Born that Way
“And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great mediation of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil.” -2 Nephi 1:120 RAV, 2:27b OPV
I was talking to someone once about a sin they were trapped in. They stated that they were “born that way,” that God had made them with that sin (think lying, stealing, etc.) and so they didn’t need to repent of it. The idea was that if God is perfect, then His creations are perfect, and there is no sin in what they were “born to do.”
And a Contrite Spirit
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” -Psalms 51:17
The Lord has asked us to come to him with a broken heart and contrite spirit (3 Nephi 4:49 RAV, 9:20 OPV). As we’ve already stated, a “broken heart” is a pierced heart. One open to both receiving and pouring out God’s Love, the true prayer now inscribed upon it. What then is the “contrite spirit?”
A Broken Heart
“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” -Psalms 34:18
When teaching the people he had gathered in the Americas, Jesus did away with the sacrificing of animals. He asked for something more personal when he told them, “ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 4:49 RAV, 9:20 OPV). But what does this mean?