Death and the Atonement

     The next part in the Plan of Salvation is the most important and central to the whole plan. This part is the act of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. This act is easily the most important thing that has ever occurred and will ever occur on earth. The suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ is probably one of most complex topics to discuss and to understand fully. Yet, it is the most rewarding if we understand the basics and apply it into our own lives. The Atonement makes the whole Plan of Salvation possible. There would be no plan if it wasn't for Christ, that is why He is central to the plan.
     "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son..." Our Father in Heaven was willing to let His Son be sacrificed "...that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).  From the beginning, (Pre-earth life) Jesus was willing to step forward and fulfill the role of a Savior, as our Father in Heaven asked. When Jesus came to earth, He lived a perfect life, obeying ALL of the Father's commandments, so when it was time to take our sins upon Him, He was ready and willing.

     The Atonement of Jesus Christ three main parts. First, His suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. This is where Jesus suffered for all of our sins, and infirmities, where He prayed to the Father saying, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matthew 26: 39).  I love this quote by a church leader when talking about Christ's suffering.  "Jesus Christ entered a garden called Gethsemane, where He overcame sin for us. He took upon Himself our sins. He suffered the penalty of our wrongs. He paid the price of our education. I don't know how He did what He did. I only know that He did and that because He did, you and I may be forgiven of our sins that we may be endowed with His power. Everything depends on that" (Lawrence E. Corbridge, "The Way," Ensign, Nov. 2008, 35). What immense amount of love Christ had for all of us, to suffer so much incomprehensible pain, even to bleed at every pore!

 

       After Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, He was bound, and sentenced to be crucified by His own. He was beaten nearly to death and was hung on the cross to die. Again we see the amount of love Christ must have for each and every person when referring to the Roman soldiers He says, "Father forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23: 34). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was beaten, spit upon, scourged, and crucified. As horrible as that sounds, good news is yet to come.

     The third and final part of the Atonement process, ended with Christ's glorious resurrection! On the third day, Christ rose again from the dead as He had promised. The words of our beloved Prophet, Pres. Thomas S. Monson, truly hit home with his comment regarding Christ's resurrection. He says,
"No words in Christendom mean more to me than those spoken by the angel to the weeping Mary Magdalene and the other Mary when, on the first day of the week, they approached the tomb to care for the body of their Lord. Spoke the angel: “Why seek ye the living among the dead? “He is not here, but is risen.” (Luke 24:5–6).

Our Savior lived again. The most glorious, comforting, and reassuring of all events of human history had taken place—the victory over death. The pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary had been wiped away. The salvation of mankind had been secured. The Fall of Adam had been reclaimed." 

Christ's body and spirit were reunited once again, only this time, to never be separated again! He is risen!

      Why is this important? Why did Jesus do this for us? He went through this process because He loves us! Christ knew God's plan was to enable us to return back to His presence.  Because of the fall of Adam He knew we couldn't make it there on our own, so He by going through the Atonement process, He can help us make it back to God's presence! Everyone in this life will all eventually die, that's is just the fact of life. But, because of Christ's resurrection, we will all be resurrected too! That is a free gift! Also, because Adam, transgressed, we will all sin and come short of the glory of God, however, because Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane for our sins, He over came sin, and because He overcame sin, each and every one of us can over come our sins and mistakes, and we do that through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end, or in short, by following the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can be saved through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

"And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall^ctake upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else" (Alma 11: 40).
     I know that the Atonement is real and that Christ suffered for me, so I can overcome my faults and weaknesses. I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for my Savior and His Atonement. I know He suffered for me, so He can comfort me in my times of trial and I can gain strength to overcome temptation through Him. I know that my sins can be forgiven through His atonement if I will humble myself and repent! I know Christ lives and I will live again someday too!

Up next in the Plan of Salvation:

The Spirit World

Baseball, Carnivals and the Adversary

     Throughout my life I have learned many valuable life lessons from the awesome coaches I have had while playing sports. While serving my mission here in Montana I have learned some more valuable life lessons. Many of which came from my studies, attending District Meetings, Zone Conferences and trainings, and even when teaching people about the gospel. Who knew I would learn a valuable life lesson from an experience I had while attending a Carnival in Glasgow Montana?!

