A Focus on the Atonement

At the beginning of last semester, my professor told us about how the Atonement saves men from both a spiritual death, and a physical death. I understood the concept at the time, but I didn't have anything to back up what he had said; until now. This past week I was reading in Alma 42, where Alma is giving instruction to his son Corianton. Alma tells Corianton about why there is a law, and how justice and mercy work to carry out the law. He explains: "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." This means that when a law is broken, justice then has hold on the breaker of the law. However, if the breaker of the law repents, then mercy claims them, and justice has no hold on them. This repentance is made possible by the Atonement, which allows for mercy, which requires a mediator.* I need here to explain a little bit more of Alma's words. He says, "As soon as [men] were dead their souls were miserable, being cut off from the presence of the Lord." Therefore, without the Atonement, mankind would still be cut off from the presence of the Lord: which is considered the spiritual death of which I spoke earlier. Now, as Alma continues, he says, "The Atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God." Now we see that the Atonement overcame physical death by allowing the resurrection. Also, the Atonement brings men back into the presence of God, thus overcoming the spiritual death. This means that Christ not only atoned for our sins, but He also overcame physical and spiritual death through the Atonement. I am so grateful to have a Savior who knows me personally, and loves me even with all of my faults. *In writing this, it has reminded me of the video about the mediator, which can be found at this address: http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/book-of-mormon-presentations?lang=eng&query=justice+mercy#2007-01-0005-the-mediator Enjoy!