Remission

Remission is the act of reducing the intensity or degree, or of putting aside, of punishments, debts, penalties or obligations for misdeeds upon conditions and for a period of time. If the conditions are not met all punishments, debts, penalties and obligations are reinstated; otherwise, they are removed permanently.

For cancer or other disease, punishments are equivalent to symptoms, debts to deficiencies, penalties to effects and misdeeds to cancer or other disease. The problem is that most people don't know the conditions or the period of time.

As for the Gospel of Jesus Christ the misdeeds are sins and the act is baptism; thus the phrase, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. Sins are the breaking of God's laws which have a punishment affixed. This baptism has two parts but is one baptism. When the term immersion is used it is typically understood to be immersion in water and this is correct, but not complete. The immersion also must apply to the fire, the fire of the Holy Ghost, often called the gift of the Holy Ghost. The remission of sins does not come until the act of immersion in both water and fire which is one baptism.

The conditions cannot be set by us but are set by God and His Christ. These conditions are faith and repentance. If all conditions are met before this baptism, then at the moment of this immersion spoken of, there comes forgiveness whereby all punishments, debts, penalties and obligations for a sin are permanently removed.

If all conditions of remission for a sin are not met at the time of baptism then upon baptism by immersion of both water and fire the intensity or degree of the punishments, debts, penalties and obligations for that sin are reduced or put aside for a period of time. That period of time may include the entire probationary state if the conditions continue to be met sufficiently for that and other sins. Otherwise, that period of time is temporary.

The means by which this remission is made possible is through the power of the atonement of Jesus Christ, without which there could be no period of time allowing for conditions to be met. Without the atonement there would be no power to satisfy the demands of justice during a period of time, nor power to claim the penitent from the grasp of justice upon fulfillment of the conditions.

Because God loves his children He has provided this period of time, which is sufficiently long for all men, that they may meet all of the conditions of remission for all sins and be baptized so that all punishments will be permanently removed. This does not rob justice because Christ paid our penalties and satisfied the demands of justice upon condition of faith and repentance. Repentance is not complete until we are forgiven - the punishments are permanently removed by God. Baptism, by one having authority, is the only way to bring about the remission and forgiveness of sins. It is a commandment of God and must be obeyed in order for any repentance to have a lasting effect.