edgemontscripturestudy.comedgemontscripturestudy.com/EASTER/Easter 2016/4BoM… · Web viewI pray that as we talk about these things and as we relate them to the scriptures in the

Transcript of John Welch’s Classes on Book of Mormon (Fourth Series contd.). Sept 2016 to Dec 2016

4 BoM 2 Doctrine in Book of Mormon-The Atonement–– 161110

(Class welcome and announcements)

(J. Welch) Today what we are talking about is the atonement which, of course, is very closely related to the Plan of Salvation and thanks to Brother Cranney for his prayer inviting the Spirit to be with us that we can understand this most sacred and most important doctrine. I pray that as we talk about these things and as we relate them to the scriptures in the Book of Mormon it will call to your mind many things that you have heard probably before, but I hope that it will be maybe clearer or more purposeful or more relevant to your situation in your life today just because the Spirit will help you to understand it in a way that maybe you had not quite applied it before.

You have a chart in the handout today and we thank Rita again for pulling these things together. As you can tell from the chart just at a glance, there is a lot here in the Book of Mormon to teach us about the atonement and so we will want to turn to that in just a minute or two. But thank you Rita for that.

Some people have asked me to say just a little bit about where I was, why I was playing hooky last week. I was down in Los Angeles with the John A. Widtsoe Foundation’s conference on Sacred Space and Sacred Threads. We streamed that live; it went to thousands of people life in more than a dozen countries. We had thirty academic speakers and about a dozen different religions represented. Two days of wonderful time together talking about what does it mean in your religion to have something that is sacred, especially a place that is sacred and what makes it in your religion a sacred place. We did not talk a lot about our temples; [but] we were able to say a few things. No one had a chance to really explain everything about it, but what we shared was a general wide-spread consensus that for all of these religions, having sacred space and clothing that help you carry that sacred mantle with you was something that everyone universally embraced. We understood that we all have our own way of doing things, but we came to be able to talk with each other about things that we do not often talk about sometimes because they are too sacred or too personal. And I would not say we were open more than we should have been. There were lots of people making personal statements and occasionally a confession or two about how they had not appreciated or understood the views of other religions and maybe had dismissed some of the way other people do things a little quickly. And so there was a lot of really interesting and healthy interfaith dialogue.

00:03:32 One thing that I emphasized is that with the secular world becoming increasingly secular, we might say, more and more wicked, the antipathy of most people in the world is shifting away from sacred things. There are even court cases that are coming through the state and federal court systems trying to decide how far should we go out of our way as a nation or as a state to protect sacred spaces, say for Native Americans, when that competes with other interests. Typically, sacred space is the loser in these struggles and battles.

4BoM2 Doctrine in the Book of Mormon—The Atonement 10 November 2016 File # 161110 T1


One of the main things that I think contributes to the loss of law suits in these cases is the inability of those who claim that these are sacred spaces, to really demonstrate how much it means to them, that they have used these spaces consistently and value them highly. It is one thing to just say this is a cultural, traditional spot that somebody once thought was sacred, but should it today be protected? When asking a governmental agency to protect it if we are talking about a sacred space on public land, you are actually asking the government to step out of its normal comfort zone by protecting a particular religion which some judges have said actually constitutes the establishment of religion which, of course, government is prohibited from doing under the Constitution. So there is some delicate balancing and legal arguments that have gone on in these cases but if we want to keep our sacred spaces protected and sacred, Elder Oaks has talked a lot about freedom of religion these days and how we are under challenge. What can we do about that? I think one thing we can do is really keep our sacred spaces holy and use them properly and make it open and clear that we are not hiding this candle under a bushel and that we designate these spaces publically as sacred spaces so that they will be known and understood. That increases, I think, our investment not only in that sacred space but in the social fabric of the country to where everyone cannot always have everything they want but those who demonstrate real good uses for that have a much better chance. Do you follow what I am saying? But we all agreed among ourselves, I think, that [regarding] our sacred spaces, it is kind of a use it or lose it policy, and if you do not use it, well, there are others around waiting to invade on that territory.

