It is divine to give everybody an opportunity to gain reward. God is a just and fair God, and therefore gives every person the opportunity to gain eternal life regardless of that person’s situation on Earth. That is why even those who have died have the gospel preached to them and have an opportunity to be baptized and receive the additional ordinances necessary for eternal life.
God has redeemed all men from the fall in the sense that all will return from death unto life and all men are brought back into the presence of God to be judged for their own works rather than being condemned for Adam’s transgression. But all men cannot receive eternal life unless they choose to have, or in other words, to receive eternal life.
Sorrow and love by themselves cannot overcome Justice. They cannot prevent the consequences of laws. Even God’s love, which is mightier than any of our love, could not save us without a payment of Justice. Love must be translated into the necessary action. That is how love saves us: not by allowing or condoning sin, but by overcoming it. God’s love manifested itself in the sending of The Son, and by the suffering, death, and resurrection of that Son.
Even then, even after Christ suffered and paid the price for sin, we are not fully saved if we continue as we please. If we choose our own way and do our own thing.
Jesus did not say, “I love you so you can keep doing what you are doing.” He called people to repentance. He asked them to change, to be born again, to become new creatures. He requires even now that we strive to repent, to give up our own will, and to instead do what the Father asks of us.
Jesus sorrowed for Jerusalem, but His sorrow alone could not save those who lived there nor save the city. Likewise, parents and friends may sorrow for the sufferings and trials of their loved ones. But their sorrow alone cannot undo choices or make them good or right. Condoning sin or immoral behavior does not bring happiness. But repentance and the atonement of Jesus Christ can.
Not because of the atonement but because of Jesus Christ. The word “atonement” describes what Jesus did. Jesus is who went through what we call the atonement. He chose to go through it. He was willing to do it even when he did not want to go through it (if there were any other way). He suffered. He allowed or willed His spirit to leave His body. He was resurrected. (See the sermon, “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives” by Russell M Nelson.)
One might say that a piece of bread and water saved a starving man’s life. But how did the bread and water reach the starving man? Who crossed the blazing and burning desert to bring the bread and water?
“The redemption of man” may be considered a general or universal redemption. All mankind are redeemed in that they will resurrect and appear before God to be judged for their own lives, their own choices, works, and desires. Both spiritual and physical death are overcome. The body and spirit reunited eternally and all are brought back into God’s presence.
The possibility for a personal or individual redemption also exists through Jesus Christ. But we must choose that. The former is a “no matter what” sort of thing. It is in a word, mandatory, or sure. Personal redemption, though available to all through Jesus Christ, or we might say, through His atonement, has conditions or requirements. It is a matter of personal, individual choice.
(See the sermon, “Drawing the Power of Jesus Christ into Our Lives” by Russell M Nelson.)
Adam and Eve get blamed for the Fall. If they had not partaken of the forbidden fruit, we would not live in a fallen world where we are susceptible to sin. Of course, we wouldn’t have been born at all.
The atonement of Jesus Christ, or we could simply say, Jesus Christ redeems us from The Fall, meaning the fall of Adam and Eve and of this world. But notice that Adam and Eve fell even before they lived in a fallen world. They were influenced by Satan and succumbed to him even before The Fall.
We need to be redeemed from more than just THE FALL, or Adam and Eve’s Fall; a singular, or almost singular event. We need to be redeemed from our own falls. Herein is agency and accountability. Herein we are masters of our own fate.
We need unity, but not just unity in anything. We need unity in the right things, the things that bring prosperity, happiness, and success. Ben Carson rose out of poverty because he did those things that transform one out of poverty. People are not bound by their circumstances. We can become better and rise above our circumstances. To do so, we have to follow the principles that lead to where we want to be and that transform us into who we want to become. We need to learn the laws of success in whatever field we desire to excel or improve, and follow those laws. This is true for happiness. This is true for good relationships. This is true for providing for one’s self and one’s family. Don’t blame others. Instead, search for correct principles and strive to live them and teach them to others.
Is learning about the atonement also include learning about how Jesus handled the atonement? He humbly asked his Father if there were some other way besides His having to go through so much pain. Once He knew he had to go through it, He did not fight against it. He meekly allowed it to happen. I don’t think that means we allow people to walk all over us or for bad things to happen to us without our trying to stop it. But it may mean that we accept the Father’s will humbly even when it brings hardship or pain.
Whatever trials God wants me to or allows me to go through, don’t complain. The Savior did not open His mouth; in other words he did not murmur about the treatment that he received or what he had to go through. He did not want to go through it but He was willing to.
Jesus did not want to go through the agony of suffering for all of mankind’s sins. If there was any other way, He would have preferred it. In fact he asked that He might not go through it if He didn’t have to. But He did have to go through it in order for God’s plan to work. His suffering for us and His death and resurrection were the only way for us to be able to become like our Heavenly Father and fulfill the commandment to be perfect. So Jesus did what He did not want to do. We could say he submitted His will to his Father’s will; He did what his Father wanted Him to do. But at the same time, He also did what was necessary to do. And he understood that it was necessary. And he was willing to do what was necessary.
Entering the land of Canaan and fighting the Giants may have seemed to the Israelites akin to being asked to jump off a cliff. Sacrificing his son Isaac may have seemed to Abraham worse than jumping off a cliff. To Laman and Lemuel, setting sail into the ocean on a ship built by Nephi may have at first seemed like certain death. Sariah believed that her sons had died and that she and her husband would perish because they followed what her husband said were commandments from the Lord. What did that visionary man know anyway? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were forced into a fiery furnace. They trusted that God would deliver them, but even if he did not deliver them from the flames they were determined to obey Him. Would God ever ask us to do something that to us seems foolish or dangerous or that might lead to persecution or death? Yes. Because His ways are not our ways and He sees a greater picture.
External elements act upon a rock. If it rains, the rock sits there. If the driving winds come, the rock sits there. If you pick it up and set it somewhere else, that is where it will remain until forces outside it move it somewhere else. Don’t be a rock. Choose how you will respond to what happens outside you. Look for solutions. Enlist the help of others. Choose. Don’t be a rock.
(Photo credit: Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash)
And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.
And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; …
And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.
And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.
And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.
Zacharias did not believe he would have a child because it was too late in life: the time had passed for his wife to conceive and bear children. And yet, she did conceive and bear a child.
God can take that which is too late and make it NOT too late. Even though Zacharias doubted, yet he still became a father.
What dreams and promises do we give up on because we feel it is too late that or God does not have enough power to keep His promises?