Atonement

When we left our Heavenly Parents and came to earth we entered a great opportunity to learn and progress and become like them. But that opportunity was fraught with all kinds of separations and fractures of relationships.

1. We were then separated from the presence of God and could never return to the "innocent state" that allowed us to live with Him as His children.

2. We would form earthly families and relationships that become a cultural part of who we are and always will be. Those relationships can be the source of great stability and joybut they can also be very difficult and the source of much pain.

3. Humans often choose to hurt each other and fracture all eternal relationships as sons and daughters of God and therefore as literal brothers and sisters.  The Family of Man has a poor track record when it comes to loving your neighbor.

4. Finally death itself separates us from all we know and love.

None of this is a surprise to God. He knew before He created the Earth that this next step in our progression would be a trial to us. And so it was, that while we were in the Council in Heaven we were given a plan that included a Savior. We shouted for joy knowing that Christ would be our Savior. His atonement would be the healer of all those separations.

His willingness to be our Savior allowed us to come to Earth and maintain our agency. Nothing we would do or that anyone else would do could permanently stop our progression. Mistakes would be made. Sin would be real but the great At-One-ment would help us, and heal us, and bring us again into the presence of our Heavenly Parents. . . 

  

      With our earthly families

      At peace with all our brothers and sisters

     All made one and whole. 

Healed of everything that divides and separates,

     At-One with God

     At-One with family

     At-One with all mankind

Luke 4:18 
The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has appointed me to preach the gospel to the poor;  he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.

2 Nephi 25:13 
Behold, they will crucify Him;  and after He is laid in a sepulcher for the space of three days He will rise from the dead, with healing in his wings.

John 12:32 
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

John 3:16-17 
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Alma 7:11-12 
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.

Mosiah 4:6
I say unto you, if ye have come to a knowledge of the goodness of God, and his matchless power; and his wisdom, and his patience, and his long-suffering toward the children of men, and also, the atonement which has been prepared from the foundation of the world. . .

Matthew 1:21 
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.

John 10:14-15 
I am the Good Shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father and I laid down my life for the sheep.

I love this new way of looking at the Atonement. The old idea of mercy needing to satisfy justice just perpetuated the idea that God is the angry God, the Sovereign who you can never please and so Jesus intervenes and pleads for us - to appease the Father. It is so hard to love that Father.

But in reality the Father, the One who loves me and who gave me agency because He loves me and wants me to fulfill my Divine Potential, accepted Jesus' offer to pay the price so I could have this agency. That understanding makes me love Him and feel grateful that He has provided for my "eternal progression".  I long ago realized my own capacity to choose wrong and to do things that cannot be undone.  Just knowing that healing is possible gives me the faith to move forward, to learn my lessons, to forgive others and ask forgiveness in return.  I am grateful to know that our Heavenly Parents are watching over us and that all that happens here on this earth can be for our benefit through the power of Jesus' atonement and the healing He offers as we turn to Him.  I love the Savior and am most grateful for His Gospel in my own life.