00:07:05 Another thing some of you came yesterday to hear Margaret Barker and I appreciate you coming. She was the keynote speaker down in Los Angeles and I brought her here on her way home to London, she is actually up in Logan today, but for those of you who were there, I actually dismissed you and said you do not have to come tonight, but some of you are here doing double duty so you get extra credit. But Margaret Barker is a name that we have mentioned a few times in this class over the years, and her paper yesterday was about, again, a very holy subject. She wanted to talk here about the way she understands the ancient temple helping people to become holier and not just saints in a generic sense, but what she talked about was the process of what scholars of religion talk about as Theosis or becoming like Theos, like God or deification where you become a divine person through things that were given to people in the temple, especially in the temple in Israel. So her talk will be on the web before too long so if you want to listen to it you can.

Let me just summarize maybe what I think one of the takeaway points was from her talk yesterday, and that is that most people when you ask them, What do you think they did in the temple in Jerusalem, the temple of Solomon or the temple of Herod? We mostly think of it as a place of sacrifice, a place where animals were sacrificed, blood sacrifices, grain offerings, but it was a place where people brought their sacrifices and this was under the Law of Moses kind of the essence of what was going on in the temple. Well what Margaret has shown is that there was really something much more important going on there and that sacrifice, the Law of Sacrifice



was only the first of a series of steps that would help you to enter into the presence of God and to become one with him. And when you are one with God, it makes you a Son of God or Children of God and this is what the scriptures are talking about as in Jesus’ prayer which is sometimes called the High Priestly Prayer in John 17 where he prayed that all of his disciples would be one with him, one with each other, and all who believe on their word would become one with them as well.

00:10:08 She pointed out something very interesting, and that is in Genesis chapter 1, it does not talk about the first day. It says on day one. Now we might think well what else could day one be except for the first day? But it then goes on; it does not say on day two. It does not say on day three. It says on the third day, on the fourth day. When you have second, third, fourth and so on, those are sequential numbers which assume that there is a sequence involved. Well when you start with day one, you do not yet have a cardinal system; all you have is that one. It is indivisible; it is a unity. Once you have two, now you have one and two, but when the world began on Day One, everything was unified; it was a oneness with God. We were there as Dr. Barker has determined from her analysis of especially Old Testament texts, and some readings of Old Testament passages that have been lost in translation or in textual changes. But all of this resonates closely not only with John 17, but what we have in 3rd Nephi chapter 19 and we have talked about that recently. She had much to say about texts that help us to understand what it means to be one with God.

So I am happy to mention that because tonight we are going to be talking about atonement. And what does atonement have to do with oneness? Well the root of that word at-one-ment gives us a clue that what we are talking about is becoming one – unified. Somehow our relationship with God has become damaged or broken; because of our sin, we have offended him, we need to reconcile, we need to be reunified and brought back into his presence. So where we are on this journey right now of our spiritual life and spiritual development is we are in dire need of being reunited again with God. So I think what Dr. Barker had to say about oneness with God leads in nicely to what we are going to talk about tonight with the atonement of Jesus Christ.

00:13:21 Okay, now, you have some questions that I sent out and they are on the list there. Let us just begin by going down a few of these and seeing where the discussion leads us. I did not ask this question but I thought maybe I should, how many of you have a favorite book, a church book that talks about the atonement? Which books have you read that you think that is really a wonderful book? Myrtle?

(Myrtle) Believing Christ.

Steven Robinson, okay. Believing Christ. Yes. And this is the one that has the parable of the bicycle which is one of many different kinds of parables or allegory stories that we use to try to help us understand a part of the atonement. None of those stories, of course, are complete. The



only thing that us perfect and complete is the atonement itself, but we do use those stories that help us in many ways. Jason, how about your book?

(comment) Infinite Atonement by Tad Callister

Infinite Atonement and just goes, like a lawyer, Elder Tad Callister is a lawyer, and he and Elder Oaks get along really well. But it is like a brief is it not? I mean it is just one detail parsing the words, using the scriptures especially. How many of you heard Elder Callister’s devotional on Tuesday on the Book of Mormon? So once again one of the reasons, of course, he likes the Book of Mormon so much is because it teaches us so much about the atonement. But where does he get the phrase infinite atonement from? Where does that title come from? Book of Mormon. Where? So infinite atonement, we think of that usually as coming from Amulek in Alma chapter 34 because he talks for four or five verses about how it must be an infinite atonement in lots of different ways and how it could not just be the one man could not offer his own life and blood for someone else, that does not work, so it has to be something more than just a human sacrifice of some kind. But where did Amulek learn that phrase? Alma never uses it that we know of but my guess is Alma taught it to him but then the question is where did Alma learn it from? And it comes from Lehi. Well sort of Lehi, but through Jacob. It is Jacob in 2 Nephi chapter 9 who also talks about the atonement in terms of its infinite qualities. It is infinite in so many ways and that is one of the things, as you read these scriptures you have to ask, in what way is Amulek talking about the atonement as infinite? And Amulek, I think, why would he be so moved to talk about the infinite nature of the atonement? What had he lived through himself in Ammonihah? He had seen women and children, probably his own, being burned. The loss is horrible, total and knowing that all of that had to be brought back through the atonement for him there was just no end to what the atonement could do.

