"There is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah"
2 Nephi 2:8 (The Book of Mormon)

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Why the Atonement?

As a result of the Fall of Adam and Eve you and I live in a fallen world... removed from the presence of God.  I love the Latter-day Saint perspective on the Fall and its key role in God's plan for us.  The Fall, or separation from God's presence, necessitated a means by which man could reunite with God, becoming "At One" with Him.  The Savior's Atonement makes this possible.
"The fall was not a disaster.  It wasn't a mistake or an accident.  It was a deliberate part of the plan of salvation.  We are God's spirit "offspring", sent to earth "innocent" of Adam's transgression.  Yet our Father's plan subjects us to temptation and misery in this fallen world as the price to comprehend authentic joy.  Without tasting the bitter, we actually cannot understand the sweet.  We require mortality's discipline and refinement as the next step in our development toward becoming like our Father.  But growth means growing pains.  It also means learning from our mistakes in a continual process made possible by the Savior's grace, which 
He extends both during and "after all we can do."
Adam and Eve learned constantly from their often harsh experience.  They knew how a troubled family feels.  Think of Cain and Abel.  Yet because of the Atonement, they could learn from their experience without being condemned by it.  Christ's sacrifice didn't just erase their choices and return them to an Eden of innocence.  That would be a story with no plot and no character growth.  His plan is developmental-- line upon line, step by step, grace for grace."

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