People will not be punished for what Adam did in the Garden, but they also cannot excuse their own behavior by pointing a finger to Adam or to anyone else, said Elder F. Burton Howard of the Seventy during the Saturday morning session.

He explained that an unwillingness to accept the responsibility for and consequences of one's actions is a common condition in today's world."The habit of shifting the burden of guilt on to someone else, while perhaps understandable in a secular setting, has more serious consequences in a spiritual one," admonished Elder Howard.

"When faced with the consequences of transgression, rather than looking to ourselves as the source of the discomfort, which always accompanies sin . . . ," he remarked, "many of us tend to blame someone else. Rather than getting out of a vicious and senseless circle, we fault our neighbor for our pain and try to pass it on. But to repent we must leave the circle."

He explained that the first step in the repentance process is to recognize that a wrong has been committed. "If we are so hedged about by pride, rationalization, machismo or a misdirected sense of self-esteem so as to prevent us from ever admitting that we are part of the problem, we are in trouble," he said. "We then may not even know of our need to repent. We will have no idea whether the Lord is pleased with us or not and may become `past feeling,' " (1 Ne. 17:45.)

Elder Howard also pointed out that the notion, "the end justifies the means," can impede the repentance process and cheat us out of exaltation.

"In certain circumstances, some say it is OK to conceal the truth or to dig just a small pit for an adversary, to pursue an advantage of some kind such as superior knowledge or position against another," he said.

"The truth is that we are judged by the means we employ and not by the ends we may hope to obtain."

"The war in heaven was essentially about the means by which the plan of salvation would be implemented. It forever established the principle that even for the greatest of all ends, eternal life, the means are critical."

Elder Howard explained that the danger in thinking the end justifies the means lies in making a judgment people have no right to make. "Who are we to say that the Lord will pardon wickedness done to attain a perceived `greater good.' Even if the goal is good, it would be a personal calamity to look beyond the mark, and fail to repent of the wrong we do along the way."

The sweet peace the gospel brings never comes when misconduct is justified or others are blamed for unhappiness, Elder Howard explained. He said the way out is to "face up, quit, get out, confess, apologize, admit the harm we have done and just plain walk away."

There are many important things to be done during mortality, and there will be trials, Elder Howard noted. "How we respond to all of this will turn out to be the real measure of our salvation."