May
15
Atonement, hard to understand?
Filed Under Atonement, Faith, Gordon B. Hinckley, Gospel, Prophets, Talks | 3 Comments
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I don’t feel as though I completely understand the Atonement. Don’t get me wrong, I get the jist of it - but I feel like I’m missing pieces of it.
I looked up the Atonement under Gospel Topics on lds.org. There is a brief description of the atonement and some addtional links for other information. I chose to look at Church Magazine Articles to see if there were some talks out there that might help me understand it in a more plain fashion.
Reading that the Atonement is “the most difficult to understand”1, or “it is impossible for me to put into words the full meaning”2 of the Atonement is not exactly what I needed to see. I need it easy!
But I figure I’m going to have to read a lot, if I want to get to a better understanding of it. We can start with the basics of it and what it does for us.
The Bible Dictionary states “Atone describes the setting “at one” of those who have been estranged, and denotes the reconciliation of man to God. Sin is the cause of the estrangement, and therefore the purpose of atonement is to correct or overcome the consequences of sin.”3
If you look it up through Gospel Topics, it says this “As used in the scriptures, to atone is to suffer the penalty for sins, thereby removing the effects of sin from the repentant sinner and allowing him or her to be reconciled to God. Jesus Christ was the only one capable of carrying out the Atonement for all mankind. Because of His Atonement, all people will be resurrected, and those who obey His gospel will receive the gift of eternal life with God.”4
In essence, Jesus is our rescuer, and he stands in our place. He was the only one capable. Because He was born of a mortal mother [could die] and of an imortal Father [overcome death]. 5
I’m still missing something though and I think it has to do with sin and the effects there of. What I mean is, if we commit sin that removes us from God - the opposite of atone [at one]. As a mortal we can only do so much, repent and obey. To complete the process [what we can't do] Jesus atoned for us, enabling us to return [at one] to God. It’s our choice.
Gordon B. Hinckley explained it like this
“a one room school house in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough no teacher had been able to handle them.
“Then one day an inexperienced young teacher applied. He was told that every teacher had received an awful beating, but the teacher accepted the risk. The first day of school the teacher asked the boys to establish their own rules and the penalty for breaking the rules. The class came up with 10 rules, which were written on the blackboard. Then the teacher asked, ‘What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’
“ ‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response.
“A day or so later, … the lunch of a big student, named Tom, was stolen. ‘The thief was located—a little hungry fellow, about ten years old.’
“As Little Jim came up to take his licking, he pleaded to keep his coat on. ‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’
“The boy took off the coat. He had no shirt and revealed a bony little crippled body. As the teacher hesitated with the rod, Big Tom jumped to his feet and volunteered to take the boy’s licking.
“ ‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’ the teacher asked.
“After five strokes across Tom’s back, the rod broke. The class was sobbing. ‘Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. “Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!” ’6
In this parable, I would hazard a guess that in the great counsel in heaven we all agreed on the rules. God is the teacher, we are Little Jim and Jesus is Tom. Jesus stepped in for us because as a mortal we can not bear the punishment alone.
I once asked a Stake President to help me understand the Atonement, and he went about it in an even simpler method taking his garbage can and putting it to the edge of his desk. Then telling me the items on his desk were our sins, wiped them into the garbage can. Back then I didn’t quite grasp that concept, I over thought it, but it makes sense. I can not forgive myself and be worthy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven - Jesus has got to help. He can take those red stains of sin and turn them white 7.
I understand now more so about why they counsel that it is hard to understand or to put into words the concept of the Atonement. There is a lot of pieces that are not known to me, suffice it to say that you keep digging deeper to learn as much as you can about it.
James E. Faust understood what was meant in Mosiah 4:6-7 when he said “Our salvation depends on believing in and accepting the Atonement.”
I’ll end this by saying that, I am not a LDS scholar, nor do I consider myself all that smart with the LDS Gospel. I’m trying to learn as much as I can, and so there may be errors in my thoughts. I’m not trying to pass anything off as official, but making sense of what I don’t understand. If you feel there are errors here, please let me know.
- James E. Faust -The Atonement: Our Greatest Hope ↩
- Elder M. Russell Ballard - The Atonement and the Value of One Soul ↩
- Bible Dictionary - Atonement ↩
- Gospel Topic - Atonement of Jesus Christ ↩
- Gospel Topic - Atonement of Jesus Christ; Additional Information ↩
- Pres. Hinckley: Christmas a Result of Redeeming Christ,” Church News, 10 Dec. 1994, 4 ↩
- Isaiah 1:18 ↩
May
13
Debt, it’s crushing force
Filed Under Debt, Faith, Gordon B. Hinckley, Prophets, Spencer W. Kimball, Talks | 1 Comment
In an effort to heed the Prophet’s counsel, we’ve [my house] have been trying to pay off our debts as fast as possible. It’s tough, we allowed ourselves to get a bit over our heads. But we are making progress, and it is tough.
