The Atonement: All for All (April 2004)

[zil2]

Tripped over this today and just wanted to say that it would be well worth your time to revisit it (or visit it for the first time).

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2004/04/the-atonement-all-for-all?lang=eng

[mordorbund]

On 8/1/2023 at 1:33 PM, zil2 said:

Tripped over this today and just wanted to say that it would be well worth your time to revisit it (or visit it for the first time).

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2004/04/the-atonement-all-for-all?lang=eng

My own work in my patio garden has convinced me that the garden setting (not a city, and not a wilderness) of the Fall was intentional. I loved this imagery:

Quote

We grow in two ways—removing negative weeds and cultivating positive flowers. The Savior’s grace blesses both parts—if we do our part. First and repeatedly we must uproot the weeds of sin and bad choices. It isn’t enough just to mow the weeds. Yank them out by the roots, repenting fully to satisfy the conditions of mercy. But being forgiven is only part of our growth. We are not just paying a debt. Our purpose is to become celestial beings. So once we’ve cleared our heartland, we must continually plant, weed, and nourish the seeds of divine qualities. And then as our sweat and discipline stretch us to meet His gifts, “the flow’rs of grace appear,”⁹ like hope and meekness. Even a tree of life can take root in this heart-garden, bearing fruit so sweet that it lightens all our burdens “through the joy of his Son.”¹⁰ And when the flower of charity blooms here, we will love others with the power of Christ’s own love.

 

[zil2]

1 hour ago, mordorbund said:

...repeatedly we must uproot the weeds...It isn’t enough just to mow the weeds.

So annoying! (speaking of garden weeds)

But back to the talk - it really was exceptional, IMO.  These were the bits that caused me to go read the whole thing:

Quote

If we must give all that we have, then our giving only almost everything is not enough. If we almost keep the commandments, we almost receive the blessings.

Quote

We can have eternal life if we want it, but only if there is nothing else we want more.

So we must willingly give everything, because God Himself can’t make us grow against our will and without our full participation. Yet even when we utterly spend ourselves, we lack the power to create the perfection only God can complete. Our all by itself is still only almost enough—until it is finished by the all of Him who is the “finisher of our faith.” At that point, our imperfect but consecrated almost is enough.

 

[mordorbund]

5 hours ago, zil2 said:

So annoying! (speaking of garden weeds)

But back to the talk - it really was exceptional, IMO.  These were the bits that caused me to go read the whole thing:

 

That “almost” is a powerful contrast. When he made the first statement I did a bit of a double take because I know Elder Hafen understands grace and the atonement. Then he provided the missing half of the equation and I had to do a double take again because the same term was suddenly sufficient and I had to re-listen to hear the pivot.

It’s a good explanation of one of my thoughts of the Ether 12:27 classic:

Quote

my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

“My grace is sufficient.” It’s Gabriel’s horn. There’s an infinite volume for you to fill and you’re just a finite bucket of paste. Boast of your bucket-ness or some other nonsense quality and you’ll never get the job done. Humble yourself flat and you’ll be stretched in ways you never imagined possible.

[zil2]

34 minutes ago, mordorbund said:

you’ll be stretched in ways you never imagined possible.

Or as Nibley puts it in Approaching Zion:

Quote

"The mind or the intelligence which man possesses," says Joseph Smith, "is co-equal with God himself." What greater crime than the minimizing of such capacity? The Prophet continues, "All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement. . . . God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge." Expansion is the theme, and we cannot expand the boundaries unless we first reach those boundaries, which means exerting ourselves to the absolute limit.

Brutal, man, brutal.