“Others have a species of sorrow arising through fear. They are convinced that they have, in numerous instances, violated the law of God, and they greatly fear the consequences in the great judgment day; but yet they feel no disposition to reform....”
“Their Sorrowing Was Not Unto Repentance”
The Apostle Paul spoke of a “godly sorrow [which] worketh repentance.” In contrast to this kind of sorrowing that leads one to repentance, “the sorrow of the world worketh death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10, italics added.) The tears the Nephites shed did not flow from hearts that were broken and spirits that were contrite.
Their sorrow stemmed not from faith in Christ but rather from a hopelessness and despair which “cometh because of iniquity” (Moroni 10:22). Mormon characterized this awful feeling that was without the “fruits meet for repentance” as the “sorrowing of the damned.”
This tragic account of the spiritual state of Mormon’s people pointedly demonstrates that sorrow, regret, and remorse do not necessarily signify repentance. Many, like Mormon’s people, may be remorseful for past actions, sorrowful for circumstances and consequences that have befallen them, and mournful about their present pains and problems, yet they do nothing to change behavior or come unto Christ and comply with the merciful provisions of his gospel.