“The Sorrowing of the Damned”

Joseph F. McConkie, Robert L. Millet

Elder Orson Pratt eloquently differentiated between the “sorrowing of the damned” and the “godly sorrow which worketh repentance”: “There are different kinds of sorrow. Thieves, robbers, murderers, adulterers, etc., are frequently sorrowful because they have been detected in the crimes they have committed. They are not sorrowful because they have sinned against God, or because they have injured others; but they are sorry because their crimes have been exposed, or that they have been prevented from a realization of the happiness which they anticipated. This is the sorrow of the world; and it is of the same nature as the sorrowing of the evil spirits in hell: they are sorry when they fail to accomplish their malicious designs against God and His people. This kind of sorrow worketh death.”

Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 4

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