If someone is inactive and sins while away from the church,do they need to repent or is it just assumed?
I think it depends on what the sins are. If it’s a case of immorality than yes, the inactive member is going to have to go to their bishopric and mention what they have done wrong and the repentance process is going to be a bit more of a struggle with them. And sometimes people become inactive because of circumstances within their life. I became inactive quite a bit during my last three or four years of my studies when I was at my university. Frankly I felt overwhellemed in school and didn’t feel like I had time for church. I occasionally dropped in for meetings so I wasn’t compleatly inactive, but I didn’t consider myself active either. For a lot of people inactivity is a senstive issue. I did some things when I was inactive that I knew were wrong. They were minor things, I didn’t pay my tithing and I didn’t follow the Word of Wisdom. Yes, I sinned. They were minor offenses and I still followed some of the major tenants of the Word of Wisdom, I didn’t drink alcohol, and I didn’t smoke
I’ve heard of cases where the LDS church will attempt to excommunicate someone who voluntarily resigns after being away from the religion for an extended period of time. Of course, this course of action is illegal but if the LDS church has attempted to engage in this kind of activity then I suppose it means that they don’t just let things slide because someone is inactive (or they do let it slide until that person contacts them).
