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Atonement
You need to die
In Alma 22, we read of the powerful conversion of King Lamoni's father. I noticed something strange in the account following the king's lesson on the plan of salvation. The Book of Mormon is clear that the Nephites understood that both the wicked and the righteous would be resurrected. Yet, in response to learning about this universal resurrection, the king prays to God, asking "that [he] may be raised from the dead." Stranger still, in answer to this prayer, the king is immediately "struck as if he were dead." What is going on here? I have some thoughts.
Justice and Mercy Aren’t Enemies—They’re Married
I was standing in the Conference Center at Temple Square, a place I’d previously only seen on a TV screen. This past summer, I finally got to walk its halls in person—an experience that felt like stepping into a storybook. I’m not usually an art guy, but one painting in the Conference Center art gallery grabbed my attention immediately and hasn’t let go since.
Popsicle sticks and the Atonement of Jesus Christ
Thirty minutes had passed and most of the missionaries were back in the chapel. But not my companion. Forty minutes and a few more stragglers came in. But not my companion. Fifty minutes and the APs started us singing hymns and bearing testimonies to pass the time, but my mission president and my companion were still absent. I started getting nervous. Finally, after a full hour had passed, my companion came back into the chapel alone, and our mission president hurried to the stand to continue the meeting. I didn't ask my companion what happened; when we wrapped up the day, he told me himself. And what he said changed my understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ forever.
What if I don't want to be resurrected?
I've recently been impressed to study the teachings and biographies of the First Presidency. My respect, love, and admiration for these men grow deeper with every chapter. It has been a powerful, revelatory experience, and I've also learned more about doctrine and Church history. For example, President Nelson's biography relates how his grandfather received a visitation from his late father from beyond the veil and recorded the interview.
30 years and I'm just now learning this?
I have a confession to make. Most people don't know this about me, but I sometimes—even often—get bored at church and zone out. Shocker, I know. But it's not often that we learn something new about the core of the Gospel, right? Don't get me wrong, the principles of the Gospel never stop being interesting and wonderful, but sometime after the 40th lesson on a subject, it starts to feel just a little stale. That's why I get really excited when I do learn something new about the principles of the Gospel.
Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin
Today's post has been weighing on my mind for a while. Several scriptures, thoughts, and connections have come to me recently. But I don't have a neat way to tie them all together. So, ready or not, I'm just going to share them with you, stream of consciousness, and hope you get the gist.
The only glad tidings
In his address to the Nephite people, King Benjamin told of his recent visit from an angel of God. The angel woke up the righteous king, giving him the good news repeated everywhere from Isaiah to Luke to Romans to the Doctrine and Covenants. But while the Judean shepherds heard of "tidings of great joy," the angel who appeared to Benjamin worded his announcement slightly differently: "I am come to declare unto you the glad tidings of great joy." That little word—the—teaches a lesson. The angel isn't bringing just some good news—he's bringing the good news—or in other words, the Gospel. The coming of Christ is the only good news this world has ever heard.
I can't bear it (and that's okay)
A few months ago, I watched the movie Unplanned, the true story of Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson's conversion to pro-life. She had spent her entire career working on the administrative side of things, but when they were short-staffed one day, she was asked to assist the doctor in the procedure room. That's when Abby finally confronted the gruesome reality of abortion. That moment broke Abby. And it broke me, too. After the movie, I distracted myself and tried to go through the rest of my day normally. But as I rocked my 3-month old to sleep that night, I could distract myself no longer. That powerful scene (you can watch it here) played itself in my mind over and over again. I held my sleeping baby boy tight and cried harder than I had ever cried since childhood. Like Amulek watching the martyrs of Ammonihah being burned alive, I was pained by the holocaust of abortion and wished I could use the Priesthood, call down fire from heaven-- anything to intervene against the inhuman war on the defenseless that is abortion.
A prison built with our own hands
The battle was fierce, but also short and decisive—despite a huge loss of men and a painful personal wound, Captain Moroni had thrown "one of the greatest of the armies of the Lamanites" into complete disarray. But Moroni "did not delight in bloodshed;" when he saw that his enemies were beaten, he offered them terms of surrender. The Lamanite army accepted his terms, and the prisoners were marched to the land of Bountiful. There they were put to work: they dug ditches, they piled up dirt, and they built a giant wall around the border of the city. Once the Lamanites had fortified the city, they became its new residents: "in this city [the Nephites] did guard the prisoners of the Lamanites; yea, even within a wall which they had caused them to build with their own hands" (Alma 53:5).
