April 24, 2012

Hi everyone!!

This week I have learned much about the atonement of Jesus Christ.
What it is: And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

What it does: The part of the atonement that most people know about, and talk about, is the power to remit sin. To lift that burden from us. "Yea, and as often as my people repent will I forgive them their trespasses against me." But it is not only the ability to cleanse you from that sin, but to give you the strength to leave the sin in the past. The atonement has enabling power. "But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound." Nephi was given power to change his situation. Nephi didn't say "hey will you bail me out of this mess?" He presented a plan and asked for strength, that comes through the enabling power of the atonement, to accomplish it.

Why it was necessary: Fallen man cannot return to the presence of God without the Atonement. It is the key to the plan of salvation, because God wants us to return to Him, right? It is the key to the gospel of Jesus Christ, because it gives us something to have faith in, it gives us the ability to repent, it gives us the power to cleans us from sin at baptism and when we take the sacrament, it gives us the worthiness, and cleanliness, to have the Holy Ghost to be with us.

That is only a tiny bit of what we can learn from the atonement. And only a little bit of what I learned this week. The atonement is the root of everything good. All other things are appendages to it. So if we grow our knowledge of the atonement we will give life to the other aspects of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Changing gears. During Christmas Mom sent me inspirational messages for the 12 days of Christmas. Somehow I didn't read two of them untill yesterday. I'll only talk about one of them. It called, something like, "Because they choose not to see."  This was a great and timely message for me to read. It talks about a man and his wife who are driving through Bryce Canyon in Utah, they are just amazed at the beauty of the place. The husband suggests they go see a basin that they had never visited before. They got there and he said we drove 40 miles for this! Obviously dissapointed with what they initially see, but they go in anyway. He was looking through a book at the bookstore and saw a statement, something like this, people don't see the beauty of the desert because they choose not to see. He had a little attitude shift after he saw that and he and his wife went out looking for the beauty the basin had to offer. He found something like 16 plants he had never seen before and the rare flower along the trail. All these things that he never would have discovered if had not chosen to see.

Love you all,

Elder Fagersten in AZ