00:17:54 When Jacob he talks about it he is more connected with the word eternal. It is infinite in the sense that it is infinite in time. Others will talk about it being infinite for all people and all nations. So there are different ways in which it is eternal and Elder Callister’s book goes through and marshals all of that good explanation. Yes.

(comment) And I think there is a very important meaning to the word infinite here which is not just about the scope of it, it means – to me it means the atonement is accomplished by God. As Abinadi says, God himself will come into the world; it cannot be, and I think Amulek is saying this too, another human being cannot do this; it must be God coming into the world to perform the atonement.

That is very good. The word unending or eternal or infinite – without end, literally, is one of the qualities that only God possesses at this point in all of its fullness so saying as we will see in the Book of Mormon often it talks about the atonement of or the great plan of the Eternal Father or of God himself. This is in 1st Nephi 11, I beheld the Lamb of God, the Son of the Everlasting



God, that he was slain for the sins of the world. The Everlasting God, that is the infinite Eternal God you are talking about. Other books that come to mind?

(comment) On our speeches site there is one talk particularly, it is kind of a – I guess you could call it a mini-book, that has taken 20% of all of our – for the last three years that is called His Grace is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox. I am sure he has probably written a book on it too, but it is one that has hit a lot of people’s hearts.

Right, and what I would like to try to emphasize here tonight a little bit is that there are lots of books and lots of approaches and Brad Wilcox emphasizing grace is certainly an absolutely essential part of our understanding the atonement, but you know if Jesus gives you a bicycle, it does not do you any good if you do not get on it and ride it. You have to do something with that bicycle. So all of these analogies focus on one thing, but it is not the whole picture. So the title itself, and I have talked to Brother Wilcox about this a bit, and he agrees with me, Well I just have to emphasize that because people are not thinking of that one enough. Okay, think about that part enough, but not to the exclusion of other things. Okay? Patty? How many of you have read Bruce Hafen’s series on the Broken Heart on the atonement, another good, really good study?

(comment) This is not a book. This is a memory of when I was a little girl and I just said the prayer. We all knelt around the table and I had always been told that God could hear my prayer, and I wondered about other people saying prayers at the same time, and my mother said, “He can understand many prayers, all the prayers that are coming to him as fast as they come and in all different languages because his mind is infinite.” So this gave me – has given me through the years a view of the word infinite not just lasting forever but a breadth or whatever you can take from that.

Excellent, well, and in terms of the power of the atonement, its breadth as well. We have, of course, as we have said many times in this class, we have a hard time understanding something that is infinite. Why? Because we are finite. Our minds can only think one thing at a time. We have our limitations. But mathematicians tell us that there are dimensions. We think that there are only three dimensions and maybe four if there is time as a fourth dimension, but mathematicians tell us that out there are dimensions of reality that mathematics can prove must exist but we cannot access them. A way maybe to understand that is if you did not have a compass or something to measure magnetism with, you would not know that magnetism exists because you cannot sense magnetism with your body. So that is a dimension, that is a reality that is simply beyond our limited finite abilities to understand. So I think it is faith promoting and I think it is helpful to our spirituality to realize how many dimensions there are and that an infinite number of simultaneous consciousnesses is something that God has that someday we will enjoy.



00:24:05 Now the same thing is true with the atonement. It was something that happened once, one time for all, but it was that one – the unity of that one thing that can then reach into all because of its oneness – everything can access into it. And though it has the ability to atone for all problems, all sins, all sicknesses and illnesses and afflictions, everything caused by the fall of Adam, that sort of power is, as you are saying Patty, it is infinite in ways that – like God being able to understand us and hear us all, he can also attend to all of our needs and the atonement is that power to make that happen.

