Repentance, Rationalization, and Rebellion

One of the most profound things Elder Cornish said during his talk Am I Good Enough? Will I Make It? is a formula which, he said, would guarantee that we would qualify for the Celestial Kingdom: "Yes, you are going to make it as long as you keep repenting and do not rationalize or rebel."

At the end of his talk, he reiterated this affirmation:

I witness to you that if you will really try and will not rationalize or rebel—repenting often and pleading for the grace, or help, of Christ—you positively are going to be “good enough,” that is, acceptable before the Lord; you are going to make it to the celestial kingdom, being perfect in Christ; and you are going to receive the blessings and glory and joy that God desires for each of His precious children—including specifically you and me.

This is an amazing promise, but what, exactly, does it mean?

I think we understand what repentance means, since we hear a lesson on it at least two or three times every year, but it wouldn't hurt to refresh our memory. Repentance means change, or, more specifically, trying to change. It means recognizing that some of the things we're doing are bad and trying to stop doing those things. To make it to the Celestial Kingdom, we must repent (apologize for and try to abstain from) all our sins, including sins of omission. James wrote, "to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). Thus, we must really try to do good and to stop doing bad.

Of course, we are not perfect, and we are not going to become perfect in this lifetime. We may wish to do good things and to not do bad things, but we will slip up and fall short from time to time. That is why repentance is more accurately defined as trying to change, and it's also why it's important to avoid those other two actions that Elder Cornish mentioned.

He warned us against rationalization:

What we cannot do is rationalize rather than repent. It will not work to justify ourselves in our sins by saying, “God knows it’s just too hard for me, so He accepts me like I am.”

Some people, upon discovering how difficult it is to repent, and having accepted that they will never become perfect in this life, take that as an excuse to stop trying. This will not do. Because repentance means trying to change, we only fail at it when we stop trying. But that is exactly what rationalization tempts us to do. When we attempt to rationalize our sins, we stop trying to overcome them. This causes us to become unrepentant and halts our progress, and it can even lead to the other action Elder Cornish warned us against: rebellion.

The other thing that will surely keep us out of heaven and separate us from the help we need now is rebellion. From the book of Moses, we learn that Satan was cast out of heaven for rebellion. We are in rebellion any time we say in our hearts, “I don’t need God, and I don’t have to repent.”

Despite having a few problems with the concept of obedience, I'll admit that it is dangerously foolish to rebel against God, and not just because He has the capacity to be vengeful. God's commandments warn us of danger and help us to live a happier and more successful life. Furthermore, obeying God and not rebelling against Him are essential to our salvation. As Elder Cornish put it, "when we rebel against God, we reject our only help and hope, who is Jesus Christ, which leads to spiritual death."

However, on the brighter side, rationalization and rebellion are quite possibly the only two things that could keep us from qualifying for the Celestial Kingdom. As long as we keep repenting and don't try to rationalize our sins or rebel against God, we will make it. We will eventually become like God and spend eternity in heaven, as long as we keep trying to get there and don't let rationalization or rebellion hold us back. We don't often hear promises this powerful or this direct, but Elder Cornish has made his point very clearly: "Yes, you are going to make it as long as you keep repenting and do not rationalize or rebel." I hope that we can resist the occasional urge to rationalize and rebel, so we can maintain our motivation to repent so we will eventually "make it." The way I see it, there are only a few things that could possibly hold us back, and now that we know what they are, we will be better prepared to avoid them.