So I'm gonna do something different. I want to be part of the goodness that is on the internet. There isn't just filth and time-wasting going on here but I want to bring those powerful things that are so important to me. Might as well start today. I'll be including various papers I have written on a multitude of subjects in a hope that I can bring some light into a darkening world.
Relief and Restitution
The Book of Mormon helps expound upon many truths in the
Bible and probably the most important is the power of the infinite healing power
of the atonement. I love the verses expressed by Alma the Younger to the people
of Gideon in Alma 7:11-13. Due to their striving “in the paths of righteousness” and “keeping
his paths straight” (Alma 7:19), Alma is allowed to preach many wondrous things
about the Savior’s life and ministry. He includes Christ’s mother’s name, Mary,
the unique role of faith, hope and charity in living a righteous life and as a
distinctly important message, the vast number of things that the Atonement
covers on our behalf. These verses express how Christ not only redeemed us from
our sins through His Atonement but also experienced all of our human weakness:
from “sicknesses” and “pains” to loneliness and “death” so he could “succor his
people” and completely understand each and every one of us individually. Our
Father in Heaven created us and loved us; He loves us. His gift to us in our hardest times and in our greatest
joys, He sent our Elder Brother to sooth us and heal us of our physical and
spiritual wounds through the Atonement and the Resurrection. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of the
World and the Healer of our hearts. This wonderful piece of doctrine that “the
Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon himself the
sins of his people. . .[to] blot out their transgressions” (Alma 7:13), is of
extreme importance to us struggling through our mortal probation. A scripture
train that helps relate the infinite degrees of the atonement includes Alma
7:11-13, Mosiah
3:5-7, 3 Nephi 17:7-10, Mosiah
14:3-5, 2
Nephi 16:9-10, 3
Nephi 9 13-14,20-22, 1 Nephi 21:15-16, Mosiah 5:2, Revelation
21:4,Matt
25:21.
The passage in Mosiah 3:5-7 again details Jesus Christ as
a Healer. One who would make “mighty miracles” in healing physical defects of
all kinds even unto “raising the dead” and “cast[ing] out . . .evil spirits
[from] the hearts of the children of men.” In verse 7 however the focus shifts
to describing the heightened humanity of the Savior. He, like all those of
humankind before and after him, would “suffer temptations . . .pain . .
.hunger, thirst, and fatigue”. He displayed this compassion towards men again
when he visited the Nephites in the Americas in 3 Nephi 17:7-10.
Christ asked the people if they had persons
“that are afflicted in any manner” . . . “for I see that your faith is
sufficient that I should heal you”. “And [after] he did heal them every one . .
. [the multitude] both they who had been healed and they who were whole, bow
down at his feet, and did worship him”. This shows some very important
principles: we must be willing to come unto Christ, have faith to be healed by
knowing that He can heal any wounds we may have, spiritual or physical. Russell
M. Ballard said,
“The sequence of
His pattern is significant. Faith, repentance, baptism, a testimony, and
enduring conversion lead to the healing power of the Lord . . .[This and a]
willingness to serve and strengthen others stands as a symbol of one’s
readiness to be healed.”
No matter how big and no matter how
small, our Lord Jesus Christ will ransom us from both our pains and our sins if
we are willing to be endure well inn righteousness.
We also take great
comfort in the fact that Christ was indeed a Man; one of flesh and bone brought
forth by his mortal mother, Mary, so He could empathize with us in all our
human frailties. In the case of the Atonement in Gethsemane, He experienced every
aspect of being human at once “even more than man can suffer [without having a
divine Father] . . .so great shall his anguish be [from] the wickedness and
abominations of his people.” (Mosiah 3:7) Mosiah 14:3-5 continues to describe
the Lord’s willful suffering on our behalf telling of how “he has bourne our
griefs . . .carried our sorrows . . . was wounded for our transgressions . .
.bruised for our iniquities . . .and with his stripes we are healed.” In True
to the Faith: A Gospel Reference we read that
“through [our]
faith and righteousness and through His atoning sacrifice, all the inequities,
injuries, and pains of this life can be fully compensated for and made right .
. .although He may not relieve all your sufferings now, He will bless you with
comfort and understanding and with strength to ‘bear up your burdens with ease’
(Mosiah 24:15)” (20).
