“But Thou Shalt Not Sin Any More”
King Lamoni’s father reflected the proper perspective of forsaking as an element of genuine repentance when he declared: “I will give away all my sins to know thee ... and be saved at the last day” (Alma 22:18, italics added). His forsaking of sin was not selective; it was total surrender. When the Savior says “Go thy way and sin no more,” as in John 8:11, it is this total forsaking of which he speaks, not selective or fragmented forsaking of sin. True repentance that yields forgiveness requires, as President Joseph F. Smith stated, “a discontinuance of all evil practices and deeds, a thorough reformation of life, a vital change from evil to good, from vice to virtue, from darkness to light” (Gospel Doctrine, p. 100; see also “Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet,” pp. 67-84).