Let us come back to our question. Question number 1. Whose idea was it to propose and adopt the plan of atonement? Anybody look into that? First of all, is the question a good question? Wayne, you do not think it is a good question? Good. Tell me where the problems are in phrasing the question this way.

(Wayne) From our limited understanding, the plan is the Father’s plan.

Okay, so the Father proposed it, is that right?

(Wayne) I would say so, yes.

Was it a proposal? Or was it –

(Wayne) Good question.

Are we thinking of this a little too democratically? Here we are in the preexistence and somebody says, well what are we going to do down there and there are going to be some problems, well here is a proposal on how we could solve it. Let us all vote on it and – why is that not what happened? There was something necessary about it and it was not like even God could just optionally say well let us try it this way. The Book of Mormon tells us that things had to be done in a certain way in order for both justice and mercy and the whole plan to work. So when I say, who proposed it? In what sense was it proposed? Well first of all, was it proposed to Jesus? He offered, did he not? Here am I, of course Satan offered himself too but he was not sent. So in a sense, it was proposed as something – it was offered to us, as something that we could accept.

(comment) To get back to your question, I think the Book of Mormon teaches and all the scriptures teach that the atonement was from the foundation of creation which to me means that the atonement is, in a certain sense, built into creation and so in the sense that it could be proposed, it was something that was called to our attention because it seems to me that the teaching is that creation itself was not possible without the atonement being built into creation.

00:27:45 I like that and of course the whole plan of the creation from the beginning was understood by the Father and then implemented by Christ under instructions from the Father, the



two of them being completely one in purpose and in understanding goes back to our discussion a couple of weeks ago about the nature of the Godhead and their relationship and cooperation, and working together with each other. Another comment over here? A couple of them?

I do want to emphasize that some people think that, at least I have heard some people misunderstand, that it was Jesus’ plan. It was really the Father’s plan in the sense that it was embedded in the whole situation, in the whole creation and it is the Eternal Father’s plan and Jesus then was the one who offered himself and said, I will go and I will do these things. Rita?

(Rita) Yes. I think in that the Godhead are all on the same wavelength, it was presented by them not proposed as such and we sustained it.

And by sustaining it, agreed to be bound by it. So not like in church where we can just sustain it and then not do anything about it, right? Alright, well just that, that was the first thought.

And that second one, how did each of the main writers in the Book of Mormon understand the atonement? Was there a development or progression that any of you noticed as you went along through looking at any of these scriptures on the chart or otherwise? To help answer this question, let me point you to an article that was published earlier this year in BYU Studies by Benjamin Spackman called The Israelite Roots of Atonement Terminology. He focuses on three words that have different Hebrew words standing behind them. One is the word atonement and the word for atonement shows up mostly in the Book of Leviticus. It is scattered throughout the Old Testament in other places but the word kaphar which means to cover, the Day of Atonement – Yom Kippur – the Day of Atoning, is usually connected with priestly activity where rituals and sacrifices remove impurity. So we have that strand of the understanding of atonement as it operates in temple ordinances, sacrifice and others. But the word atone or the process of atoning is actually a process of expiation, so it is not a thing so much as it is a process, a wiping clean or a removing of impurity and it is usually, in the Book of Leviticus, involved with blood, the sprinkling of the blood, [and] the shedding of blood. So it is interesting as you go through the Book of Mormon, to look at places where it talks about the atoning blood of Jesus in fact that it is a gerund, a participle. It is active, it is doing things because it is a process of atoning. Then you watch for who is using that dimension of atonement and it often is people who have the greatest interest in temple or priestly functions. Jacob in 2nd Nephi uses atonement a great deal. He was the high priest in the temple of Nephi performing these atoning sacrifices. You also have King Benjamin using it a lot; he talks about how there is only one way, only one name through which we can put off the natural man only through the atoning blood of Christ the Lord. That, of course, was in connection with a ritual covenant renewal and probably something associated with the Day of Atonement. But where did Benjamin speak? At the temple. So again, the temple environment works for why they are emphasizing that aspect of the atonement.



00:33:20 He talks about the word salvation as another one, so we have atonement, salvation. The word for salvation is related to the word for Joshua, Yeshua, Jesus, Hosanna, and the place where the word save – save me occurs the most is in the Psalms. So the request to be rescued, to be saved, save me from my enemies. We see this happening a lot in Old Testament scriptures and when you look at the uses of the word save in the Book of Mormon; it is often personal, save me. It is a petition that salvation will come so that I can be rescued and it will talk about salvation from – what? What are the enemies or the problems that you need to be saved from?

