Guilt and repair

documented fact · current teaching

Under General Handbook chapter 32, a membership council may leave a member in good standing, give personal counseling, formally restrict membership privileges, or withdraw membership; withdrawal is required for murder and plural marriage. A member may appeal within 30 days, and people whose membership was restricted or withdrawn usually or almost always show at least a year of repentance before restrictions are lifted or they are readmitted.

Needs human verification

documented fact · current teaching

General Handbook chapter 32 describes a church process for repentance in which bishops and stake presidents have a role when members seek help with serious sin. That chapter does not authorize this guide to forgive, judge worthiness, or require a confession.

Needs human verification

documented fact · current teaching

A 2019 Church magazine article by a psychologist describes scrupulosity as a form of OCD, not a spiritual failing, and encourages professional treatment.

Needs human verification

interpretation · not applicable

Research finds that moral incongruence, not actual use, drives much perceived pornography addiction, and that sex guilt lowers sexual satisfaction while viewing sex as sacred raises it.

Needs human verification

Church Discipline (Church History Topics)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

This Church History topic explains the history of Church discipline from early high councils to today's membership councils, and its stated purposes of helping repentance and protecting others. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, 32.11-32.14: Membership Council Decisions, Appeals, Records, and Resignation

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2026-10

Sections 32.11 to 32.14 describe membership council outcomes: remaining in good standing, personal counseling, formal membership restrictions (no temple, priesthood, sacrament, or callings, but attendance encouraged), or withdrawal of membership, which is required for murder and plural marriage. A member may appeal within 30 days to the stake president or, for a stake council, to the First Presidency. Members who ask to resign are told resignation revokes all ordinances; they submit a signed request through the bishop or a notarized request to headquarters. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, 32.16-32.17: Removing Restrictions, Readmission, and Restoration of Blessings

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2026-10

Sections 32.16 and 32.17 say a new council of equal or higher authority must be held to lift formal restrictions or readmit a person, that formally restricted members usually show at least one year of genuine repentance and those whose membership was withdrawn almost always do (longer for prominent leaders), and that previously endowed people need First Presidency approval for restoration of priesthood and temple blessings. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, 32.4: Confession, Confidentiality, and Reporting to Government Authorities

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2026-10

Section 32.4 says bishops and stake presidents have a sacred duty to keep confessions and counseling confidential and lists the limited cases where they may share information. It says the Church's policy is to obey the law, leaders encourage members to report crimes when required, some places legally require clergy to report child abuse, and where a Church abuse help line exists, bishops and stake presidents should promptly call it about every situation in which someone may have been abused. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, 32.6: Severity of the Sin and Church Policy (when membership councils are required)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2026-10

Section 32.6 lists sins for which a bishop or stake president must hold a membership council: murder, rape, a sexual assault conviction, child or youth abuse, abuse of a spouse or other adult, predatory behavior, incest, child pornography, plural marriage, serious sin while holding a prominent Church position, and most felony convictions. It then lists situations where a council may be necessary, where the stake president consults the Area Presidency, and where one is not normally needed. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, Chapter 16: Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2026-10

Chapter 16 is a short chapter saying living the gospel is the first of four divinely appointed responsibilities and consists of exercising faith in Jesus Christ, repenting daily, making covenants through ordinances, and enduring to the end by keeping them. Religious teaching, summarized, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, Chapter 31: Interviews and Other Meetings with Members

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2026-10

General Handbook chapter 31 guides leaders' interviews and other meetings with members. Leaders always offer the option of having someone else present, and when meeting with a child, a youth, or someone of the opposite sex a parent or another adult must be present, joining the meeting or waiting outside as the member prefers. The bishop or a counselor meets with each youth twice a year (at least once with the bishop, and both with the bishop from the year a youth turns 16) and with each young single adult at least yearly; it also covers keeping confidences, virtual meetings, and interviews for ordinations and callings. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, chapter 32, Repentance and Membership Councils

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2024

General Handbook chapter 32 describes the church's published process around repentance and membership councils, including a role for bishops and stake presidents when members come to them about serious sin. This app cannot conduct that process, grant forgiveness, judge worthiness, or decide whether someone should confess. The chapter is church policy, not a score of a person's worth. Summary of the chapter's role, not a quotation of its rules.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

General Handbook, Chapter 7: The Bishopric

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints · 2026-10

Chapter 7 describes the bishop as holding the priesthood keys for the ward, serving as presiding high priest, president of the Aaronic Priesthood and the priests quorum, common judge, and coordinator of the work of salvation, with his foremost responsibility to the rising generation and a mandate to care for those with temporal needs (he decides the type, amount, and duration of Church assistance). It also covers counselors, branch presidencies, executive secretaries, and clerks. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Understanding Scrupulosity (Religious OCD)

Debra Theobald McClendon · Ensign · 2019-09

A psychologist writing in a Church magazine describes scrupulosity as an anxiety disorder, not a spiritual failing, contrasts its constant guilt with healthy religion, and encourages professional treatment. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Examining religious commitment, perfectionism, scrupulosity, and well-being among LDS individuals

G. E. Kawika Allen and Kenneth T. Wang · Psychology of Religion and Spirituality · 2014

A peer-reviewed survey of Latter-day Saints finds that maladaptive perfectionism and scrupulosity were linked to lower well-being and depression, while religious commitment itself was not. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

From secrecy to openness: sexual satisfaction in couples from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Darrian M. McKiernan, Kristina Gaspar de Alba Clawson, and Brandon P. Eddy · Sexual and Relationship Therapy · 2022

A qualitative study of Latter-day Saint married couples describes how messages of secrecy and shame about sex before marriage affected their early sexual relationship and how couples moved toward openness. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Pornography Problems Due to Moral Incongruence: An Integrative Model with a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Joshua B. Grubbs, Samuel L. Perry, Joshua A. Wilt, and Rory C. Reid · Archives of Sexual Behavior · 2019

A meta-analysis finds that moral incongruence, the gap between one's values and one's behavior, is a strong predictor of self-reported pornography problems, often stronger than the amount of use. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Sex guilt or sanctification? The indirect role of religiosity on sexual satisfaction

Nathan D. Leonhardt, Dean M. Busby, and Brian J. Willoughby · Psychology of Religion and Spirituality · 2020

BYU researchers find that religiosity relates to sexual satisfaction in two directions: through sex guilt, which lowers satisfaction, and through viewing sex as sacred, which raises it. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification

Transgression as Addiction: Religiosity and Moral Disapproval as Predictors of Perceived Addiction to Pornography

Joshua B. Grubbs, Julie J. Exline, Kenneth I. Pargament, Joshua N. Hook, and Robert D. Carlisle · Archives of Sexual Behavior · 2015

Peer-reviewed studies found that religiousness and moral disapproval of pornography predicted people's belief that they were addicted to it, even after accounting for how much they actually used it. Summary, not a quotation.

Summary, not a quotation · needs human verification