Mormon Dilemma 255

16 May

Gethsemane and the Atonement

He is Risen; A Prophet’s Testimony, Liahona, April 2012; “I believe that none of us can conceive the full import of what Christ did for us in Gethsemane, but I am grateful every day of my life for His atoning sacrifice in our behalf. At the last moment, He could have turned back. But He did not. He passed beneath all things that He might save all things. In doing so, He gave us life beyond this mortal existence. He reclaimed us from the Fall of Adam. To the depths of my very soul, I am grateful to [the Savior]. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to die. He secured our salvation.” —President Thomas S. Monson

John 12:31-33; “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.”

Deut. 21:22-23; “And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.”

Psalm 22:15-18; “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.”

Zechariah 12:9-10; “And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Exodus 12:3, 5-6; “Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.”

1 Corinthians 5:7; “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.” 

1. Mormons don’t fully believe Jesus secured our salvation.  Just as the many prophecies in the Doctrine and Covenants and the pseudo promises in the Book of Mormon there is always a condition that goes along with salvation.  Mormons don’t believe in the indwelling of the HS or His power to keep the believer secure in Christ through thoughts and deeds.  At any time you’re in danger of losing the Holy Spirit’s presence.

2. Jesus did NOT pay for man’s sin in the Garden of Gethsemane.  A sacrifice was not made there.  See the six scriptures we’ve listed that either predict or remind us of what He did for us.

3. Notice the wording used by Mr. Monson when he said that Jesus reclaimed us from the Fall of Adam.

Mormons do not adhere to the belief of original sin. (Article of Faith #2)  They believe Adam had to sin in order for others to be born and God kind of tricked Adam in the Garden. 

I agree that no one could imagine what Jesus must have gone through in the Garden of Gethsemane.  However more importantly, none of us will ever be able to imagine what it must have been like to take on the sins of man while hanging on the Cross of Calvary.

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