Sin and Suffering

“There is a relationship between sin and suffering that is not understood by people who knowingly sin in the expectation that all the burden of suffering will be borne by Another, that the sin is all theirs but that the suffering is all His. That is not the way. Repentance, which is an assured passage to an eternal destination, is nevertheless not a free ride.

“Let us recall two scriptures: (1) ‘Repentance could not come unto men except there were a punishment’ (Alma 42:16); and (2) the Savior said that he had suffered these things for all, ‘that they might not suffer if they would repent; but if they would not repent they must suffer even as I’ (D&C 19:16–17).

“This obviously means that the unrepentant transgressor must suffer for his own sins. Does it also mean that a person who repents does not need to suffer at all because the entire punishment is borne by the Savior? That cannot be the meaning because it would be inconsistent with the Savior’s other teachings. What is meant is that the person who repents does not need to suffer ‘even as’ the Savior suffered for that sin. Sinners who are repenting will experience some suffering, but because of their repentance and the Atonement, they will not experience the full, ‘exquisite’ extent of eternal torment the Savior suffered” (“Sin and Suffering,” Ensign, July 1992, Dallin H. Oaks)