In October 1998 conference, Gordon B. Hinckley suggested “that the time has come to get our houses in order”. Prophetic to say the least, look at the country now (and the world). Financial woes abound, uncertainy prevelant.
I was looking at a graph, and it shows a pretty good increase since 1980 in the number of bankruptcies. I know you could say there’s an increase in numbers of people, and what about the drop at the end (they changed the laws), but look at the bigger picture there, the yellow mark - that indicates the percent paid towards debt. Bankrupt or not, more money is being paid to debt each year.
The article that I am quoting from [Climbing Out of Debt] gives some very good steps, that my family is now trying to implement. So let’s go over them!
1 Paying an honest tithing. Each month we always pay our tithing first. If we are to get out of debt, we really do need the Lord to “open … the windows of heaven, and pour [us] out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Mal. 3:10).
Often our financial efforts are hampered by misfortune that devours our resources, such as unexpected car and household repairs, illness, and so forth. The Lord promises that He “will rebuke the devourer for [our] sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of [our] ground” (Mal. 3:11). When we pay our tithes, the Lord can bless us so that our unexpected challenges are minimized and so that we are better able to manage the resources we have.
I’m not sure how LDS members miss this one, I can testify that my family would have been in dire straights numerous times if we weren’t paying our tithing. I have a great testimony in this because of those miracles. There have been veryt spectacular times where we needed money in an emergency and all the sudden the money is there to use!
2 Paying a generous fast offering. When I was in college, President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) taught that the Lord would bless Church members if they were able to double their fast offerings. We thus made it a point, even while students, to pay more than the cost of our meals as a fast offering. As our means have increased, we have increased our offerings, and the Lord has abundantly blessed us.
We try to add extra into Fast Offerings each month, though I think we can spare more to add to this for us, but again - what I have isn’t mine. My earning potential, the pay I do earn, these things all came from the Lord!
3 Giving time, talent, and energy toward building the kingdom of God. We have learned that when we are busy in the Lord’s work, losing ourselves in serving others, we have less time to worry about the things we don’t have. Material possessions are seen in the proper perspective.
For example, service greatly minimizes the time we spend watching television, thus limiting the advertisements or shows we view that would make us feel bad about the material things we don’t have. Decreasing our wants makes it easier to avoid debt.
I’ll admit, I can get a bit gruff about helping others. But in my house, we’re always either doing a project around our house or with one our extended families houses. By the end of the day though, I’ll always admit at how good I feel about what I accomplished for our family or someone else’s.
4 Following principles of self-reliance. Producing food in our garden and striving to purchase on-sale items for food storage have allowed us to save greatly on food expenses. This has not only helped us to be more self-reliant, but also allowed us to apply the money we saved toward debt elimination.
PROPHETIC, say it with me. Look around, look at what’s happening. I know, you can’t always grow everything you need in a garden, but we have a small yard and have managed to get a nice little garden box in. We grow beans, peas, spinach, tomatoes, etc to help off set some costs. We also try to use the coupons and base our meals in accordance to what’s on sale.
But I also think there is more here then just food and coupons, self reliance is also good around the home, home repairs, etc. What can you fix on your own that can save you money? We’re putting in a small concrete pad next to our single width driveway (winter parking nightmare) but we’re doing everything but mixing the concrete ourselves, there by saving hundreds of dollars. I’m learning what I can from my father in law on home repairs and DYI things around the house too.
5 Cultivating gratitude. Reflecting on the multitude of blessings we enjoy and thanking Heavenly Father for them allows us to focus on that which we have rather than on that which we have not. Recognizing all the blessings we have reduces the desire to acquire material possessions.—Robert and Mary Merrill, East Wenatchee First Ward, Wenatchee Washington Stake.
We try to stick to a template for our family prayers - 10 things we’re grateful for. Like I said before, what I have isn’t mine, the Lord provided and the gratitude belongs to him! We’re still working on the material wants, but we make progress. I’m trying to help my oldest understand that the things he wants, he won’t want in a few years (or months). Currently he is into bionicles, but I’m trying to help him understand that his money might be better spent on a tool [leatherman] instead which would last longer and be more useful in the long run.
This isn’t a burden too great for anyone to overcome. In our house we’ve incorporated fasting to help us to know how to live within our means and guidance on methods to do so. We’ve made progress, and we have the Lord to thank for it.