Christ knows our
struggles and more importantly, he knows us
better than we do; He suffered our pains and our sins almost two thousand of
years before we were even born. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland spoke of those
agonizing moments that were completely for us in this manner; to complete His
Son’s sacrifice,
“the Father
briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His
personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance
of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong
nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind--us, all of
us—would feel when we did commit such sins [for the first time in His entire
existence the Lord Jesus Christ experienced a spiritual death; having] the
divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly
alone.”
A more powerful act of love and
devotion cannot be found anywhere in all of human history or perhaps all of our
eternal history. For me, a perfect
Man sweat blood from every pore, for me
an Eternal God descended below all men with “my burden gladly bearing, He bled
and died to take away my sin” that I
might live with Him and my Father in Heaven again: all my songs, prayers and
words of thanks the world can never be enough to express my gratitude for my
Savior’s sacrifice. Indeed, sometimes it is very difficult to keep an eternal
perspective in our mortal probation when our trials weigh on us continually it
sometimes seems to be no way out of our situation. When “we are alone or feel
alone or, worse yet, feel abandoned” Elder Holland gives consolation “that
because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so . . . Truly the
Redeemer of us all said: “I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I
will come to you [and abide with you].” This is one of the most important
things to always remember, in good times or bad; Our Lord God and Elder
Brother, Jesus Christ will never forget me nor any of the children of the Earth
for “behold, [He] has graven [me]
upon the palms of [His] hands” (1 Nephi 21:15-16).
The Atonement is
nothing but a lost cause for us if we are not willing to receive it. Would we
really forget our Lord and Savior in our petty pride? Would we have allowed
“God the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain . . . and to suffer both
body and spirit” only for His message to fall on deaf ears and cold hearts and
to be left to “suffer even as [He did]” (D&C 19:16-19)? In 2 Nephi 16:9-10,
He pleads for us to be humble and teachable and to “see with [our] eyes, and
hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and be converted and be
healed.” This pleading is repeated in 3 Nephi 9:13-14, 20-22, to come to Him
and repent of our sins, “for such [He hath] laid down my life, and have taken
it up again”, and with “a broken heart and a contrite spirit”, we can be saved
and healed of all our wounds. When everything seems hedged against us or we
feel like we cannot be worthy of such an eternal sacrifice, we must always remember the words of Elder
Nelson,
“When sore
trials come upon us, its time to deepen
our faith in God, to work hard, and
to serve others. Then He will heal our
broken hearts. He will bestow upon us personal peace and comfort. Those great
gifts will not be destroyed, even by death. (italics added)”
We must have faith that when we
have done all we can do, “God will wipe away all tears from [our] eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain: for the former things [will pass] away” (Rev 21:4).
God,
our Father, and Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, both eternal in their
capacities for love and understanding, provided the Atonement as a part of the
Plan of Happiness so that we, as humble children of God, can stumble in life
and go through all the trials life can bring and still return to their presence
if we are will to accept and live the
gospel. It is our duty and responsibility to take the fullest advantage of the
Atonement (or At-One-ment) so that we can be healed of our spiritual wounds
from both sin and trials and come to God. There is no other way. With the Book
of Mormon and living prophets today, we have all the tools and guidance
necessary to make it back to our eternal home, after all our effort and our
trust set completely in God, and to hear from the Father we have served, “well
done thou good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21)
Works Cited
First Presidency. True to the Faith: A Gospel
Reference. Salt Lake City, UT: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
2004. Print.
Holland, Elder Jeffrey R. "None Were with
Him." Ensign May 2009: 86-88. LDS.org. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints, May 2009. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
"Jesus Blesses the Nephite Children." Sofia's
Christmas Ideas. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
<http://sofiaschristmasideas.blogspot.com/>.
Nelson, Elder Russell M. "Jesus Christ---the
Master Healer." Liahona Nov. 2005: 85-88. LDS.org. The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
"Simon
Dewey Religious Fine Art On Jesus Christ,Living Water." Fortune Art
Gallery. Web. 30 Sept. 2010.
<http://www.fortuneart.net/store/SD_O_My_Father.htm>.
"With Faith In Every Footstep Along The Mission Road ~ A Father's
Testimony." Dan Fogelberg ~
Ever On ~ Web Site / Fan Forum. Web. 01 Oct. 2010.
<http://everon.info/testimony/>.
