The Atonement of Jesus Christ: Our Reconciliation with God

Another stellar article written by guest-writer Cody Bosch.

I would like to speak of the wonderful gift to mankind that is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. As Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cleverly phrased it, “Atonement is really three words:At-one-ment, meaning to set at one, one with God; to reconcile, to conciliate, to expiate.”

Elder Packer explains that the component parts of the word each have their own meaning. “At” as in place; “one” person, or God; and “ment” for a dictionary suffix which means to be at a state of condition due to action, or concrete result of action making, “to set” as it were. The atonement reconciles us with God.

“If punishment is the price repentance asks, it comes at bargain price. Consequences, even painful ones, protect us. So simple a thing as a child’s cry of pain when his finger touches fire can teach us that. Except for the pain, the child might be consumed.”

-Boyd K. Packer

Because of the fall of Adam and Eve--the descent of man from God's presence, to a fallen, sinful state--the Atonement was made necessary. The fall resulted in mankind being subject to death, temptation, and sin, conditions that one cannot overcome on their own. In order to reconcile us with God, a higher power needed to intervene.

The atonement was what Jesus Christ achieved in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. He suffered, bled, and died for the sins and pains of the world. When we engage our end of this Atonement by repenting and looking upon Christ, we can be forgiven. Thanks to Christ's triumph over death itself, we are able to live again as resurrected beings in the hereafter.

There are two types of death that humans can experience. These are physical and spiritual death. The atonement allows us to conquer both of these. Spiritual death is separation from God. You can experience this multiple times. This is through sin. When obeying the Lord's commandments and acting righteously, we are entitled to the Lord's presence, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the Light of Christ. When in sin, we forfeit this sacred presence, and must repent to get it back.

“An atonement was made. Ever and always it offers amnesty from transgression and from death if we will but repent. Repentance is the escape clause in it all. Repentance is the key with which we can unlock the prison from inside. We hold that key within our hands, and agency is ours to use it...I readily confess that I would find no peace, neither happiness nor safety, in a world without repentance. I do not know what I should do if there were no way for me to erase my mistakes. The agony would be more than I could bear. It may be otherwise with you, but not with me.”-Boyd K. Packer

Amnesty means an act of authority in forgiving a person or group of people. Every person except Jesus commits sins and transgressions, therefore putting them in need of amnesty and forgiveness. Repentance is the key that unlocks us from our spirit prison.

We All Have Need of the Atonement of Jesus Christ

The following was inspired by LDS Apostle, Boyd K. Packer's October 2012 talk, "The Atonement"

If there is one thing I know about life is that it is not easy. Many a time, life seems cold and indifferent to the suffering of those living it. Any well-experienced person will tell you that life is not with trial, not without pain, and not without struggle. But many of those people will also tell you something else; it's worth it.
Life may give us trouble, but we are not alone in the journey. For a start, we have each other. One of the greatest assets we have been given in this life is our fellow man, whom we can learn from, teach, and give and receive assistance. But more importantly, God has given us what is without a doubt the greatest gift ever given: the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

What is the Atonement?
As mortal human beings, we are imperfect. Try as we might, we are all prone to weakness, and will occasionally slip up, violating the commandments God has given us. But God has said,
"Wherefore teach it unto your children, that all men, everywhere, must repent, or they can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God, for no unclean thing can dwell there, or dwell in his presence." 
(Moses 6:57)
Being imperfect, we naturally are unclean, and therefore cannot dwell with God without repentance. But then comes the tricky part. Being the creations of a benevolent God, who decided to create us, and give us life, we are eternally in His debt. To repent, we must pay the price for our sins to God. But how can we expect to even begin to pay Him back?
But God is merciful. He knew that the predicament of mankind stood in this cosmic catch-22, and He graciously gave us a solution. He would send His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth, to obtain a body, live as we do, teach us on behalf of the Father and share with us the sacred power of God. He would live a perfect life, performing the impossible (for us) task of never sinning in His entire earthly life. And then, the Son of God would take upon Himself all the pains, afflictions, guilt, and sins of all mankind. He would bleed from every pore, be betrayed by those He called friends, be tortured, beaten and spat upon, and finally suffer the agony of death by crucifixion. Three days later, He would rise from the dead and ascend to His Heavenly Father.
In these actions, Jesus Christ performed what is called the "Atonement." Perfect, pure, and sinless He offered Himself as a sacrifice, a payment to God. Thanks to these selfless acts, we are able to repent, by admitting our faults to God, doing all that we can to fix the problem, and begging forgiveness from God and any we have wronged. Then, as we remember the body of Christ, which was broken for us, His blood, which was shed for us, we are able to lay our sins at the feet of Jesus Christ, and be made clean once more. The Lord, in His infinite mercy, gave us a way to become more than we are, to become clean, and able to once more dwell with our Father.
Is the Atonement just for our sins?
The Atonement covers much more than our sins. Looping back to the introduction, life inevitably holds trial. We all have our obstacles to face, and we all have our own unique challenges in life. In the midst of these times, it can be tempting to think that God does not understand, that this trial is just too much, and that our life isn't fair. But thanks to the atonement, this is not the case. The Savior Jesus Christ felt every pain, disappointment, and hardship we have ever felt, and more. He understands.
"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."
(Alma 7:11-12)
Armed with the knowledge of how we feel, of the intricacies and nuances of our circumstances, Jesus Christ will advocate with our Heavenly Father on our behalf come Judgement Day. Our judgement will be completely fair, just, and merciful. Through the Atonement, the Lord offers us all things. ensuring our salvation and exaltation if only we obey His commandments and remember His sacrifice with deep gratitude and humility. We are eternally indebted to God, yet He saw fit to give us the ultimate gift in His Son.

