During 2013, the youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are studying twelve core doctrines of the church. We decided to share our experiences with each doctrinal principle. We share it with you out of love and respect for our family and friends. Maybe this will help you understand part of our spiritual journey as disciples of Christ. Please read it with the love with which it was written and is shared.
“The Atonement is the sacrifice Jesus Christ made to help us overcome sin, adversity, and death. Jesus’ atoning sacrifice took place in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross at Calvary. He paid the price for our sins, took upon Himself death, and was resurrected. The Atonement is the supreme expression of the love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.” (https://www.lds.org/youth/)
Since joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have a much deeper understanding of and appreciation for the atonement than we did previously.
To sum up our “before” – the atonement is something Jesus did for us. It was something that had to be done and Jesus was the only one who could do it. We don’t recall sermons or lessons on the atonement and we don’t recall lessons or conversations about how the atonement would help us in our every day lives. It was something big that would help us later on – in a way we didn’t understand. It was indeed one of the mysteries.
Now we have a much deeper and broader understanding of the atonement. We have added depth, detail, and meaning to our understanding of this great sacrifice and merciful act done for us. We do have to tell you that this is something so monumental that we realize we understand just a small portion of it.
The atonement has two parts – redeeming and enabling.
The redeeming part - The scriptures teach us that we have to be clean to be in God’s presence. During our life on earth we are going to made mistakes and be disobedient to some of God’s commandments. Some of our disobedience will be through carelessness, some through cluelessness. We may even go through a period when we choose to be deliberately disobedient. Whatever the reason, we will make mistakes and experience disobedience. There are consequences for each act of disobedience. Through repentance we can overcome some of the consequences of our mistakes and sins. Jesus’ suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross took care of the total cleansing and consequences that we couldn’t do ourselves. He made everything right and ready for us to live in God’s presence. It’s up to us to accept his sacrifice on our behalf. That’s the redeeming and cleansing part of the atonement.
The enabling part is what helps us get through the challenges that come with life here on earth. It involves the divine help and strength that we can receive from and through Christ. Through the atonement Christ somehow took on and understands all the challenges and pains we will experience during our journey on earth. He knows us. He understands us. He will give us strength, peace, comfort as we call on him. A scripture that comes to mind is:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew11: 28-30)
A yoke is a harness of sorts worn by oxen so they can together pull large loads. Christ is offering to team up with us so we don’t have to deal with our challenges all by ourselves.
This is the enabling part of the atonement. He shares his strength, his love with us. We never have to be alone in our challenges.
We are very thankful we now have a deeper and better understanding of the atonement. We have been strengthened with this knowledge.
This is a glorious gospel principle and awesome gift from our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ.
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