The Atonement of Jesus Christ

     The Atonement of Jesus Christ

     So for this weeks post I'm sharing a journal entry I wrote last week for a Book of Mormon class I'm taking at BYU. After each class period we write one of these to reflect on what the professor taught us in class. I am changing the name of my professor to "Jones" to protect his identity. This particular journal entry is about the atonement of Christ. For those of you who don't know, the word "atonement" according to Christian theology is "the reconciliation of God and humankind through Jesus Christ" -google

     The event of the atonement encompasses Christ's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, his crucifixion on the cross, and his resurrection from death. The Book Of Mormon and the Holy Bible teach that this event is the key to God's plan to save his children. 

     Here is my journal entry about it:

            I love learning about the atonement of Jesus Christ, especially around this sacred holiday we call Easter (which we celebrated on Sunday). It is the center of our faith. Everything else we learn about is an appendage to it. It is the key to the plan of salvation. God’s plan would fail without it. In effect it is God’s plan to save his children: The Plan of Salvation.

            Today’s focus text was centered on the famous verses Alma 7:11-12. Jones said that there is a website called scriptures.byu.edu in which BYU religion scholars index all of the scriptures that The Brethren have ever quoted in general conference and their commentary on those passages. Jones found it interesting that this passage about the atonement was hardly ever talked about until the 1980s. At this time Elder Neil L Maxwell started a commentary on it that has over time made it one of the most well known verses in The Book Of Mormon. Jones said that it basically changed the way the church talks about the atonement.

            What the passage teaches is that Jesus can help us because he knows everything we go through. He knows how we feel. He can always comfort us because he can relate. He can have true empathy because he has experienced it all. In Alma’s words to the members in Gideon, “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).

It sounds like he didn’t just pay the penalty justice demands for our sins by suffering pain. It sounds like he also felt what it must feel like to be blind. It sounds like he felt what it feels like to be guilty of sin. It sounds like he felt the crippling temptation that a drug addict feels to give in to their bodily urges. It sounds like he felt the pain a mother feels when she gives birth, as strange as that sounds. It sounds like he went through what it feels like to have cancer and go through chemotherapy, etcetera, and etcetera.

Jones said it’s the same phenomena as when you meet someone from your home state and you automatically have a connection because you have that one thing in common. Jones told us that he had a younger brother that died in a drunk driving accident. He said that when he meets other people who have siblings that died in the same way it genuinely comforts him because he feels like he’s not alone. Isn’t that interesting an “At –One-Ment” is there to help us feel like we’re not alone. It’s there to help us feel like we are “at one” with someone who cares about us. That’s powerful. Whenever I read these verses it reminds me of the song “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers.

“Sometimes in our lives
We all have pain, we all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow

Lean on me when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend, I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on

You just call on me, brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'll understand
We all need somebody to lean on

If there is a load
You have to bear that you can't carry
I'm right up the road, I'll share your load
If you just call me”

Like the Father ran to the prodigal son and embraced him, I know that we can again be “at one” with our Eternal Father through the atonement of Jesus Christ. 

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Garden of Gethsemane

 Hill of Calvary

The Garden Tomb