Capstone Practicum
Atonement
1) “The Atonement
of His Beloved Son enabled both of the Father’s objectives to be fulfilled.
Without the Atonement, there would be no immortality. Without the Atonement,
there would be no return to the presence of the Father and no continuation of
the family beyond the grave.
Because of the Atonement, these
consummate blessings can be realized by each of God’s children who obey His
eternal laws. Through the ages, many of His children have had access to the
blessings of the gospel, but many more have not. Before the foundation of the
world, our Heavenly Father instituted the ordinance of baptism for those who die
without a knowledge of the gospel.
He loves those children too.”
“He also provided a way for them to be part of an eternal family. Every human being who comes to this earth is the
product of generations of parents. We have a natural yearning to connect with
our ancestors. This desire dwells in our hearts, regardless of age.”
Russell M. Nelson – “Generations Linked
in Love” Apr. 2010 General Conference
2) “We do not know, we cannot tell, no mortal mind can conceive
the full import of what Christ did in Gethsemane.”
“We know he sweat great gouts of blood
from every pore as he drained the dregs of that bitter cup his Father had given
him.”
“We know he suffered, both body and
spirit, more than it is possible for man to suffer, except it be unto death.”
“We know that in some way,
incomprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justice,
ransomed penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin, and made mercy
available to those who believe in his holy name.”
“We know that he lay prostrate upon the
ground as the pains and agonies of an infinite burden caused him to tremble and
would that he might not drink the bitter cup.”
“We know that an angel came from the
courts of glory to strengthen him in his ordeal, and we suppose it was mighty
Michael, who foremost fell that mortal man might be.”
Bruce R. McConkie – “The Purifying Power of
Gethsemane” Apr. 1985 General Conference
3) “That pull
upward is far beyond what you would call a desire for self-improvement. When I
felt it, I knew I was being urged to live so far above myself that I could
never do it on my own. President McKay had it right. You feel an urging to rise
above your natural self. What you have felt is an urging from your Heavenly Father
to accept this invitation:”
“O, come
unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness;
and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your
might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his
grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in
Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.”
“And
again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power,
then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of
the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission
of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.” [Moroni 10:32–33]
“That urge to rise above yourself is a
recognition of your need for the Atonement to work in your life, and your need
to be sure that it is working. After all you can do, after all your effort, you
need confidence that the Atonement is working for you and on you.”
Henry B. Eyring – “Come Unto Christ”, Oct. 29, 1989
- BYU Fireside
4) “Before the Crucifixion and afterward, many men have
willingly given their lives in selfless acts of heroism. But none faced what
the Christ endured. Upon Him was the burden of all human transgression, all
human guilt.”
“And hanging in the balance was the
Atonement. Through His willing act, mercy and justice could be reconciled,
eternal law sustained, and that mediation achieved without which mortal man
could not be redeemed.”
“He, by choice, accepted the penalty for
all mankind for the sum total of all wickedness and depravity; for brutality,
immorality, perversion, and corruption; for addiction; for the killings and
torture and terror—for all of it that ever had been or all that ever would be
enacted upon this earth.”
“In choosing, He faced the awesome power
of the evil one who was not confined to flesh nor subject to mortal pain. That
was Gethsemane!”
Boyd K. Packer – “Atonement, Agency, Accountability”
Apr. 1988 General Conference
5) “The Creation required
the Fall. The Fall required the Atonement. The Atonement enabled the purpose of the Creation to be
accomplished. Eternal life, made possible by the Atonement,
is the supreme purpose of the Creation. To phrase that statement in its
negative form, if families were not sealed in holy temples, the whole earth
would be utterly wasted.”
“The purposes of the Creation, the Fall, and the Atonement
all converge on the sacred work done in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. The earth was created and the Church was restored to make
possible the sealing of wife to husband, children to parents, families to
progenitors, worlds without end.”
Russell M. Nelson – “The Atonement” Oct. 1996 General Conference
6) “Thankfully,
Jesus Christ courageously fulfilled this sacrifice in ancient Jerusalem. There
in the quiet isolation of the Garden of Gethsemane, He knelt among the gnarled
olive trees, and in some incredible way that none of us can fully comprehend,
the Savior took upon Himself the sins of the world. Even though His life was
pure and free of sin, He paid the ultimate penalty for sin—yours, mine, and
everyone who has ever lived. His mental, emotional, and spiritual anguish were
so great they caused Him to bleed from every pore (see Luke 22:44; D&C
19:18). And yet Jesus suffered willingly so that we might all have the opportunity to be washed
clean—through having faith in Him, repenting of our sins, being baptized by
proper priesthood authority, receiving the purifying gift of the Holy Ghost by
confirmation, and accepting all other essential ordinances. Without the Atonement of the Lord, none of these blessings would be
available to us, and we could not become worthy and prepared to return to dwell
in the presence of God.”
“The Savior later endured the agony of inquisition, cruel beatings, and
death by crucifixion on the cross at Calvary. Recently, there has been a great
deal of commentary about this, none of which has made clear the singular point
that no one had the power to take the Savior’s life from Him. He gave it as a
ransom for us all. As the Son of God, He had the power to alter the situation.