Hello, my name is Corianton
This past week in Come, Follow Me, we read Alma's words to his son Corianton. Also, this past week, my wife and I started watching a new superhero show: DC's Stargirl. We're only a few episodes in, so the jury's still out, but one episode felt especially applicable to this week's studies. In this particular episode, we meet Yolanda: a successful, vibrant, outgoing young woman. She's part of a supportive, happy family and running for class president of her high school. One evening, she makes the mistake of sending an inappropriate picture of herself at her boyfriend's request. The next day, during her class presidential campaign speech, her picture is sent out to everybody in the school. Her class presidential campaign is finished. Her family grounds her to her room for the rest of her life. They forbid her to attend church. Her friends desert her. She is bullied at school. With the press of a button, her entire life is gone—she is forever defined by that one bad decision. Wait, what does that have to do with this week's Come, Follow Me lesson? Well, everything. Today's post continues the "profile series" I started a few months ago. This time, we delve into the life of Corianton, son of Alma.
You are unqualified for your calling (and that's OK)
When I was little, I thought missionaries were basically superheroes. I pictured stalwart, obedient, faithful young men and women going all over the world, guided by the Spirit and teaching the truth in majesty and power, saving souls like a spiritual Superman. But then I went on a mission and learned that you can take a teenager to the temple, endow him with power from on high, set him apart from the world, commission him as a duly ordained minister and representative of Christ, put a name tag on him, and send him out with the Spirit... but a teenager will still be a teenager. Laziness, apathy, rebelliousness, phone addictions, slacking off, hormones, and general stupidity abound in the mission field just as they do at home. Having worked closely with missionaries both on and off my own mission, I think it's safe to say that across the board, teenagers just aren't qualified to be missionaries. In fact, I would dare say no one is qualified to be a missionary. Or an Elders Quorum President. Or a Bishop. Or the Prophet. We are all every one of us supremely unqualified for the job.
What REALLY gets the prophets in trouble?
It's no secret that the world rejects the prophets. I mean, after all, a prophet's job is to share the uncomfortable truth about what we're doing wrong and call us to repent, right? Not exactly a comfortable message. But looking in the Book of Mormon, time and time again, you see that the threats and the condemnation and the calls to repentance are usually not the main reason people get angry at the Lord's prophets.
Is Christ's grace sufficient for you?
I was reading the last chapter of the Book of Moroni the other day. Moroni is running short on time and even shorter on space on the plates at this point, so you know he's gotta be really careful about what he includes and how he words his final messages to us. Not surprisingly, he spends the entire time testifying of Christ and the Atonement. During his last few verses-- his "dying breaths" so to speak-- he pleads with us to "come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness... and love God with all your might, mind and strength." And, as with all scripture, this invitation comes with a promise: if we will accept Moroni's invitation to come unto Christ, "then is his grace sufficient for you." The wording of that promise struck me. It sounds kind of backward, doesn't it?
They fell that we might be
I was sitting at a crowded airport gate a few days ago, planning out episode 9 of my podcast*. This episode is all about the fall of Adam and Eve. As I researched, I fell on that familiar verse from the Book of Mormon:Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.Yes, Adam fell that men might be. As a seminary student, I loved that verse because it was short and trivial to memorize. Whoever says you won't use the scriptures you memorize in seminary is wrong. Even today I find myself using the "men are that they might have joy" line to justify grabbing "just one more" donut from the box. But this time, it was opened up more to me. It became a lot more applicable.
Don't try to follow all the Lord's counsel at once
There are many things in our day to day, secular lives that we "ought" to do. Like putting the junk mail in the recycling bin instead of the trash can. Or opting for the salad over the meat lover's pizza. But we often don't do what we know we should. Why? Because we're lazy? Maybe. But I think it's mostly because we see these "suggestions" as optional—like "extra credit" in life. They are something to strive for when time permits, but not something so important we should bend over backward trying to make it work. Trying out all the little "suggestions" in life all at once is impossible, and we know it. So we accept the fact that we simply can't lose 50 pounds and reduce our carbon footprint and double-pay our mortgage and get that promotion and spend more time with family and learn a new language and write that novel all at the same time. Not everything is worth the effort right now. We have to focus on what's most important (provide for our families, etc.) and then decide which "suggestions" we want to focus on with our remaining attention. In other words, when it comes to secular matters, we are realistic and we prioritize. But wait. We are faced with the same deluge of suggestions about the spiritual matters of our lives, too.