And then the third one is redemption. Actually the word redemption occurs twice as often in the Book of Mormon as the word atonement. And you wonder what is going on with the idea of redemption? In Hebrew the word gaal (gā’al) or redeemer refers to a kinsman, a person who is related to a person who needs to be bought back or redeemed in some way. If you become poor under Leviticus chapter 25 and you have to sell your land that has been given to you as a part of your land of your inheritance under the tribal division of lands in Israel, this is a terrible thing for your family to have to lose that land which God has given to you and your family. So Leviticus 25 says, we will provide a redeemer, a possibility that any person who is a near kinsman, it has to be probably a first or second cousin, it cannot just be anyone in the world, but they can come in and they have a right of redemption to come in and buy that property from whoever bought it. We do not know what price they pay, probably the price that the person who bought it paid, but they have the right to come and redeem that land that otherwise would be lost.

Now Jesus can come and be our redeemer because he is our brother; he is a kinsman and so the Law of Moses has set up yet another way in which we can anticipate and understand this process of atonement, salvation, and redemption. And you will find that in the Book of Mormon some people use the term for redemption and it is almost always used in the context of he will redeem his people. You can just look through it – their Redeemer, knowledge of their Redeemer, believe in the Lord, their Redeemer. He will redeem the sins of his people, redeem his people – over and over again. Jesus himself says to the Brother of Jared, Behold I am Jesus Christ, I will come to redeem my people. So in the Book of Mormon you have the use of the word redemption largely in a relational understanding, that the Redeemer is our personal redeemer and related to us.

The word for salvation – the word for atonement, let us talk about that one – which is the infinite atonement will often be connected with blood and will often in the Book of Mormon be connected with sins to purify and purge the sins. Once again, you follow the linguistic background here that as Hebrew emphasized the power of the atonement to purify and wipe away, the Book of Mormon has also echoed that emphasis in the words.

00:37:57 So in answering this question that I asked you about who uses these words and why, there are differences where some use atone a great deal and others not at all and others use redemption a lot and the context usually helps you to see why they are doing that. It is interesting that Jesus never uses the word atone in 3rd Nephi, it does not say I atoned for things. He does at



one point say that the word should be spread so that all the world will know, all of Israel will know that I am their Redeemer. Again the relationship with all of Israel and the covenant using that term the way it should be. I hope that that again helps you to see just as we were saying with all the different stories, different analogies to the atonement, there are different words that help us to see its dimensions and uses.

Number 3, what does our Latter-day Saint understanding of the atonement owe to the Book of Mormon? How might you go about answering that question? Well you might take a concise statement of the atonement such as the article in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism written by Bruce Hafen, did Bruce write that one or Jeff Holland? I think Jeff Holland wrote that one. Elder Jeffrey Holland, excuse me, (but he was not back then.) But it is a nice article. (http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Atonement_of_Jesus_Christ ) By the way, I Googled atonement – did any of you do that? Just Google Atonement of Jesus Christ and you know what? We own that subject. The first ten things that came up were all, Encyclopedia of Mormonism, LDS.org, one after another, and even the core document on doctrines that we are going through popped right up. Other religions do not talk about the atonement of Jesus Christ the way we do.

How many times is the word atonement used in the New Testament? Once. One time. Of course it does talk about covering and expiation, there are some highfalutin' Shakespearean words that get used, but atonement as such is not a dominant presence in the New Testament. So why do we own this topic? Why is it so important to us? When I asked you the question, What do we owe as Latter-day Saints to the Book of Mormon for our understanding of atonement? I think a lot. I think this is where we understand. Of course the Book of Mormon takes all those Old Testament passages that are so cryptic and hard to understand and seem so irrelevant and foreign to us, and they make them all living and bridge from the old through the new and especially through Jesus’ teachings himself about what he has done and who he declares from the heavens who he is and what he has done.

