| Menu |
If he (the bishop) feels that the transgression is minimal and deserves forgiveness, he may grant a waiver of penalties that we sometimes call forgiveness and permit that person to continue his activity in the Church, and he will likely say to that person, "Because the sin was minimal and your repentance seems to be sincere, I feel the Lord would have me forgive you for the Church." But one should remember that that forgiveness is conditional, and if repeated, the original sins return.
Source: Edward L. Kimball, ed. The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982. 97.
Waiving of Church sanctions is not absolution. When the bishop or stake president terminates the deprivation of a transgressor and permits him to continue in his Church services and opportunities, he is waiving penalties and, in a sense, forgiving for the Church. In such cases, I have always told the individuals, "You must also seek and secure from the God of heaven a final repentance, and only he can absolve."
Although there are many ecclesiastical officers in the Church whose positions entitle and require them to be judges, the authority of those positions does not necessarily qualify them to forgive or remit sins. Those who can do that are extremely few in this world.
The bishop, and others in comparable positions, can forgive in the sense of waiving the penalties. In our loose connotation we sometimes call this forgiveness, but it is not forgiveness in the sense of "wiping out" or absolution.
Let it be said in emphasis that even the First Presidency and the apostles do not make a practice of absolving sins. It is the Lord however, who forgives sins.
Source: Edward L. Kimball, ed. The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982. 101.