Yet the scriptures clearly state that He yielded Himself to scourging, humiliation,
suffering, and finally crucifixion because of His great love towards the
children of men.” (see 1 Ne. 19:9–10).
M. Russell Ballard – “The Atonement and the Value of
One Soul” Apr. 2004 General Conference
7) “I
believe that it is instructive to try to imagine what the Atonement required of both the Father and His willing
Son. Three of the challenges the Savior faced were:”
“First, an enormous sense of responsibility, for He realized that except
it be done perfectly, not one of His Father’s children could return to Him.
They would be forever banished from His presence since there would be no way to
repent for broken laws and no unclean thing can exist in the presence of God.
His Father’s plan would have failed, and each spirit child would have been
under the eternal control and torment of Satan.”
“Second, in His absolutely pure mind and heart, He had to personally
feel the consequences of all that mankind would ever encounter, even the most
depraved, despicable sins.”
“Third, He had to endure the vicious attack of Satan’s hordes while physically
and emotionally pressed to the limit. Then, for reasons we do not fully know,
while at the extremity of His capacity, at the time the Savior most needed
succor, His Father allowed Him to shoulder the onerous responsibility with only
His own strength and capacity.”
“I try to imagine what an intensely poignant moment it must have been
for our Father in Heaven when the Savior cried out from the cross, “My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me?”” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34)
Richard G. Scott – “He Lives! All Glory to His Name!” Apr. 2010 General Conference
8) “Not only does the Atonement of Jesus
Christ overcome the effects of the Fall of Adam and make possible the remission
of our individual sins and transgressions, but His Atonement also enables us to
do good and become better in ways that stretch far beyond our mortal
capacities.
Most of us know
that when we do things wrong and need help to overcome the effects of sin in
our lives, the Savior has made it possible for us to become clean through His
redeeming power.
But do we also understand
that the Atonement is for faithful men and women who are obedient, worthy, and
conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully?
I wonder if we fail to fully acknowledge this strengthening aspect of the
Atonement in our lives and mistakenly believe we must carry our load all
alone—through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline and with our obviously
limited capacities.”
“It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ
came to the earth to die for us. But we also need to appreciate that the
Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to enliven
us—not only to guide but also to strengthen and heal us.”
David
A. Bednar – “Bear Up Their Burdens With Ease” Apr. 2014 General Conference
9) “In the last moments
upon the cross Jesus asked His Father a very simple question: “Why hast thou
forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46) Are there times in our lives when we think that we
have been forsaken by God, or by our fellow men, or by our families? That is
the moment when we have to turn our thoughts back to Christ and endure to the
end. We know there is a great purpose in Christ’s suffering because this was an
act of free agency. Jesus could have called upon legions of angels to bring Him
down from the cross, but He did not. He endured to the end that we would have
the benefits of the atoning sacrifice; that mercy could be brought into the
world; that justice would be satisfied; that we might be resurrected; and that
we might be able to earn, through our obedience, eternal life in the presence
of God the Father and Jesus Christ.”
Robert D. Hales – “Lessons from the Atonement that
Help Us to Endure to the End” Oct. 1985 General Conference
10) “It was through reading
the scriptures, and listening, that I could understand, at least in part, the
power of the Atonement. Can you imagine how I felt
when finally I could see that if I followed whatever conditions the Redeemer
had set, I need never endure the agony of being spiritually unclean? Imagine the consoling, liberating, exalting
feeling that will come to you when you see the reality of the Atonement and the practical everyday value of it to you
individually.”
“You need not know everything before the power of the Atonement will work for you. Have faith in Christ; it
begins to work the day you ask! The scripture speaks of “obedience to the laws
and ordinances of the Gospel.” We
all pretty well know what it means to obey laws. But how are we to obey
ordinances?”
“Generally we understand that, conditioned upon repentance, the
ordinance of baptism washes our sins away. Some wonder if they were baptized
too soon. If only they could be baptized now and have a clean start. But that
is not necessary! Through the ordinance of the sacrament, you renew the
covenants made at baptism. When you meet all of the conditions of repentance,
however difficult, you may be forgiven and your transgressions will trouble
your mind no more.”
Boyd K. Packer – “Washed Clean” Apr.
1997 General Conference
Atonement
Oh, how I love my Savior who died
on the cross for me!
I couldn’t go home without Him,
it’s plain for the world to see.
And oh, I can just imagine how
different the world would be
If all of mankind accepted His
offer to set them free.
I know that our lives have meaning
though mankind was born to die.
He wants for us joy and gladness,
not sorrows to make us cry.
What we learn from our pains and
trials, we’ll understand by and by.
With patience I seek to obey him
and he blesses me as I try.
I think of him, pained and bleeding
in Gethsemane far away,
The gnarled old trees that
witnessed the Lord as he knelt to pray,
The depth of the pains He suffered
no mortal can ever say,
But He took up the cup and drained
it, there being no other way.
But oh, how I love my Savior who
died for both me and you.
Such love as he offers the sinner
after all the things we do
I can never repay His great
kindness as much as I’m trying to
So I’ll love Him and serve as best
I can to show Him my love is true.
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