8 Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that 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, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.
Atonement needed for godhood
Not only is Jesus Christ the only one who could atone for our
sins and reconcile us to God the Father, but also the Atonement is the only way
that reconciliation could occur. D&C 19: 16–18 tells us that if we don’t
accept the Atonement we will have to suffer as Christ did, and pay for our sins
ourselves. That is true, but it’s only part of the story. We may be able to pay
for our won sins to satisfy the demands of justice, but we do not have the
power to exalt ourselves in the Celestial Kingdom. That requires the Atonement.
Elder Bruce C. Hafen wrote, “I once wondered if those who
refuse to repent but who then satisfy the law of justice by paying for their
own sins are then worthy to enter the celestial kingdom. The answer is no. The
entrance requirements for celestial life are simply higher than merely
satisfying the law of justice. For that reason, paying for our own sins will
not bear the same fruit as repenting of our sins. Justice is a law of balance
and order and it must be satisfied, either through our payment or his. But if
we decline the Savior’s invitation to let him carry our sins, and then satisfy
justice by ourselves, we will not yet have experienced the complete
rehabilitation that can occur through a combination of divine assistance and genuine
repentance. Working together, those forces have the power permanently to change
our hearts and our lives, preparing for celestial life…
“The doctrine of mercy and repentance are rehabilitative, not
retributive, in nature. The savior asks for our repentance not merely to
compensate him for paying our debt to justice, but also as a way of inducing us
to undergo the process of development that will make our nature divine, giving
us the capacity to live the celestial law” (quoted in The Infinite Atonement, p. 225–26, by Tad R. Callister).
In my mind, one of the key reasons we need the Atonement to
qualify us for the celestial kingdom, and therefore godhood, is to learn
humility. Just because a person pays his/her own debt to the law of justice
does not necessarily mean he/she has changed. We see that on earth when a
criminal is released after serving their sentence in prison, only to return to
a life of crime. That example has eternal consequences if the unrepentant
sinner is given the freedom, power, and responsibility of godhood. To responsibly
handle that much power in the universe requires absolute humility, otherwise
the abuses to that power are unthinkable. We rely on someone else’s merits to
qualify for exaltation partly to learn the humility necessary to handle that
much power and responsibility without letting it get to our pride.
- 2 Nephi 10: 24
- 2 Nephi 25: 20
- 2 Nephi 31: 21
- Mosiah 4: 8
- Mosiah 5: 8
- Alma 21: 9
- Alma 38: 9
Responsibility to share when we have been converted
There are places in the scriptures that teach us it is a commandment
to share the gospel when we have been converted. Examples of that would be when
Christ told Peter to strengthen his brethren when he was converted (Luke 22:
32), or when we are told that when we have been warned, it becometh us to warn
our neighbors (D&C 88: 81). The scriptures are full of examples of doing
this. Some examples just in the Book of Mormon are Nephi (1 Nephi 2: 16–18),
Alma and the sons of Mosiah (Mosiah 27: 32–35), King Lamoni (Alma 19: 31);
Amulek (Alma 8: 29–30), Zeezrom (Alma 31: 6), and Mormon (Mormon 1: 15–16).
Lehi, though, gets past the fact that it is a commandment and tells us that
because Christ is the only way to salvation, that is why it is so important “to
make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth…” The highest reason
for sharing the gospel is not out of duty, but out of love. We would do it
whether or not it was a commandment, because we “could not bear that any human
soul should perish; yea, even the very thought that any soul should endure
endless torment [would] cause [us] to quake and tremble,” as it did the sons of
Mosiah (see Mosiah 28: 3). Do we love God above everyone and everything else,
and our neighbors as ourselves, as the Savior taught we should (Matthew 22:
36–40)? If so, we will warn our neighbors out of love more than out of duty.
- D&C 88: 81
- Mosiah 28: 3
The Resurrection
The resurrection is part of the Atonement that I don’t
understand, in terms of the mechanics of it. Paying for our sins I can at least
get the theory of, even if I can’t comprehend what Christ went through to do
it. The resurrection is kind of different in my mind because it involves
re-animating a physical object (and I use that word on purpose. I have helped
dress a body for burial and was impressed, even surprised, at how the body
really is an object without the spirit to animate it). I get how Christ’s being
the Son of God gives him power over death. What I don’t get is how His
resurrection gives our spirits the power to re-animate our bodies. Something
about him doing it first under his own power makes it possible for us to do it
at a specific appointed time. Most likely we never have the power to do this on
our own, but like paying for sins, Christ has the power to perform this
physical miracle for everyone. Maybe that was the real intent of Christ healing
people, so that we could gain faith in his ability to resurrect as well. I
think of the time when Christ was accused of blasphemy for forgiving sins, so
he healed the man of palsy to show he had the power to forgive sins as well
(Matthew 9: 2–8). Maybe for him the resurrection is simply another kind of
healing.
- 1 Corinthians 15: 20
