get out the door, and locked my grandfather in our house (it had originally been a lake house and had huge doors that were locked from the outside) all day long. He had been in the shower and had really wanted to go with us. At the time, I didn't think much of it other than "Sorry, Grandpa" because I had gotten what I wanted that day (An '85 Donruss Eric Davis card). When I got ready to go on my mission, I thought back to that day and the Spirit clobbered me with the just incredible selfishness and callousness of my actions. I apologized to my grandfather, then in his mid 80's (he lived to 95) about it, and he didn't even remember having been left behind (he was so forgiving, I think his nature and his age helped him 'forget'). He forgave me, but I never really felt like I was forgiven, because he didn't remember. I apologized a couple more times over the rest of his life, but it never felt right. I've talked about this with multiple bishops and they usually look at me like I'm the dumbest person on the planet, though one said that "The Atonement applies even to Mac Williams, if you'll let it."

Even right now, when I think about what I did, I feel almost like crying. That is the worst thing I've ever done, and the guilt of it will stay with me until my dying day.

[Rosebud]

I don't know.... but I can't help but wonder if the kind of guilt described in this thread has more to do with how guilt was used to control behavior when we were kids than it has to do with God, sin, or hurting others.

[KillerDog]

Yes there is. Do you enjoy playing volleyball? Second question...are you any good at volleyball?

If you can answer yes to either of those questions, you are a sociopath.

Shit.

Is there a pill for this?

[statman]

When I was in the MTC, it seemed like so much focus was on making sure nobody had any unresolved sins that I remember feeling a lot of guilt. At that time, I don't think anybody could compete with my kool aid drinking capacities. I bought anything and everything any leader said. So the guilt I felt in the MTC I attributed to the Spirit telling me I was not worthy and prompting me to repent.

Looking back, I wonder if it really was the Spirit or the environment or just that I am prone to guilt. I wonder because I had no unresolved sins. I had never done anything really bad in my whole life. So the guilt I felt was related to remembering the time I gossiped about a roommate or the time I borrowed my sister's prized outfit without asking. I remember actually writing letters about those things and mailing them off asking for forgiveness.

I still believe the Spirit can touch us and prompt us to be better, repent, etc., but I wonder if sometimes when we feel guilt, it is misguided guilt. I mean, I know I felt guilt borrowing my sister's clothes at the time I did it, but two years later in the MTC?

I think some of us are prone to feel more guilty than others. I know I can be made to feel guilty about pretty much anything. I'm definitely not the most righteous person. I try to be good, but I have a lot of doubts at times and act on faith, not sure knowledge. So why would a person like me feel so much guilt and others who have lived similarly or worse not feel so much? Do any of you believe all guilt is the Spirit prompting us to repent? Because feeling guilty all the time sucks. But so does feeling guilty about not feeling guilty. ;-)

I think it's just that women in the Church aren't used to being told that they have a lot to repent of. YM get the talk from their YM leaders almost weekly about how they're not worthy if they're not constantly repenting. YW are continuously told how virtuous they are, that they're the gatekeepers of morality and how they need to hold-out for a returned missionary who can talek them to the temple.

The repentence retoric in the MTC is pretty heavy - but it has to be to get through to the Elders - they've grown up being exposed to it weekly, and now it really matters. For many of the sisters, this is the first time they've been exposed to the hell fire and brimstone you must repent or be damned stuff. I can see why it'd be rough...