Personal Conversion, Personal Savior
Every man for himself! In this Church, we take seriously God's command to watch out for each other "both temporally and spiritually." We contribute fast offerings. We clean yards. We home and visit teach, ahem, minister to each other. We know that it is our duty to be our brother's keeper and that we must work together as wards, stakes, quorums, classes, and families to assist in the work of salvation. "Thee lift me and I’ll lift thee, and we’ll ascend together." Given that doctrine and strong tradition of community support and brotherly concern, I was surprised the other day when I opened the Book of Mormon and found the phrase "every man for himself." And it was used to describe, of all people, the righteous Nephites at the time of Christ's first visit.
The Immediate Atonement
The Atonement of Christ is the center of our faith. But it's also the principle of our faith that is probably hardest to understand. Not just because it's infinite beyond the scope of our mortal minds, but because the whole notion that Christ could pay for sins He didn't commit just kind of blows our minds. I don't know anyone who has claimed to look at the calculus of the Plan of Salvation and figured out how it all works out.
Even among the Lamanites
It was 18 BC. Nephi, the prophet, had recently returned from his mission to the land of the North, only to find that the Gadianton robbers had taken control of the government. The Nephites were in a very spiritually low place, to say the least. Nephi miraculously announced the murder of the chief judge, but it had little to no effect on the hearts of the people (signs never do, after all). The Nephites were once again ripe for destruction. War broke out, and Nephites were slaughtered in droves. Nephi asked the Lord to replace the war with a famine, and God kindly obliged. That's where we read this verse:And this work of destruction did also continue in the seventy and fifth year. For the earth was smitten that it was dry, and did not yield forth grain in the season of grain; and the whole earth was smitten, even among the Lamanites as well as among the Nephites, so that they were smitten that they did perish by thousands in the more wicked parts of the land. -- Helaman 11:6What caught my attention in this verse was the phrase "even among the Lamanites." As if the author found it notable or surprising that the Lamanites would suffer the same punishments that were heaped upon the Nephites. I pondered on that and came away with a few insights
Visited in our afflictions
Enduring wrong Things have been difficult for me and my family recently. We've been hit by deaths, cancer, mental health problems, and a lot of other bad news from friends and family we know and love. These situations weigh heavily on the minds of my immediate, extended, and ward family. And then there's the awful Florida school shooting, rising international tensions, and increasing level of vitriol and hatred from both sides of the political aisle. And we know it will continue to get worse. With all the sad, tragic news around right now, it feels like 2018 is determined to deal us one blow after another.
Being filled by a tiny bite of bread and a few drops of water
Can you imagine how the Nephites felt when they received the sacred emblems of the Sacrament from the Savior Himself? Just hours before, each had stretched forth his or her hand to feel the wounds in His side and the craters in his hands and feet. Now, the Redeemer of the world was kneeling on the ground in front of them, blessing the pieces of bread that symbolize His own broken flesh they had just touched. They would see Him groan within Himself and weep to His Father in prayer. They had heard Him tell of how He drank the bitter cup and His will was swallowed up in the Father's. Now He offered them the sweet cup of wine so He could swallow their sins.
The reachable God
What would it be like to see Christ? I've never seen Christ in this life. My guess is neither have you. I have often wondered what it would be like. Asking myself a lot of questions. The same questions Elder Klebingat asked us in General Conference a few years ago:What thoughts come to mind if you had a personal interview with your Savior one minute from now? Would sins, regrets, and shortcomings dominate your self-image, or would you simply experience joyful anticipation? Would you meet or avoid His gaze? Would you linger by the door or confidently walk up to Him?Those are tough, important questions. I don't know the answer, but I've always had a hunch.
When repentance doesn't fix everything
Almost all my recent posts have dealt with the war chapters in Alma. The Nephites, led under Moroni, fought the Lamanites and learned lots of lessons along the way. So many years of terrible war, including 2 civil wars within the Nephites themselves. Eventually, Moroni and his armies won the day and the Nephites finally had peace. But sadly, the break was short; it was only a few years after Moroni passed away that the Nephites fell back into serious transgression and were ripe for destruction. Right on cue, like the itsy bitsy spider, down came the Lamanites to wipe the Nephites out.
Finding the Atonement in a war chapter
I know most readers usually breeze through the war chapters, but there is a lot we can learn from them. For example, just the other day I found some really powerful lessons on the Atonement in Alma 44-- the second chapter of Moroni's battle with Zerahemnah and the Lamanites. First, let's recap what's going on: