Chapter 9: The Atonement of Jesus Christ, C: Only Jesus Christ possessed the qualifications and attributes necessary to perfrom an infinite atonement

The Savior was the only one who could perform the atonement because of his unique traits. First, he was the Only Begotten son of the father, meaning he had power over his body that we do not have. This allowed him to suffer the pain of the atonement when another would have died or been succumbed by the pain.

Wherefore, the Almighty God gave his Only Begotten Son, as it is written in those scriptures which have been given of him.
D&C 20:21

Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit - and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink.
D&C 19:18

Behold, they believed in Christ and worshiped the Father in his name, and also we worship the Father in his name. And for this intent we keep the law of Moses, it pointing our souls to him; and for this cause it is sanctified unto us for righteousness, even as it was accounted unto Abraham in the wilderness to be obedient unto the commands of God in offering up his son Isaac, which is a similitude of God and his Only Begotten Son.
Jacob 4:5

The Savior was completely sinless. He was a perfect sacrifice because he had no sin in him. This is not because he had it easy or didn't go through the same, but rather he went through everything yet still remained clean.

And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
1 John 3:5

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4:15

Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him--Saying: Father, behold the suffering and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold, the blood of thy Son was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified. Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.
D&C 45:3-5

Some superior agency was needed to elevate [fallen man] above his low and degraded position. This superior agency was the Son of God, who had not, as man had, violated a law of His Father, but was yet one with His Fatherk, possessing His glory, His power, His authority, His dominion.
John Taylor, The Mediation and Atonement, 145

Christ had power over death. He was able to hold on to his life or let it go. When he suffered and died for us, it was entirely by his active choice.

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.
John 5:26

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
John 10:17-18

Chapter 9: The Atonement of Jesus Christ, B: Because we are fallen, we have need of an Atonement.

We have to have a Savior. We needed to fall to learn good from bad, but we need to be saved to return to God's presence and to continue progressing. Without the Savior's atonement, we would be subjects of the devil for the rest of eternity, endlessly miserable and unhappy.

For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfill the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord. Wherefore it must needs be an infinite atonement - save it should be an infinite atonement this corruption could not put on incorruption. Wherefore, the first judgment which came upon man must needs have remained to an endless duration. And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more. O the wisdom of God, his mercy and grace! For behold, if the flesh should rise no more our spirits must become subject to that angel who fell from before the presence of the Eternal God, and became the devil, to rise no more. And our spirits must have become like unto him, and we become devils, angels to a devil, to be shut out from the presence of God, and to remain with the father of lies, in misery, like unto himself; yea, to that being who beguiled our first parents, who transformeth himself nigh unto an engel of light, and stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness. O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monter, death and hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. And because of the way of deliverance of our God, the Holy One of Israel, this death, of which I have spoken, which is the temporal, shall deliver up its dead; which death is the grave. And this death of which I have spoken, which is the spiritual deah, shall deliver up its dead; which spiritual death is hell; wherefore, death and hell must deliver up their dead, and hell must deliver up its captive spirits, and the grave must deliver up its captive bodies, and the bodies and spirits of men will be restored one to the other; and it is by the power of the resurrection of the Holy One of Israel.
2 Nephi 9:6-12

And now, behold, I will testify unto you of myself that thse things are true. Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come among the children of men, to take upon him transgressions of his people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world; for the Lord God hath spoken it. For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are haredened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made.
Alma 34:8-9

All have sinned. Each person is therefore unclean to the extent which he has sinned, and because of that uncleanness is banished from the presence of the Lord so long as the effect of his own wrongdoing is upon him.
Since we suffer this spiritual death as a result of our own trangressions, we cannot claim deliverance therfrom as a matter of justice. Neither has any man the power within himself alone to make restitution so complete that he can be wholly cleansed from the effect of his own wrongdoing. If men are to be freed from the results of their own trangressions and brough back into the presence of God, they must be the benficiaries of some expedient beyond themselves which will free them from the effect of their own sins. For this purpose was the atonement of Jesus Christ conceived and executed.
This was the world's supreme act of charity, performed by Jesus out of his great love for us. He not only thereby met the demands of the law of justice - which would have left us forever marred by the effects of our own trangressions - but made effective the law of mercy, through which all men may be cleansed from their own sins.
Marion G. Romney, in Conference Report, April 1982, 9

To atone is to ransom, reconcile, expiate, redeem, reclaim, absolve, propitiate, make amends, pay the penalty. Thus the atonement of Christ is designed to ransom men from the effect of the fall of Adam in that both spiritual and temporal death are conquered; their lasting effect is nullified. The spiritual death of the fall is replaced by the spiritual life of the atonement, in that all who believe and obey the gospel law gain spiritual or eternal life - life in the presence of God where those who enjoy it are alive to things of righteosness or things of the Spirit. The temporal death of the fall is replaced by the state of immortality which comes because of the atonement and resurrection of our Lord. The body and spirit which separated, incident to what men call the natural death, are reunited in immortality, in an inseperable connection that never again will permit the mortal body to see corruption.
Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 62

Chapter 9: The Atonement of Jesus Christ, A: God Governs the Universe By Law

There are laws by which this life is governed. These are God's laws pertaining to sin and righteousness. These laws are necessary for us to be happy. Without laws there would be no punishment, but there also would be no reward and we would be neither happy nor sad, just neutral.

There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated - and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.
D&C 130:20-21

For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world.
D&C 132:5

And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. ANd if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor hapiness there be no punishment no misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, enither to act no to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.
2 Nephi 2:13

Sin is the transgression of the law. Everybody in this earth life sins. Thus, we all are fallen and in need of a Savior.

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
1 John 3:4

Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it no, to him it is sin.
James 4:17

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23

For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made.
Alma 34:9

It is necessary that there be a punishment for sin. If there are laws, and there is no punishment for breaking those laws, then the laws aren't really there. Without laws, we are all lost.

Now repentance could not come unto men except there were a punishment, which also was eternal as the life of the soul should be, affixed opposite to the plan of happiness, which was as eternal also as the life of the soul. Now, how could a man repent except he should sin? How could he sin if there was no law? How could there be a law save there was a punishment? . . . But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God.
Alma 42:16-17, 22

But if they would not repent, they must suffer even as I.
D&C 19:17

Chapter 8: The Fall, E: In This Life We Are Subject to the Enticements of the Flesh and the Spirit

In this life we are placed in between two tempting forces that are pulling us in opposite directions. The spirit wants us to become better people. The physical wants us to gratify pleasures immediately without regard to consequences.

For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever unless he yields to the enticing of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.
Mosiah 3:19

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be arnally mined is death; but to be spiritually mindedis life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So the then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:5-8

Man has a dual nature; one, related to the earthly or animal life; akin to the divine. Whether a man remains satisfied withint what we designate the animal world, satisfied with what the animal world will give him, yielding without effort to the whim of his appetities and passions and slipping father and farther into the realm of indulgence, or whether, through self-master, he rises toward intellectual, moral, and spiritual enjoyments depends on the kind of choice he makes every day, nay, every hour of his life.
David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals, 347-48

Study Plan Update

Although I have hardly been perfect in doing one post per day, my post frequency may decrease further from this point forward. Rather than trying to complete one post per day, I am imposing a time limit on my study each day. This will allow me to focus more fully on family duties.

Some posts don't take very long at all, while other posts seem to take forever (usually because they contain so much valuable information). So, I really don't know what frequency my posts will take on from this point forward. Just know that a post will not go up until it is complete. The date that appears on the post is the date the post was started, even if it is not posted until several days later.

I also am going to try to do better at labeling each post. In my rush to get the post done for the day I have neglected adding labels to most of my posts - this is something I would like to change.

Chapter 8: The Fall, D: The Fall Was a Purposeful Step in God's Plan of Salvation

The fall was a necessary and planned part of life on Earth. It was not an accident, nor an arbitrary punishment. God designed that fall should bring about our fallen state, which was necessary for our eternal development.

