By Tiffany Olsen
President Gordon B. Hinckley Sunday morning spoke of forgiveness at 175th semiannual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in the Conference Center in Salt Lake.
“I think it may the greatest virtue on earth and certainly the most needed,” President Hinckley said. “There is so much of meanness and abuse, intolerance and hatred. There is so great a need for repentance and forgiveness. It is the great principle emphasized in all of scripture, both ancient and modern.”
He said age does something to a man, that it seems to make him more aware of the need for kindness, goodness, and forbearance. He said he wishes and prays that men might live together in peace, without war and contention, argument and conflict and that he grows increasingly aware of the meaning of the great atonement of the Redeemer.
President Hinckley told the story of the Prodigal Son, saying “in all of scripture, there is no more a beautiful story than that of the Prodigal Son.” He encouraged all members to read an ponder the story.
“When there has been wrongdoing and then there has come repentance followed by forgiveness, then literally the offender who was lost is found and he who is dead is made alive,” he said.
The assistance given by the United States to help rebuild Germany and Japan after World War II were great examples of forgiveness and charity.
“How much better this world is because of the forgiveness of a generous nation in behalf of its former enemies,” he said.
President Hinckley told the story of the Sermon on the Mount and quoted the story of the adulterous woman.
He then quoted Isaiah: ?Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they may be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
“The great crowning love of the Savior was expressed when in his dying agony,? President Hinckley said, ?he cried out, ”Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.””
“The lord has offered a marvelous promise, said he, ”He who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I the lord remember them no more.”
“There are so many in our day, who are unwilling to forgive and forget. Children cry and wives weep because fathers and husbands continue to bring up shortcomings that are really of no importance,” President Hinckley said. “There are also many women who will make a mountain out of every little offending molehill of word or deed.”
President Hinckley spoke of a woman in New York who was severely injured by a teenage boy. For some, death or 25 years in prison is not enough for this act of crime. For the woman, who might suffer years of therapy, she chose to forgive him and told him that she wanted what is best for him.
“Somehow, forgiveness with love and tolerance accomplishes miracles that can happen in no other way,” President Hinckley said. “The great atonement was the supreme act of forgiveness. The magnitude of that atonement is beyond our ability to completely understand … it is through him that we gain forgiveness.
President Hinckley encouraged members to be more forgiving, to reach out to others, and lay aside all grudges.