      The day was Monday August 8, 2011. The good ol county fair/carnival was in town for the weekend and my companion and I were meeting some people there for dinner. Before our dinner got there, we decided to look around a little bit to see what was going on and to be seen by people in the community. As we're walking around, I see a little game called "Break the Bottle". Yep it was a baseball throw. It was kinda like the milk bottle throw only four or five rows of beer bottles were waiting to be shattered by a baseball! Boy did I get get antsy inside, I love baseball and I haven't played for over a year and I REALLY wanted to play this game! So we stopped and looked at it and the Carnies (the people who try to get people to play) could tell I liked what I was seeing so they jumped all over me and kept telling me "You know you wanna play!" Did I ever! Finally I said 'what the heck lets do it!' I mean its was only 5 bucks and I play baseball, I could do it easily! So I pay my five bucks and take a look at the bottles and on the bottom row, right in the middle there is a big champagne bottle with a 20 dollar bill taped to it! WHAT?! Man that made me want to break it even more! 20 bucks to break a bottle, not bad. The Carnie said he wasn't gonna make it easy so you had to hit the bottle in the perfect spot to get it to break, and the spot was the size of Jefferson's head on the 20 dollar bill. No big deal, I'm getting 20 bucks! 5 baseballs later, no 20 bucks.

     Yep I failed and didn't break the bottle. Breaking the big bottle was a little harder than I thought, but I was convinced I could do it, after all the first five balls was just a warm up. Again the Carnies asked if I wanted to do it again, they said again "you know you want to" and all that to convince me to play again. Yes I wanted to and I played again. Five more bucks, five more baseballs, no 20 bucks. Darn.

     After that fail I decided to quit and it was about time for dinner so we left and met the people we were eating with and we went and had some dinner and looked around at other exhibits at the carnival. Instead of getting into too much detail, lets just say I ended up going back to play the game and I did not win the 20 bucks. I even borrowed money from a friend who trusted I could break the bottle, but I failed. Its not that I didn't hit the bottle, I hit the bottle plenty of times trust me. Either the game was rigged and I was tricked by those Carnies or I didn't hit the bottle in the right spot. It's all a mystery. Either way, the Carnies and my pride convinced me to keep playing the game when I should have quit 20 dollars earlier.

 

            Now to relate this whole experience to the gospel. The Devil and his temptations to get us to sin are exactly like the experience I had with the baseball throw. We have already established that I love baseball, so naturally, seeing the carnival game wanted me to play. Satan makes sinning appealing to us and makes us want to "have fun". Satan also has his own "Carnies" out there to convince us we "want to do it". Peer pressure is a huge factor Satan uses to try and get us to make a mistake. Just like the Carnies, Satan is persistent and will do all he can just to make that one little mistake. Satan is quite convincing too because he makes sinning look like fun! He tells you little white lies like "one time won't hurt" and "everyone's doing it". Satan is a sly, filthy snake and if we give in to his temptations once, we are more likely to give in again. Once I did the baseball throw for the first time, I was sucked in and very easily gave into the temptation another couple three or four times. Just like the Carnies, Satan is a great salesmen and he is happy when we give in and waste our "money" (or spirituality). Satan is just a big jerk and gets too many to fall into his traps, which we cannot afford to do.

 

     There is always hope though. Hope through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus knows how to help us during our times of difficulty with temptation. He has suffered for our temptations so He can help us overcome them. There is no temptation that we can't overcome (1 Corinthians 10: 13). If we have messed up and have fallen into Satan's trap, repentance is the only way we can get out of that trap. I know that if we build our lives on a solid foundation, which is our Savior Jesus Christ and His gospel, then we will be able to withstand all the winds and temptations of the Devil. I'm grateful for the experience I had at the Carnival which helped me learn a valuable lesson about resisting the wiles of the Devil. I hope and pray I won't give in to sin like I gave into the baseball throw. I know I won't as long as I build my foundation on Christ (Helaman 5:12).