… you LITERALLY were being cleansed of your "sins" of the previous week?

I had always thought that taking the sacrament was merely symbolic. However, a ward member I ran into a few weeks after first becoming inactive expressed the view that by my missing taking the sacrament, my “sins” were accumulating more and more each week!

So I'm wondering if his view was the exception, or if Mormons raised in the church are in fact taught that taking the sacrament is necessary for ongoing sin-removal.

No, I thought that you couldn't take the sacrament if you had sinned anything serious. I never thought that it would wipe them away. The sacrament was a renewal of your covenants and if you hadn't kept them, then no stale bread and warm water for you. That's what I thought anyway.

I'm not talking about major sins that would disqualify a member from taking the sacrament. I meant to refer to the smaller "sins” which Mormonism assumes we all commit on a daily basis (except the G15, of course.)

Nope, I wasn't taught the sac wiped away sin at all, it was just a renewal of covenants. The only thing that wipes away sin is baptism. Or repentance, but that's a long and hard process. ;-)

What I was taught emphasized the renewal of covenants, but it was also part of the repentance process for those little transgressions. I didn't think of it as literally as you are describing, but it doesn't sound that far off from how I heard some people talk about it.

When you partake of the sacrament you should evaluate your life since the last time you took it. By evaluating yourself and promising and striving to do better in order to partake worthily, you protect yourself from sin.

Assuming that you have no moral compass as an inactive/ex member, it is easy to assume that you have neglected your selfevaluation and allowed little sins and bigger sins to take over your life.

But no, the sacrament cannot undo sin. But you should partake worthily which means that you avoid and repent of sins, and you do it to renew baptismal covenants and to renew the commitment to live a righteous life.

I recall it to be a renewal and remembrance of covenants per the respective prayers. Nothing in them about repentance or forgiveness. Note that in the good old days, they got wine instead of water.

fwiw....

Bread:
77: O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

Water:
79: O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

Sourced from: http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/20?lang=eng

Since the spirit of god won't be with you if you are carrying sin stains, the return of the spirit after taking sacrament is an indication that your sins are forgiven at that time.

But that's just my thoughts, and I remember plenty of times wondering how I could be forgiven if I hadn't yet stopped every sin?

Seems kinda circular, don't it?

I do think that a lot of core LDS believe that, by means of the sacrament and repentance, they have evolved beyond sin, and are actually fully righteous and close to god (filled with the Holy Ghost). Good for them!

Yep, that's what I always understood. Of course you had to repent first, and then take the Sacrament, and then it would be all wiped away again. You'd come away each week clean as a whistle, as though you'd just been baptized again.

I've heard it expressed by some that way. There may even been a conference talk about it, and I have heard a bishop state that you mustn't let an unworthy member take the sacrament because it was a way of cleansing yourself from sins.

It may be an older idea, and I haven't seen it get too much traction with modern mormons.

I was told that it was a clean start - like getting baptized every week and that if you honestly thought about Christ during the sacrament you were getting your sins removed by taking the sacrament.

We were taught that you were supposed to repent during the sacrament prayers, and, when you took the sacrament, like some of the others have said, it cleansed you and made you sinless, at least for that moment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/17/2011 11:23PM by Hillbilly Heathen.

I too was taught it was cleansing yourself of sins and you were clean and pure for just an instant. Which is why it made no sense to me if you had a "serious sin" you were not allowed to take the sacrament. If anything you would need the sacrament more because you had more to cleanse from yourself.

It's also worth noting how silly the whole thing is. Their should be one clear position on what the sacrament actually does. Yet we in this topic have been given different instructions on whether it cleanses us or not.

But if someone is 'unworthy' surely they would be the ideal person to take the sacrament? Or is it that Mormons are really clueless about their church and what it teaches?

Yes - as long as we took the sacrament in the proper frame of mind (ie, we wanted to be better and were sorry for our mistakes).

I would repent real hard while the priests were saying the prayer. I would sit there and pray for forgiveness of all the sins I had committed during the week. Of course I never felt good about myself or that my sins were ever forgiven but it made it easier to take the sacrament.

When I got older they emphasized "renewing the covenants you made at baptism." Of course, I sure as hell didn't remember making any covenants at my baptism.

Here is my newspaper article submission for the Lutheran church I attend. I wrote it last evening:

We offer Communion the first and third Sundays of each month. In Christian fellowship, we unite at the altar manifesting our Biblically-based oneness in the faith in remembrance of our Lord and everything He accomplished for our salvation (Luke 22:19-20). We mutually participate in an informed confession of what we all believe concerning the Savior who meets us there (2 Timothy 3:14-17; Romans 15:4-6). Having faith and trusting in the promises of our Savior, we receive from Him forgiveness of our sins and all the blessings that flow from this forgiveness, namely eternal life and salvation (Matthew 26:28; John 3:16)

Jesus commands his followers to "Go and make disciples of all nations... baptizing... and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19, 20). Through God's Word and sacraments of Communion and Baptism, He preserves and extends the Christian church throughout the world giving others the opportunity for salvation and eternal life. Go, and proclaim the message of the kingdom.