The Principle of Agency in Mormonism's Plan of Salvation

Often lumped together with other similar concepts, such as "free will", agency is a key component of not only Mormonism, but much of Christendom as well. But how does one define it, and what is the understanding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the subject?
A good place to start is to clarify the subtle but important difference between agency and freedom. Simply put, agency is our ability to choose our actions, and freedom describes our capability of carrying out those actions. We need both in order to think and act for ourselves, and they are both essential to our salvation.
Before we came to this earth, we lived with God. We noticed that He had a glorified and perfect body of flesh and blood, whereas we were only spirits. We asked our Father how we might obtain bodies of our own. The Lord taught us of a beautiful plan, whereby we could obtain bodies and be tested according to our personal  righteousness. If we consistently chose right, we would be able to return to live with God once more. But, being human, we are weak, and bound to slip up here and there. So God's plan included the divine help of a Savior, one who could allow us to be cleansed of our sins, and one to advocate with the Father on our behalf. Our elder Brother Jesus Christ, volunteered to perform this holy service for all mankind and to give glory unto God. But one other also volunteered. Lucifer asked to be sent as our savior, but had a different plan from that of the Father. He would have taken away our agency, and thereby give us no choice but to choose right. He claimed he could save everyone with this plan. It sounds tempting. Who doesn't want to be saved, right? Except our earthly life is meant to be a test. What is the point of testing someone if you force them to give all the right answers? It wouldn't be a test at all. Lucifer continued to rebel against God, and was cast out along with his followers, becoming Satan.
 This life is meant to be a time of learning and growing. This life prepares us for the next and allows us to choose between the freedom of righteousness and the bondage of sin. Without a knowledge of true pain and sorrow, we couldn't possibly know of happiness, love, or peace. This is why we need agency and freedom. We must be able to choose and act for ourselves, or we will never progress and become better. Without a choice, there is no law. Without law, there is no sin. Without sin there is no sorrow, and conversely there is no righteousness, happiness, blessings.
Simply put, if we have no choice cannot know true happiness. And we have a simple choice: Satan, evil, and the bondage of sin, or Jesus Christ, good, and the freedom of righteousness. Satan tries to muddy the waters and make the choice seem more complicated than it truly is, using confusion as a devastating weapon. But Jesus Christ will always shine through the darkness, and if we just look for it, we can choose and act upon it, drawing continually nearer. Thus, the wise use of agency can bring us salvation.

The pioneers: people who used their agency in a very bold way.

Jesus Christ: His Matchless Love

Jesus Christ loves you. If you aren't a particularly religious person to begin with, it may seem like an odd notion, but it is true nonetheless. He loves you more than you could possibly comprehend. Think of the person you love the most. It might be a spouse or significant other. It could be a parent, a sibling, a child, or even a close friend. It doesn't take anything away from the deep love you feel for that person, but the love of Jesus Christ, is so much deeper, so much purer, and so much greater than anything we can imagine.
Why does He love us?
Christ know us on a deeply personal level. He and our Heavenly Father know all about us: our motives, our thoughts, our desires, our actions, and everything in between. At the thought of this concept, many of us might make the mistake of thinking He has less reason to love us. After all, we have each and every one of us made one mistake or another in this life, and the thought that someone might know all the intricate details of our misdeeds is terrifying. So why would Jesus, the Son of God, and the most perfect being ever to walk the Earth, put up with such vile sinners for even a second? Surely He could find more worthy subjects than us. But the truth is, even as Christ knows all about our mistakes, our sins, and our misdeeds, He also sees and knows what we may become. He understands the context of our mistakes because He lived them. In the   Garden of Gethsemane, and on the cross in Golgotha, Christ suffered for all the sins and all the pains of mankind. Everyone that has lived, is living, or will live is cleansed through the ultimate self-sacrifice of the perfect, unblemished Son of God, but only if we allow it to.
When we sin, no matter how major our sin is, we have the opportunity and the duty to repent. When we correct the situation, asking forgiveness, and leaving our sins behind, we can then approach our Lord and Savior by praying with an eye single to Him and appreciation of His redeeming sacrifice. When we do this earnestly, He will forgive us.
Jesus Christ loves us so much, that He was willing to sacrifice everything He had--and more--that we might be cleansed from wickedness, and brought to the eternal happiness that comes from a clean conscience, and closeness to the Lord, our God. Because of His sacrifice, we are able to reach our full potential, and rise to the level of that person that Jesus knows we may become. With an eye single to Him, and a sincere love for all we meet, there is no limit to our progression in righteousness, our understanding of the mysteries of God, and  our ability to love in the supreme way that Christ the Lord did.
I leave this with you in His holy name, Jesus Christ--Amen.

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On Mormonism and Christianity: is there a difference?
For an exploration of the nature of the Holy Ghost, click here.
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