"Should you or I have erred or spoken harshly to another, it is good to take steps to straighten out the matter and to move onward with our lives," said President Thomas S. Monson in the April 1995 general conference.
President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, observed, "He [who] cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for every one has need to be forgiven."He then described "One of the most touching examples of mercy and forgiveness," the account of the Savior teaching in the temple when He showed mercy to a woman taken in adultery.
"They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.
"Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?
"This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
"So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.
"And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.
"And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
"When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are . . . thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
"She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." (John 8:4-11.)
President Monson continued, "The sands of time quickly erased what the Savior had written, but forever will be remembered the mercy He showed."