Mormon 9:3

Then will ye longer deny the Christ, or can ye behold the Lamb of God? Do ye suppose that ye shall dwell with him under a consciousness of your guilt? Do ye suppose that ye could be happy to dwell with that holy Being, when your souls are racked with a consciousness of guilt that ye have ever abused his laws?

Our conscience makes us conscious of our guilt; but it also makes of conscious of the good we do. The light of Christ tells us not only what not to do but also what to do, both good and evil, things to avoid and things to embrace. Guilt is signal that we have done wrong. Peace is the signal that we have done right.

3 Nephi 22:11

O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted! Behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

Though we have been afflicted with guilt, the Lord can make our lives beautiful through his Atonement.

Alma 24:10

And I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath forgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, and taken away the guilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son.

The great gift of the atonement is to remove our guilt. This is the quest of philosophers and self-help psychologists around the world and throughout time. How can we be happy in a fallen, mortal world filled with mistakes and regrets? Their answers are generally to delude ourselves into believing there is no sin and "whatsoever a man does is right." But Christ's answer is to confess our sins, give them to him, and let him take them from us. It is far less stressful, more realistic, and more honest to deal with guilt Christ's way than the world's way.

Alma 15:3

And also Zeezrom lay sick at Sidom, with a burning fever, which was caused by the great tribulations of his mind on account of his wickedness, for he supposed that Alma and Amulek were no more; and he supposed that they had been slain because of his iniquity. And this great sin, and his many other sins, did harrow up his mind until it did become exceedingly sore, having no deliverance; therefore he began to be scorched with a burning heat.

Guilt creates stress, and stress produces a host of physical ailments. The philosophy of the world tells us to reduce our stress by denying our guilt. The "experts" would have us simply sear our consciences with a hot iron. We eventually learn to sin without feeling guilt. But the gospel tells us to reduce our stress by giving our guilt to Christ through repentance. We stop feeling guilty because we stop sinning and let the Savior heal our consciences. Instead of becoming duller, our spirits become sharper, more sensitive, more ready to change and grow.

Alma 14:6

And it came to pass that Zeezrom was astonished at the words which had been spoken; and he also knew concerning the blindness of the minds, which he had caused among the people by his lying words; and his soul began to be harrowed up under a consciousness of his own guilt; yea, he began to be encircled about by the pains of hell.

We are all guilty. But we do not have to be torn apart by guilt if we repent and look to Christ. Zeezrom did not yet have faith in Christ, and so he had no hope. To be guilty without hope of redemption is the very definition of hell.

Mosiah 27:29

My soul hath been redeemed from the gall of bitterness and bonds of iniquity. I was in the darkest abyss; but now I behold the marvelous light of God. My soul was racked with eternal torment; but I am snatched, and my soul is pained no more.

"Snatch" is an interesting verb. Alma uses it twice in this chapter and once in the next chapter to describe the process by which his guilt was removed. It means to quickly seize something in an eager way. God is eager to forgive us. He is quick to forgive at the first sign of repentance. If we feel like it takes an eternity to repent of our sins and gain God's acceptance, it is not God who is slow, it is us. He will forgive us far faster than we will forgive ourselves.

Mosiah 27:28

Nevertheless, after wading through much tribulation, repenting nigh unto death, the Lord in mercy hath seen fit to snatch me out of an everlasting burning, and I am born of God.

"Everlasting" does not mean that the burning guilt has no end, but rather, it is God's burning, for "Everlasting" is one of his names. Guilt, like pain, is a good thing when it tells us that something is wrong and needs to be tended to. The world wants to feed us painkillers that simply mask the symptom (sometimes called "searing our consciences"). But Christ offers more than mere relief. He offers healing. He offers to make us like new again.

Jacob 6:8-9

Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you? Know ye not that if ye will do these things, that the power of the redemption and the resurrection, which is in Christ, will bring you to stand with shame and awful guilt before the bar of God?

What will cause us shame and guilt before God? The verse explains the conditions under which we will be condemned. It lists rejection of God, denying the Holy Ghost, quenching the Spirit, and mocking the atonement. These are acts of open and willful rebellion, not the mistakes of a good person who gets caught up in temptation and makes mistakes. We do not have to be perfect for the atonement to work in our lives, we just have to be pointed in the right direction, listen the best we can to the Spirit, keep our hearts humble and willing, and lean on Christ in faith. It's not as hard as we sometimes make it out to be.

Second Nephi 9:46

Prepare your souls for that glorious day when justice shall be administered unto the righteous, even the day of judgment, that ye may not shrink with awful fear; that ye may not remember your awful guilt in perfectness, and be constrained to exclaim: Holy, holy are thy judgments, O Lord God Almighty—but I know my guilt; I transgressed thy law, and my transgressions are mine; and the devil hath obtained me, that I am a prey to his awful misery.

Though we may be constrained to remember our sins in mortality, Christ, by the atonement, can remove the memory of them from our minds in the day of judgment if we have fully repented. Just as the Lord promises to remember our sins no more, we will not have to be haunted by them either. We need the memories in mortality so we learn lessons and can teach others. But when those memories have served their purpose, the savior will remove them from us. It is one of the tender mercies of the atonement.

Second Nephi 9:40

O, my beloved brethren, give ear to my words. Remember the greatness of the Holy One of Israel. Do not say that I have spoken hard things against you; for if ye do, ye will revile against the truth; for I have spoken the words of your Maker. I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken.

The guilty take the truth to be hard. Unless the light of Christ is extinguished, they know they are wrong, and when their transgressions are pointed out to them, they become doubly uncomfortable.

Guilt is like pain to our spirits. It warns us of danger. It motivates us to stop doing the thing that causes the pain. If we put our hand on a hot stove, we do not debate the philosophy of heat; we move our hand. Yet how many times do we debate the morality of our sins, which are hurting us, instead of  stopping the harmful behavior. Would we justify burning our hand because it is such a small part of our total body mass? Or because we can take a painkiller and forget about it? Or because we figure it will heal eventually, so there is no permanent damage? Or because everyone else is doing it? Do we ignore the warning indicator that says the cook top is hot, with the attitude that no silly red light is going to stop us from doing what we want? The natural man goes to great lengths to protect the physical body but cares not at all for the spirit within it.

When we hear someone say they have heard enough talks and lessons about the word of wisdom or chastity or tithing or Sabbath observance, it is likely that they are taking the truth to be hard because it is sharpening their guilt.

The righteous, on the other hand, or at least those who strive for righteousness, love to hear the truths of the gospel taught, discussed and reiterated. They are validated by the truth, rather than convicted by it. They grow in their desire for righteousness. They feast on the truth and drink it in like a thirsty person.