00:41:37 So how might you then, to back up to where we were, you might take that article in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, you might take this statement, this doctrinal statement which is part of the core Doctrinal Mastery document. If you have not found it on LDS.org, I hope you find it there, (https://www.lds.org/manual/doctrinal-mastery-core-document?lang=eng) but here are just three pages on the atonement of Jesus Christ, and you could just read every line here and ask, Do we learn this from the Book of Mormon? How about this first line: Jesus Christ was foreordained in the pre-mortal council to be our Savior and Redeemer. Book of Mormon? You bet. Where? Alma 13 and other places. It talks about the atonement which was prepared from before the foundation of the world – that is certainly clearer in the Book of Mormon than other places. He came to earth. Do we know that Jesus came to earth from the Book of Mormon? How about 3rd Nephi chapter 1, On the morrow come I into the world. And his own statements in 3rd Nephi about how he came unto his own, clearer and definite there.


https://www.lds.org/manual/doctrinal-mastery-core-document?lang=eng

http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Atonement_of_Jesus_Christ


(comment) It is also in the first chapter of the Book of Mormon.

Lehi’s vision. He saw it coming. He willingly suffered and died to redeem all mankind from the negative effects of the fall. Samuel the Lamanite teaches that – all mankind. You know it does not say that the atonement will automatically save all mankind from their own personal sins. Who taught that doctrine? Nehor. So if you look at where it talks about the effects of the atonement applying to all mankind, it is only a few places but it is very carefully stated so that it overcomes death. That is the universal dimension of the atonement and how do we know that? The Book of Mormon tells us so. And it is in Mormon chapter 9 when Moroni at the very end is talking about how the Book of Mormon will come to let everyone know that Jesus died and through the resurrection all mankind will benefit from the atonement, but again it is the resurrection – that part of the universal dimension where all mankind will benefit, okay?

So once again, if you take these little statements, these statements have been very carefully drafted and they have been written by people who know these scriptures and are weaving them all together in a beautifully concise [statement] – it is dense – that you could annotate each one of these phrases and I think it would be a wonderful exercise. I have done it for the first paragraph and looked on through and there is a lot more to be done. So let me encourage you if you want to have a good study guide. This is given to us as a way that we can master this doctrine and then appreciate where this is coming from.

00:45:07 I gave a fireside a couple of weeks ago where I asked all the Young Single Adults who were there, is the Book of Mormon your answer? And then I asked a lot of questions, questions they are asking, questions you are asking and tried to show that in every case, if you have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, the Book of Mormon will be your answer to all those problems, all those questions. The Book of Mormon tells us so much but of all things, the Book of Mormon tells us the mysteries of the atonement and it is so beautifully stated – clearly stated and as you go through the Book of Mormon, if you are not paying attention closely you sort of get scrambled or it sounds a little different, but the precision with which the phrases are used and the contexts in which they are used only reinforces in my mind the testimony that these scriptures were written by people – prophets who knew these doctrines and had been taught in visions by the Lord himself and understood this so clearly. Well if the Book of Mormon does nothing for the world – we talk about it as being another testament of Jesus Christ and of course it is a testament in many ways of Jesus Christ, but above all, is it not a testament of the atonement of Jesus Christ and how that all happens?

Number 4, why do we turn so often to analogies and symbols? Why do we have to do this? How many analogies and stories and so on do we find ourselves using? How about in the scriptures? Jesus himself used an analogy, like a hen, I would gather you as a hen would gather her chicks. That is an analogy. Jesus is not a bird, but he is saying if you think of how that bird, that mother



bird would bring her chicks and – but you know the chicks have to be willing to come. She flaps her wings and they come running, but if they do not come unto the hen, she cannot protect them. That is an analogy but it helps you if you think about it to say, oh there is something here that teaches me about what I need to do in order to make the atonement effective for me.

00:47:56 What other kinds of stories do we tell? How about the story of the Good Samaritan? That is a story that helps us understand how the Good Samaritan who symbolizes Jesus will rescue those who are in need and who would die and perish if it were not for the salvation, the rescuing of him. How about the story, He Took My Lickin’ for Me. Remember that story? Does that story tell everything about the atonement? No. It just emphasizes that Christ was willing to sacrifice something – that one part of the atonement gets emphasized and beautifully impressed upon our minds to understand the reality of that but it does not say anything about the role of the Father or the eternal nature of that. He took the lickin’ for me as if he did not have any obligation to do this, he had never promised that he would come down and do this sort of thing. Or [if] from the back of the courtroom somebody says, Here, I will go to jail for him. That is an analogy. Does that work in our courtroom? Can somebody stand up in our courtroom? Brother Buckley? Could somebody else just come in and say, you know, my brother just robbed a bank but I would rather go to jail than him, so let me take his place. It does not work, does it? But it is an analogy that helps us to realize that he actually is going to suffer in a way because he did do that and that will help us to appreciate it. But we have to take it out of the realm of reality and move it into an analogy. And these are used in the scriptures a lot. Like the brazen serpent; that is an analogy of the atonement and what is it there to teach us? We have to do something, at least look up to it if we want it to heal us.

