Why we do the things we do

What is our motivation to not sin?

For some it is the fear of punishment. The problem with this motivation is that it is not always immediate or even evident. There are two kinds of punishment that we fear.

1. Fear that sometime after this life is over we will be punished. Here is the problem. Fear of a punishment that we don't understand, can't comprehend, and that will happen at some point in the distant future (assuming we have enough faith to believe it will happen) is just not a good enough motivation to get us not to sin.

2. Fear that we will be punished in this life. Something "bad" will happen to us. The problem with this is, number one, it's not consistent. Let me relate this to something we are all familiar with. Speeding. Whether speeding is a sin is a discussion for another time. I'd like to think of it in terms of a completely temporal law for now. If you break this law then there is a penalty...we'll sort of. Why do so many people speed? I think it's because a person may speed once, twice, three times, etc. and not see any negative consequences for the action, so they continue to do it. It's like that with us and sin as well. Perhaps we commit a sin once, twice, three times, and we don't notice any real consequences. Our lives are just as good as before we sinned. So what is to stop us?
The second problem with using fear of punishment in this life as a motivation not to sin is that even if we didn't sin and were perfect, bad things would still happen to us. Look at Christ. He never sinned, and he still had bad things happen to him. If bad things are going to happen anyway, I don't think that using that as a motivation not to sin is going to work very well.

Fear of punishment doesn't seem to be a good motivator to not sin. What about reward?

If we don't sin then we can go to heaven. In LDS terms, be exalted. What does that mean? Well to some people, heaven is fishing every day on a secluded pristine lake, to others it might be relaxing on a beach listening to the waves roll in. You may envision heaven some other way, but the reality is, the ultimate goal is to become a God (D&C 132:20) So here is the problem with that as I see it. Most of our sins pretty much boil down to selfishness. Both sins of commission and sins of omission. We do A, B, and C because we want to and we don't do D, E, and F because we don't want to. So why in the world would we want a life (being a God) where we have to be selfless and think about others 24/7. If that seemed like a great reward and what we truly wanted, we would just do it now. Why wait for a life like that if that's what we truly wanted? We could just have it right now. See, most of us don't want to think of others 24/7 so that doesn't seem like much of a reward. Certainly not enough to motivate us not to sin.

So if fear of punishment is not enough and the hope of reward is not enough, what is our motivation not to sin?

Suffering for Sin

Let me preface this post with saying that I believe the atonement was necessary. The why and how is what I don’t yet understand. What punishment did Christ suffer for me? I don’t mean to belittle the atonement or what Christ did for me. Nor am I trying to say that there isn’t a punishment for sin. I believe what Christ did was magnificent and essential. That is what Heavenly Father has told me. I just want to understand what he did. So what is the punishment for sin that Christ suffered for me? In the “What is the punishment for sin” post, here are some of the punishments that were put forward.

1. The punishment for sin is the natural consequence of the sin. For example, if you steal, you get put in jail; have to pay a fine, etc. This doesn’t seem to be the punishment that caused Christ to suffer for me. If it were, then I wouldn’t have to go to jail, pay the fine, etc. He would do that for me and suffer in my place as long as I repent. This just isn’t how it works. This must not be the punishment for sin that Christ suffered for me. I will still suffer the natural consequences.

2. The punishment for sin is not being exalted (not making it to heaven, celestial kingdom, however you want to say it). This doesn’t seem to be the punishment that caused Christ to suffer for me. If it were, then he would be the one that is not exalted and suffering not being with the Father instead of me. But he is exalted, and is with the Father, so he can’t suffer that punishment for me. This must not be the punishment for sin that Christ suffered for me. I will still be the one to suffer this punishment.

3. The punishment for sin is sorrow for committing the sin (guilt, bad feelings, whatever you want to call it). This doesn’t seem to be the punishment that caused Christ to suffer for me. If it were, then I wouldn’t have to experience those feelings. But since sorrow for sin is a part of repentance, that is something that I must experience. It would seem like an awful waste for Christ to have to suffer all that sorrow for sin for no reason because I also need to feel (and have felt) that too. This seems to be the one most open to discussion. I can see the argument that says, “yeah, you feel sorrow through the repentance process, but then after the repentance process you can be free from the sorrow, and it is that continued sorrow after repenting that Christ suffered. That way you don’t have to suffer that sorrow the rest of your life.” That sounds great but logically doesn’t make a lot of sense (Why would you still feel sorrow after Heavenly Father forgives you regardless of whether Christ suffered your sorrows or not). But the big reason I don’t buy that argument is that it makes the atonement a nice thing, but not necessary for exaltation. It saves me from a lot of sorrowing for sin, which is a nice thing, but the absence of sorrow is not a necessity for exaltation. Most of us suffer sorrow from many other things besides sin (trials, tribulations, etc). This must not be the punishment for sin that Christ suffered for me. I will still suffer from sorrow.

So what say you? What is the punishment that caused Christ to suffer? And how was that punishment going to keep us from progressing toward exaltation, thereby making the suffering Christ did for us essential?

What is the punishment for sin?

Is the punishment for sin (in terms of an eternal perspective) just the absence of the reward (living with God) or is there an additional punishment? I realize that there are sometimes immediate punishments for sin particularly if you violate a law. But what about when this life is over? Is the punishment for sin simply the negative consequence of how your sin affects your life right now, or is there an additional punishment dealt out by God after this life is over?