We came into this world to die. That was understood before we came here. It is part of the plan, all discussed and arranged long before men were placed upon the earth. When Adam was sent into this world, it was with the understanding that he would violate a law, transgress a law, in order to bring to pass this mortal condition which we find ourselves in today.
Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:66

When Adam was driven out of the Garden of Eden, the Lord passed a sentence upon him. Some people have looked upon that sentence as being a dreadful thing. It was not; it was a blessing. . . .
In order for mankind to obtain salvation and exaltation it is necessary for them to obtain bodies in this world, and pass through the experiences and schooling that are found only in mortality. . . .
The fall of man came as a blessing in disguise, and was the means of furthering the purposes of the Lord in the progress of man, rather than a means of hindering them.
Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:113-14

Did they [Adam and Eve] come out in direction opposition to God and his government? No. But they transgressed a command of the Lord, and through that transgression sin came into the world. The Lord knew they would do this, and he designed that they should.
Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, 103

We needed to be tempted by Satan in order to truly have free agency. If all we know is good, we don't really have a choice, and thus, no agency. With temptation also came the ability to know the joy that comes from choosing good over evil.

And it must needs be that the devil should tempt the children of men, or they could not be agents unto themselves; for if they never should have bitter they could not know the sweet--Wherefore, it came to pass that the devil tempted Adam, and he partook of the forbidden fruit and transgressed the commandment wherein he became subject to the will of the devil, because he yielded unto temptation.
D&C 29:39-40

Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy. And the Messiah cometh in the fulness of time, that he may redeem the children of men from the fall. And because that they are redeemed from the fall they have become free forever, knowing good from evil; to act for themselves and not to be acted upon, save it be by the punishment of the law at the great and last day, according to the commandments which God hath given. Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.
2 Nephi 2:25-27

If we cannot be good, except as we resist and overcome evil, then evil must be present to be resisted.
So this earth life is set up according to true principles, and these conditions that followed the transgression [of Adam] were not, in the usual sense, penalties that were inflicted upon us. All these . . . that seem to be sad infliction of punishment, sorrow, and trouble are in the end not that. They are blessings. We have attained a knowledge of good and evil, the power to obtain redemption and eternal life. These things had their origin in this transgression. The Lord has set the earth up so we have to labor if we are going to live, which preserves us from the curse of idleness and indolence; and thou the Lord condemns us to death-mortal death-it is one of the greatest blessings that comes to us here because it is the doorway to immorality, and we can never attain immorality without dying.
So these are all real blessings. We come to earth with all these condition arranged as they are so that we have to struggle constantly against evil, struggle to preserve our lives, struggle for everything of true value-that is the thing for us to understand-this is the course of life that is most desirable, and for our good. We have no need to find fault with these conditions. The Lord has ordained them all for our welfare and happiness.
Morris, in Conference Report, April 1958, 39

If the fall had never happened Adam and Eve would never had had children. It was not a matter of everyone living happily in the garden of Eden, for nobody would ever have been born. The fall was necessary for mankind to come upon the earth in the current state.

And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.
And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.
But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.
2 Nephi 2:22-24


And in that day Adam blessed God and was filled, and began to prophesy concerning all the families of the earth, saying: Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy, and again the flesh I shall see God.
And Eve, his wife, heard all these things and was glad, saying: Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.
Moses 5:10-11

Give Us Strength According to Our Faith . . . in Christ, Alma 13-16

Today I am going through the Sunday School lesson for today. This is reverse from most entries, as the quoted questions from the lesson prep are in block and my answers indented.

After being persecuted in prison for many days, how were Alma and Amulek, finally delivered? What are some things from which we need to be delivered? Why must our faith be centered in Christ to lead us to deliverance?

Alma and Amulek were released from prison through a terrible earthquake that killed all the men except them. There are many things we need to be delivered from as well, most originating from sin. We need to be delivered from debt/bondage, addictions, bad habits, emotional problems, temptations, and so on. Our faith must be centered in Christ because it is only through Christ that we can be redeemed. Christ is our Savior and so only through Him can we receive the strength to be delivered from our problems.

What does Alma 15:3-5 reveal about Zeezrom's trust in Alma and Amulek? In whom did Zeezrom need to place his trust in order to be healed? What do you learn from Zeezrom's actions after he was healed?

Zeezrom trusted that Alma and Amulek could heal him. However, Alma and Amulek were careful to point out that he needed to have faith in Christ, not in Alma, to be healed. Zeezrom was healed after stating that he believed in Christ. You can see that Zeezrom was truly converted because afterwards he went out and preached the gospel.