Okay, let us come back to maybe a final question or two and what must we do to make the atonement fully effective in our lives: repent, come unto Christ, have faith. [Does the ] Book of Mormon teach us that? Absolutely, probably more again than anywhere else, and guides us through the process of what it means to repent. We will talk about that in another session later.

00:50:54 What does at-one-ment have to do with oneness? We have talked a little bit about that but I would like to just end with a couple of thoughts here. One is we often think of the atonement as fixing things that are broken, right? We have messed up our lives and we need the Savior to put us back together again, and the atonement will do that. It will fix things that are broken, but more than just fixing things that are broken, I think the atonement has a power to permanently make us one as we began talking about this evening. It is that we are more separated or individual and we need to be brought together. Yes, we have to be fixed for all of our brokenness. But even if we were all individually fixed for our brokenness and stayed individuals, we would not be one. We would not be one with God, we would not be one with each other, and I think it is the atonement that takes us that further step to make us really one. The power of the atonement has power to unify and make our covenants binding, not only in this world but in the world to come.



In the temple we use signs and tokens, some of them dealing with the atonement and when you think about marriage – eternal marriage, what is it that binds us together? It has to do with two people coming to the altar and kneeling at the altar and then being made one through eternal powers that unify that husband and wife. And that is the power of the atonement operating in our marriages, in our families and making us eternally sons and daughters of God. So what does atonement have to do with oneness? It has everything to do with atonement and oneness.

And finally, can there be love without atonement? Not really. I think that love is the product of the pure love of Christ that really does allow us to be together. Maybe it is the light of Christ, maybe it is the Holy Ghost, but without the atonement, there cannot be the love of Christ. There cannot be God’s love because that is the atoning, unifying vehicle, the means that brings us together in pure Christian love, divine love in Christ.

00:54:30 I would like to end with one other analogy because I think they are powerful. I brought with me here, an old violin. How many of you remember the story of the old violin? Elder Tad Callister’s brother Doug Callister was my Sunday school teacher when I was in high school and he loved to memorize. At the drop of a hat, he would be able to just recite poetry; he loved to do it, and it had a great impact on me although I have not followed up by memorizing as many as he has, so I am going to read this tonight. But I am going to do it in his honor because it has to do with love and it has to do with atonement and I think it says a lot to all of us as we think how we can do a better job of putting the atonement to work in all of our lives:

Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer thought it scarcely worth his whileTo waste much time on the old violin, but he held it up with a smile.

What am I bidden good folks he cried! Who’ll start the bidding for me?A dollar, a dollar, then two – only two? Two dollars, and who’ll make it three?

Three dollars once, three dollars twice, going for three – but no, From the room far back a gray haired man came forward and picked up the bow,

And wiping the dust from the old violin and tightening the loose strings, He played a melody pure and sweet as caroling angels sing.

The music ceased and the auctioneer with a voice that was quiet and low,Said what am I bid for the old violin? And he took it up with the bow.

A thousand dollars! And who will make it two? Two thousand and who’ll make it three?Three Thousand once, three thousand twice, and going and gone said he.



The people cheered. Some of them cried, we do not quite understand What changed its worth? Swift came the reply, the touch of the Master’s hand.

And many a man with life out of tune and battered and scarred with sin Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd much like the old violin.

A mess of pottage, a glass of wine, a game and he travels on. He is going once, and going twice, he’s going and almost gone.

But the master comes and the foolish crowd never quite can understand The worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought by the touch of the master’s hand.

Brothers and sisters I testify to you of the power of the change, the change that not only brings us back from a state of fallen-ness that perfects us and unifies us and does so many things in our lives. Let us count the ways in which we depend upon the atoning power of Jesus Christ. They are infinite and they are true, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Transcriptionist Carol H. JonesEdited by Michael J. Spencer


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edgemontscripturestudy.comedgemontscripturestudy.com/EASTER/Easter 2016/4BoM… · Web viewI pray that as we talk about these things and as we relate them to the scriptures in the